A member of the MS-13 gang, who is believed to have overseen a kill squad and who is linked to the killing of the son of the former president of Honduras, was arrested in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Monday, according to DHS officials.
"Yesterday the @FBI arrested Gerson Cuadra Soto out of Nebraska," FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X. "An alleged leader of MS-13. He is believed to be responsible for overseeing one of their major kill squad units - and suspected of executing the assassination of the son of the former President of Honduras."
Gerson Emir Cuadra Soto, 33, also known as "Fantasma," was detained on Monday on immigration-related charges. He is believed to have overseen an MS-13 kill squad called "El Combo," which is designed to carry out assassinations on behalf of the gang. In his home country of Honduras, he has been charged with four homicides, for which he was imprisoned.
Authorities believe he was involved in the July 2022 assassination of Said Lobo Bonilla, the son of former Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa. Bonilla and three others were gunned down after leaving a nightclub in Tegucigalpa.
However, Cuadra Soto and two of his co-defendants were able to bribe their way out of jail and flee, eventually entering the United States illegally under the Biden Administration. He first entered from Mexico into Texas, before he made his way to California and received a driver's license with his true identity, the attorney’s office said.
Federal agents tracked Cuadra Soto to his home in Nebraska, where he was taken into custody without incident.