The evidence of Torren de Aragua's violence in Aurora, Colorado is written in blood.
A suburban Denver landlord shared a photo of his employee covered in blood. The man was allegedly beaten to the bone by members of a brutal gang in a Venezuelan prison after he refused to stay in a vacant apartment they had taken over. .
The Brooklyn-based company claimed the gang threatened its employees and effectively stole the entire apartment from the basement, attempting to extort a portion of the rent in exchange for allowing the property to continue operating.
CBZ Management said local police and the FBI were asked to help stop the extortion, but they refused to intervene.
“Gangs have taken over several of our properties in Aurora, Colorado,” the company wrote in an X thread last week.
“There are those who spread misinformation about our situation in an attempt to discredit this fact for political purposes and avoid government responsibility.”
The company, which owned and managed the property, posted multiple surveillance videos from its apartment complex late last year, including footage of employees being beaten, proving the gang had a foothold in Aurora. insisted.
The company said criminal activity and intimidation forced it to pull employees from an apartment complex in the city of 390,000 people.
“Despite clear evidence, many still deny the reality of the situation and sometimes use us as scapegoats. That's why we can no longer remain silent,” the company wrote. are.
“We will continue to counter falsehoods with simple facts and evidence. Yes, gangs took over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and the government did nothing. That's the real story. ”
The Post first brought national attention to Torren de Aragua's takeover of the Aurora apartment complex and neighborhood. On Friday, former President Donald Trump visited the city of Aurora and sought to link Aurora's issues to the Harris-Biden administration's border policies.
On the other hand, there is a deeper local dimension to this problem. CBZ Management has a history of citations dating back to 2020, before the gang arrived in Aurora. Violations range from rodent infestations to damaging the roof of dozens of illegally parked cars. According to Denver7.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman Named the company “Slumlord” Because property cleanup failed.
Who is Zev Baumgarten? Listed in court documents as owner of CBZagreed earlier this year to sell or otherwise relinquish control of one of the dilapidated apartment complexes, following a lengthy legal process against him and his company. According to the Denver Gazette.
The CBZ management department accused the city of covering up the existence of foreign gangs, and said it had “instead made up a 'violation of regulations'” in order to shift responsibility.
The company claimed it had “completely inspected in 2022 and 2023” and said the violations had been “addressed”.
“The only violation that was not addressed was when a gang occupied it and did not want our six on-site staff working there for safety reasons,” the company said.
Despite local controversy over the condition of the apartment, residents and local officials interviewed by the Post said it was clear that Torren de Aragua was in the building.
According to CBZ, the company took ownership of the apartment in 2019 and had hoped to renovate it over several years. The company announced that it has been able to renovate nearly all of the Edge at Raleigh apartment units. The apartment was the site of a recent viral video showing six gunmen breaking into the unit.
According to X's post, CBZ has also transferred employees from New York to help manage the ambitious project.
However, the company said it soon observed an “increase in crime and tenant complaints.”
That's when the employee was attacked. According to a post from CBZ Management, he was inspecting a recently vacated unit where he discovered a group of male squatters trying to accept a $500 bribe “to stay out of the situation.”
When the employee refused the bribe, the group beat him so brutally that he had to be treated at the hospital.
That wasn't the only problem. According to CBZ, the employee began receiving threats via text messages, including revealing his home address and the name of his spouse.
The problem only escalated further. Squads of Torren de Aragua members continued to take over the vacated rooms. The company said it included a tenant who left only for the holidays and was forced to look for a new home when he returned.
Gangs began moving immigrants into their units. Although the new tenants claimed to have paid rent, the company soon realized that they were actually paying gangsters.
CBZ said the company's management subsequently met with the FBI. The company said agents said Torren de Aragua was behind the text messages and building takeovers, but the organization's nationwide presence meant the matter “fell under the radar.” ” he said.
The company said the on-site manager of the apartment was then confronted by the gang and threatened to seize control of the apartment unless they agreed to split the rental income.
“To ensure the safety of our executives and their families, we focused our efforts on removing them from the premises and seeking assistance from government agencies,” the company said.
Representatives for Aurora did not respond to The Post's request for comment Monday. The FBI also did not respond to a request for comment.
Mayor Coffman had previously dismissed the landlord's claims that Torren de Aragua was to blame for the company's problems, particularly with the building the company had agreed to let go.
“It's a little late to play the Venezuelan gangster card,” Coffman said at the time. “Certainly there are other areas of the city that we are looking at and concerned about. But the issue of this building certainly takes precedence over the issue of Venezuelan gangs.”
