Ricky “Angel” Vargas, 37, was lodged in the Bergen County Jail on Tuesday, May 26, after being arrested at a home in Longview, TX, Thursday, May 7. Vargas, of East Stroudsburg, PA, had spent more than two years as a fugitive in the February 2024 killing of 31-year-old Hawthorne resident Richard Franceschi, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Garfield police responded to the stabbing at approximately 12:44 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2024, at JoJo's Bar & Grill on Monroe Street, where Franceschi was found with multiple stab wounds to the chest. He was later pronounced dead at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Vargas and four others were involved in the altercation that led to Franceschi’s death, investigators said. The other suspects were arrested shortly after the incident, but Vargas evaded capture and remained on the run. The FBI added Vargas to its Most Wanted list on March 12, 2025, prosecutors said. A federal warrant was also issued charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Detectives with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit developed information about Vargas’ whereabouts on Wednesday, May 6, according to authorities. Investigators and FBI agents in New Jersey and Texas determined he was hiding at a residence in Longview within hours, prosecutors said. Vargas was arrested with assistance from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Dallas Police Department, and Longview Police Department, authorities said.
He remains held at the Gregg County Jail in Texas pending extradition to Bergen County, prosecutors said. Vargas faces charges including murder, weapons offenses, and endangering an injured victim, according to authorities.
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