The Venezuelan gang, Tren De Aragua, has reached New York City. The gang started at a Venezuelan prison and made its way to the United States and other countries.
The New York Police Department said the gang is behind a string of store thefts that target high-end items.
Officers have also connected Tren De Aragua to ride-by robberies. That’s when gang members ride around on scooters snatching cellphones and expensive watches from people on the street.
The NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said there were 415 scooter-related robberies at the beginning of June. As of Sept. 10, that number has doubled.
So far, the NYPD has identified 24 Tren De Aragua members of the 14,000 known gang members in the city. But they believe the number of Tren De Aragua members is much higher. Police say they’ve been quick to blend in. The gang is believed to recruit members arriving in the U.S. from inside the city’s migrant shelters.
Tensions are rising on Chicago’s south side, because members of the Tren De Aragua have also moved into that area. Some fear a turf war between local gangs and their Venezuelan counterparts.
Tyronne Muhammad, a former Chicago gang member who did 20 years in prison, told the New York Post, “When the Black gangs here get fed up with the illegalities and criminal activities of these migrants or non-citizens, the city of Chicago is going to go up in flames and there will be nothing the National Guard or the government can do about it when the bloodshed hits the streets. It’ll be Blacks against migrants.”
Police in Aurora, Colorado, have confirmed the presence of Venezuelan gangs after a video of gang members with guns inside an apartment building went viral. They’re still investigating whether that incident is specifically connected to Tren De Aragua.
