Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, the 19-year-old Venezuelan illegal immigrant charged with shooting and killing two NYPD officers, told police that members of the international crime organization Tren de Aragua had recruited him. New York Post report on wednesday.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested Castro Mata on Monday after officers Richard Iarrusso and Christopher Abreu were shot and wounded in a shootout with NYPD officers. A 19-year-old Venezuelan man who was wounded in the shootout was Indicted He faces 80 years to life in prison and is charged with 17 counts, including two counts of attempted murder, for allegedly opening fire on two NYPD officers from his hospital bed in Queens.
of post Claimed According to the report, Castro Mata told police he was recruited by a Tren de Aragua “coordinator” in New York and “encouraged” to join a ring of “snatch” moped thefts and to get tattoos to show his allegiance to the international crime organization.
The 19-year-old Venezuelan allegedly claimed in his affidavit that a “coordinator” provided gang members with mopeds to use for stealing cellphones, a criminal tactic commonly used by Venezuelan gangs.
of post According to an anonymous source, Castro Mata had an anchor and clock tattoo on his arm and was already thought to be a member of Tren de Aragua based on his social media posts.
according to statement NYPD officials said Castro Mata entered the U.S. illegally in July 2023 through Eagle Pass, Texas, and engaged in criminal activity prior to Monday’s shooting, including allegedly assaulting a woman by taking her cellphone and stealing her credit card to use at a tobacco store in Queens.
Less than a month after the shootout, a federal immigration judge was reportedly hearing Castro Mata’s deportation case. FiredAs a result, although Castro Mata was not granted asylum in the United States, he was not a priority for deportation and was no longer monitored by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), effectively making him an illegal immigrant.
The Tren de Aragua international criminal organization, whose criminal activities have spread across several US states and Latin American countries, began as a local labor gang in the Venezuelan state of Aragua in 2012. It is primarily involved in Believed The crime organization has deep ties to Venezuela’s socialist government, which allegedly allowed it to expand its criminal activities to its current international status. Tren de Aragua’s crimes are believed to range from theft, murder, extortion, smuggling and kidnapping to drug, human and arms trafficking.
In May, Louisiana law enforcement officials Dismantled A sex trafficking network linked to Tren de Aragua reportedly smuggled victims into the United States, trained them on how to apply for asylum, and then forced them into prostitution to repay the “debt” of being smuggled into the United States.
Reports Published In February, FBI officials suggested they suspected members of New York’s Tren de Aragua group of brokering an alliance with El Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.
Venezuela’s socialist government is thenot exist“, he said, claiming that the gang was part of an international smear campaign against the rogue government of dictator Nicolas Maduro. Venezuelan authorities have officially said that Maduro’s government has “dismantled” the Tren de Aragua.AttackedIn September 2023, he escaped from Tocorón Prison, which was the gang’s main base in Venezuela.
Special Forces are stationed outside Tokoron The day after authorities took control of the prison TokoronAragua state, Venezuela, September 21, 2023. (Yuri Cortes/AFP via Getty Images)
The whereabouts of Tren de Aragua’s leader, Héctor the Child Guerrero, remain unknown following the attack. At the time of the attack, Guerrero was serving a 17-year sentence for multiple crimes, but multiple reports said he had negotiated control of the prison and escaped long before the attack began.
Reports say Published In April, the Maduro regime, with the support of the Aragua Confederation, launched its most notorious case of alleged persecution abroad against Venezuelan dissidents. Ronald OjedaOjeda was a former Venezuelan military officer living in exile in Chile. Three men linked to Tren de Aragua allegedly kidnapped and murdered him in late February, and his body was discovered 10 days later buried inside a suitcase beneath a concrete structure in Chile’s Santiago metropolitan area.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan author documenting life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter. here.
