Agent John Morales recently told the New York Post that Tren de Aragua is rapidly expanding its criminal enterprise and is recruiting migrants in shelters in New York. Both gangs are defined by their willingness to use excessive force to demonstrate their power, and to set an example to anyone who might defy or betray them. Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s most notorious gang, is largely known in South America, but now has tentacles in at least six countries. The gang runs extortion rings, orchestrates kidnappings, facilitates drug trafficking, and participates in murder-for-hire schemes. MS-13 is more dangerous than gangs in the U.S. and is regularly involved in human smuggling, prostitution, and extortion. The organization is known for brutal, high-profile murders where victims are repeatedly stabbed, beheaded, and have their hearts ripped out. FBI sources told the Post that Tren de Aragua has set up shop in New York after having its members cross the southern border and claim asylum. The New York Police Department has not discussed the gang publicly, but is attributing a new spate of crime to the group. “While these gangs wouldn’t normally mix, it’s always going to be a concern as the gang [Tren de Aragua] expands in strength and establishes a foothold,” Morales said in an exclusive interview with the Post. “Right now we are working with our local law enforcement partners and sharing intelligence in order to stop the growth of Tren de Aragua.” Law enforcement authorities are now seeing crimes where robbers on mopeds snatch a person’s phone, drain the victims’ bank accounts of all their cash, and then send the phones to Colombia to be erased, reprogrammed, and sold. Sources also told the Post that authorities suspect that a group of migrants that recently assaulted two police officers in Times Square could be linked to Tren de Aragua. Last month, an individual believed to be connected to the gang was arrested after the murder of a retired Venezuelan police officer who was lured to his death by a group of prostitutes. Another expert has warned that the alliance would end up being temporary and eventually explode into a turf war. “They are already coming over as hardened criminals,” Robert Almonte, a security consultant and former US marshal in El Paso, told the Post. “But they [Tren de Aragua] could certainly be trying to recruit others to join the gang in the U.S.,” he said. “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that they could form alliances with other gangs, but what’s more likely to happen is that turf wars break out as each gang fights to control their own criminal enterprise.”FBI officials are expressing worry over an alliance forming between a Venezuelan gang that has used America’s porous southern border to enter the country and the deadly MS-13 gang.
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