Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members wait to be escorted upon arrival at the maximum-security jail in Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, January 31, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSAN SALVADOR, Nov 15 (Reuters) - A top leader of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang will stand trial in New York on terrorism charges, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. El Salvador citizen Elmer Canales, known as "Crook de Hollywood," was arrested by Mexican authorities last week and sent to Texas, where a federal court on Wednesday ordered him to face trial in New York. Canales, along with 13 other MS-13 members, was indicted in 2020 on terrorism charges relating to his alleged involvement in organized crime in the U.S., Mexico and El Salvador over the past two decades. When Canales' indictment was unsealed in early 2021, he was behind bars in El Salvador, and the U.S. requested his extradition.

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Persons: Mara Salvatrucha, Jose Cabezas, Elmer Canales, Crook, Canales, Merrick Garland, Nayib Bukele, Nelson Renteria, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: REUTERS, SALVADOR, U.S . Justice, El, Wednesday, U.S, Justice Department, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, New York, Texas, U.S, Mexico, United States, Salvadoran, Guatemala