A brutal Venezuelan gang based in New York could use the border crisis to join forces with the feared MS-13, a senior FBI agent told the Post.
Special Agent in Charge John Morales says Torren de Aragua is now an FBI priority as law enforcement warns of rapidly expanding criminal empire after a spate of brazen phone robberies in five boroughs said.
Morales, special agent in charge of the El Paso, Texas, area, said the agency is closely monitoring the growth of Torren de Aragua and is concerned about the agency partnering with existing networks.
The Post reported on Monday that Venezuelan gangs that have built a bloody criminal network across South America have replicated their tactics in New York, recruiting new migrants in shelters and establishing a cellphone robbery gang that has become an international force. It was revealed that they were using this to illegally sell mobile phones. Sold to Colombia.
Morales now warns that MS-13 and other gangs could become temporary allies, and said the FBI is actively sharing information about Torren de Aragua. .
“These gangs don’t usually intersect, but as a gang it’s always a concern. [Tren de Aragua] We will expand our power and gain a foothold,” Morales said in an exclusive interview with the Post.
“We are currently working with our local law enforcement partners and sharing information to stop the growth of Torren de Aragua.”
Morales said gang members typically pass through border cities such as El Paso on their way to other parts of the United States.
Border Patrol agents arrested 41 Torren de Aragua members along the U.S. southern border from October 2022 to September 2023. And the FBI is now pleading with Venezuelan immigrants to report gang members, offering them witness protection and temporary visas if they do.
“Their first victims are fellow Venezuelans,” Morales said, adding that the gang is trying to recruit new members from their own immigrant communities.
He said they are extorting Venezuelans by demanding they pay bribes in exchange for protection and even cross the border from Venezuela to Colombia and Mexico into the United States.
Torren de Aragua has taken advantage of the surge in Venezuelan migrants crossing the southern border. Last year, there were more than 340,000 “encounters” with migrants from the country at the border, second only to Mexicans.
Another expert warned there was also a risk of turf wars between gangs.
“They’re already coming in as violent criminals,” said Robert Almonte, a security consultant and former El Paso federal marshal.
“But those people [Tren de Aragua] It may be true that he is trying to recruit others to American gangs.
“While we are not ruling out the possibility that they form alliances with other gangs, what is more likely is that turf wars will erupt as each gang fights for control of their own criminal enterprises.”
Torren de Aragua originated in Venezuelan prisons and has exploded to Colombia, Peru, and Chile, where it involves the brutal torture and brutal torture of victims, including prostitutes, who are routinely executed to control the sex trade. Known for murder.
In the United States, the gang has expanded to Chicago and Miami, where members of the gang were recently arrested after the killing of a retired Venezuelan police officer.
In Lima, Peru’s capital, gangs murdered rival pimps and prostitutes to gain control of a sex industry that brought in more than $275,000 a month. This was reported by El Pais newspaper..
Created last year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Peruvian law enforcement. Transnational Crime Investigation Unit Especially to share information about Torren de Aragua.
Law enforcement officials say the gang’s leader, Hector Guerrero, fled prison headquarters after a raid by Venezuelan troops last year and may be hiding out in the United States.
Founded in the 1980s among Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles, MS-13 now boasts more than 10,000 members and has close ties to Mexican drug cartels.
Its heavily tattooed leaders have used brutal tactics, particularly in Queens and Long Island, and MS-13 members have unleashed a bloody crime wave, killing 16-year-old Julio Vasquez in 2017. culminated in him being stabbed 30 times and killed. Almost decapitated.
