Fears grow NYC could be targeted by migrant SUPER-GANG as FBI agent warns ... trends now
Venezuela's most violent gang and Latin America's most-feared armed group could join forces in New York City, a senior FBI agent has warned.
The FBI is concerned with El Tren de Aragua linking up with other criminal networks such as the notorious MS-13, Special Agent in Charge of the El Paso division John Morales told the New York Post.
Members of El Tren de Aragua have reportedly made their way to New York City after crossing the US-Mexico border - and have already unleashed their criminal schemes, including brazen phone robberies across the city's boroughs.
'While these gangs wouldn’t normally mix, it’s always going to be a concern as the [Tren de Aragua] expands in strength and establishes a foothold' Morales said.
'Right now we are working with our local law enforcement partners and sharing intelligence in order to stop the growth of Tren de Aragua.'
The FBI is concerned with El Tren de Aragua (pictured in a September prison raid) linking up with other criminal networks such as the notorious MS-13
MS-13, one of the largest Hispanic gangs operating in the US, got its start as a neighborhood street gang in Los Angeles
In one of the most brutal incidents yet of a brazen phone theft in NYC, a 62-year-old woman was seen being dragged on a Brooklyn street by a thief on a moped
MS-13, one of the largest gangs operating in the US, got its start as a neighborhood street gang in Los Angeles, but grew into a transnational gang based in El Salvador. It has members in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico and thousands of members across the United States with numerous branches, or 'cliques,' according to federal authorities.
Meanwhile NYC officials have said the feared Tren de Aragua could be connected to a the brazen thieves on mopeds who have been snatching the phones and purses of innocent pedestrians as part of a larger crime conspiracy surrounding stolen iPhones.
NYPD detectives believe the organized robbery scheme is linked to El Tren de Aragua, which they fear has been sending its gangsters to cross the US-Mexico border as part of a wave of asylum seekers, the New York Post reported.
Last week officials raided the Bronx home of the alleged leader of the operation, Victor Parra, 30, who officials say issued calls for stolen phones on What's App, offering money for migrants to bring the stolen devices to him.
Once he had the devices, a hacker would break into people's Apple Pays and empty their accounts, before the criminals sent the phones to Colombia to be reprogrammed and sold.
A group of migrants has been working as a 'ghost' criminal enterprise in New York City
Mayor Eric Adams went along for the sting operation and later appeared at a press conference with police
Parra remains on the run, and while the police are yet to publicly confirm the gang's presence in New York, El Tren de Aragua has already had its first kill in Miami, per authorities.
Former Venezuelan police officer Jose Luis Sanchez Valera, 43, was brutally murdered by Tren de Aragua gangster Yurwin Salazar, 23, according to Miami officials.
Sanchez was beaten, tortured, and forced to hand over the keys to his apartment and safe, where his life savings were stashed in gold bars. His terrified niece, with whom he lived, cowered under
