FBI Boston
Kristen Setera
(857) 386-2905
September 8, 2016

FBI’S North Shore Gang Task Force Seeks MS-13 Fugitive

Up to $20,000 Reward Offered for Information Leading to Arrest

Updated September 16, 2016: Efrain Vasquez-Yanez has been apprehended.

The FBI’s North Shore Gang Task Force is seeking the public’s assistance in locating Efrain Vasquez-Yanez, a convicted felon and an alleged member of the MS-13 gang, charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

On January 26, 2016, he was indicted as FNU, LNU, also known as “Caballo,” along with 55 other members and close associates of La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). He is considered armed and dangerous.

Vasquez-Yanez is a 34-year-old male born in El Salvador with black hair and brown eyes. He is 5’7” in height and weighs approximately 140 pounds. He has two tattoos on his right arm: one of the Grim Reaper and the other of a skeleton.

The FBI is currently offering a reward up to $20,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Vasquez-Yanez was last seen in July 2016 in Everett, Massachusetts and is believed to still be in the greater Boston area. However, MS-13 has a national presence in the United States, and the gang will typically move members who have committed a violent act around the country when they feel an arrest is imminent.

He is alleged to have “homeboy” status within MS-13. To achieve homeboy status, gang members must commit a murder and/or inflict serious physical injury in the name of MS-13. Vasquez-Yanez is also alleged to have served as “protection” for the interstate transport of multi-kilogram cocaine loads for MS-13 and is known to carry a firearm and/or knives frequently.

“Due to the aggressive, violent, and impulsive nature of MS-13 gang members, the FBI believes Vasquez-Yanez poses a serious danger to the public, and we’re asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact law enforcement,” said Harold H. Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division. “Concerned citizens can play an important role in capturing fugitives by coming forward with whatever information they might have.”

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to call the FBI at 1-617-742-5533.

Additional information, including photographs, can be found on the FBI wanted poster. Tips can also be electronically submitted at tips.fbi.gov.

The FBI’s North Shore Gang Task force is composed of the following agencies: the FBI; the Massachusetts State Police; Massachusetts Department of Correction; the Essex and Suffolk County Sheriff’s Departments; and Boston, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lynn, and Revere Police Departments.