Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested two suspected Venezuelan gangsters in connection with the shocking attack on two New York City police officers last month.
Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, and Wilson Omar Juarez Aguilarte, 21, both illegal immigrants, are being held in an ICE detention center without bail, authorities told Fox News Digital. Told. They were arrested Tuesday in connection with a pair of immigration warrants. Juárez Aguilarte was named to the final order of removal about a year ago.
“Two illegally present Venezuelan nationals have been charged in connection with a violent gang assault on two New York City police officers and are currently in the ERO New York City detention center without bail,” ICE spokeswoman Marie Ferguson said Thursday. He is being detained.” “Both non-nationals were identified as members of the transnational criminal organization Torren de Aragua (TdA).”
FBI fears Venezuelan immigrant gang members may team up with MS-13 killers
Booking photo of Kelvin Arrocha, who was arrested and charged on Saturday, January 27, 2024. He is charged with assault on a police officer. Group assault; Obstructing government. and disorderly conduct. (New York City Police Department)
TdA is a Venezuela-based gang that has expanded into several Latin American countries in recent years, and recently sought to gain a foothold in the United States, authorities said.
Servita Arocha was one of seven immigrants charged in connection with the attack on a New York City police officer whose video was released earlier this month and shocked the nation. Wilson Omar Juarez-Aguilarte’s name was previously given by Manhattan prosecutors as Wilson Juarez. The two were among four people suspected of fleeing New York City on a passenger bus after being released without bail.
Booking photo of Wilson Juarez, who was arrested and charged on Saturday, January 27, 2024. He is charged with assault on a police officer. Group assault; Obstructing government. and disorderly conduct. (New York City Police Department)
last week, new york city police A crackdown on Venezuelan gangs has been announced after linking them to more than 62 robberies in four of the city’s five wards. That gang is now believed to be Torren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan organization with international ambitions.
On Monday, the New York Post identified Torren de Aragua as the gang behind a rash of robberies in New York City, saying gangs are using the Big Apple’s sanctuary policies to entrench their members in the United States. He added that it is generating profits.A vast criminal empire.”
Law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital that the group has transplanted its theft patterns from Caracas to the mainland United States, and the group now commits scooter and moped robberies as well as retail thefts. But it has been criticized.
WATCH: New York City moped robbery caught on video
Five immigrants wanted for NYPD attack, currently in custody, one remaining on $15,000 bail
The FBI is monitoring the group for potential “new threats.”
Paul Mauro, a former New York City police officer, said the gang started in Venezuelan prisons and has expanded its recruiting efforts to other countries, including the United States.
Exterior of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday, February 6, 2024 in New York. YoHenry Brito has appeared in court facing charges of assault with serious bodily injury for allegedly attacking multiple NYPD officers in Times Square last month. (Jefferson Siegel, Fox News Digital)
The gang’s presence on U.S. soil is new, he told Fox News Digital. new york law enforcementTexas and Miami.
”[I] I don’t remember treating them as an organized entity,” Mauro said when he worked there just a few years ago.
Torren de Aragua began its international expansion in 2018 in a turf war across the Colombian border, according to Insight Crime, a nonprofit organization that studies Colombian criminal organizations. latin america And the Caribbean Sea. Facing stiff competition in the drug trafficking business, the gang turned to human trafficking and smuggling instead.
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As the organization expanded, it violently seized territory from smaller local groups, the nonprofit said. In addition to our new efforts in the United States, we currently have operations in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Turf war in Lima, Peru Killed 24 prostitutes, According to the New York Post, the group allegedly posted videos of some of the murders online to intimidate the competition.
