Alleged Tren de Aragua Member Charged With Terrorism, 27 Others Face RICO Charges
Also, would it shock you to find out that Venezulan government officials probably helped move TdA members into America? Yeah, me either.
The Department of Justice charged an alleged high-ranking member with terrorism, according to Fox News.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York announced RICO charges against 27 alleged TdA members.
The DOJ has never charged an alleged violent gang member with terrorism. The agency has also never filed RICO charges against alleged TdA members.
Also, would it shock you to find out that Venezuelan government officials probably helped move TdA members into America? Yeah, me either.
Terrorism
Fox News received the unsealed indictment against Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, 24.
The network did not publish the indictment.
Known as “Chuqui,” Flores allegedly “serves as a plaza Boss in Bogota, Colombia” and a member “of the inner circle of senior” TdA leadership.
Flores faces terrorism, international drug distribution, conspiring to provide and providing material to a designated foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy, and distribution of cocaine in Colombia intended for distribution in the United States.
President Donald Trump’s administration designated TdA as a foreign terrorist organization on February 20.
Authorities arrested Flores on March 30 in Colombia due to the U.S. arrest warrant.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel responded:
“TdA is not a street gang—it is a highly structured terrorist organization that put down roots in our country during the prior administration,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Digital. “Today’s charges represent an inflection point in how this Department of Justice will prosecute and ultimately dismantle this evil organization, which has destroyed American families and poisoned our communities.”
FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital that Tren de Aragua is a “violent arm of the Maduro regime operating inside our borders.”
“With these charges, we are using every available tool to confront them as the transnational threat they are,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “From drug trafficking and human smuggling to brutal violence, this group has inflicted chaos on American communities.”
Patel added: “Today’s indictment is a critical step in dismantling their network and holding its members accountable.”
RICO
Two Superseding Indictments charged 27 alleged current or former TdA members with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracy, robbery, and firearms offenses:
The first Superseding Indictment (the “TdA Indictment”) charges six alleged members of TdA. The second Superseding Indictment (the “Anti-Tren Indictment”) charges 19 alleged members of “Anti-Tren,” a splinter faction comprised of former TdA members, along with two additional associates of Anti-Tren. Of the 27 defendants, 21 are in federal custody, including 16 who were already in federal criminal, immigration, or state custody and five who were arrested last night and today in operations in New York and other jurisdictions.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “Today, we have filed charges against 27 alleged members, former members, and associates of Tren de Aragua, for committing murders and shootings, forcing young women trafficked from Venezuela into commercial sex work, robbing and extorting small businesses, and selling ‘tusi,’ a pink powdery drug that has become their calling card. Today’s Indictments make clear that this Office will work tirelessly to keep the law-abiding residents of New York City safe, and hold accountable those who bring violence to our streets.”
The indictment claims TdA and Anti-Tren smuggled young women into Peru and America for the cost of…commercial sex work. They referred to these women as “multadas.”
The DOJ accused the members of forcing compliance among these women by:
- Threatening to kill “multadas” and their families,
- Assaulting “multadas,”
- Shooting or killing “multadas,” and
- Tracking down and kidnapping “multadas” who tried to flee.
Venezuela
A senior Trump administration official told Fox News that the FBI believes some Venezuelan government officials helped move TdA members into America.
Fox News Digital has learned that the FBI assesses that some Venezuelan government officials are likely using Tren de Aragua members as proxies for the Maduro regime in an effort to destabilize Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and the United States. The official said the FBI assesses that this demonstrates Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s willingness to violate the territorial sovereignty of Venezuela’s neighbors to advance his regime’s policies.
The FBI assesses that in the next six to 18 months, Venezuelan government officials likely will attempt to leverage Tren de Aragua members in the United States as proxy actors to threaten, abduct and kill members of the Venezuelan diaspora in the United States who are vocal critics of Maduro and his regime.
The FBI expects an expansion of similar activities throughout South America.
The official said members of law enforcement across the country have long felt the Venezuelan government has something to do with the large number of TdA gang members in America.
But an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said something that makes me happy the government shipped TdA members to El Salvador instead of back to Venezuela:
The official said ODNI assesses that Tren de Aragua leaders historically have been “located and broadly benefited from conditions in Venezuela created by the Venezuelan government.”
“The Venezuelan government gives sanctuary to TdA, aiding and abetting their crimes and terrorist activities against the United States by enabling them to thrive,” the ODNI told Fox News Digital.
The official said that unlike most countries, the [Venezuelan Dictator Nicholas] Maduro regime has “been eager to welcome violent TdA criminals back to Venezuela, providing further proof they see them as allies. Again, this mirrors the behavior of the Taliban in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern failed states like Syria and Libya that have welcomed terrorists with open arms.”
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Comments
But RICO is not a crime.
AOC says it, and I believe it!
Actually, RICO wanted to date AOC when she was tending bar but she turned him down
Not quite. AOC wanted to date RICO but he turned her down.
RICO Suave?
Oh, RICO! I’ve heard of him. His first name is Puerto and he’s a distant cousin.
Diversity is our strength!
Amiright or amiright?
Clearly this subhuman filth needs to be imprisoned but their cell mates should be former Biden administration officials that allowed them to come here.
Shared language and culture would be our strength if we had it anymore. Don’t believe me? See Yugoslavia. Wait, there isn’t a Yugoslavia anymore.
For that matter see the Soviet Union. Wait they broke apart often along ethnic lines.
See Czechoslovakia. Wait they are now Czech and Slovak.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee released an ad lampooning Democrats’ overtures toward El Salvador and deportee Kilmar Garcia.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6371792624112
Expect protesters outside offering support for the TfA28, and a swath of contributions.
Why do TDSers that created the problems love these type people so much?
sick twisted m..fers
Gee, that sounds kind of like a state-sponsored invasion. Something that would trigger the alien enemies Act. You know, that thing all the stupid Communists say isn’t happening
The Trump administration is going after 27 innocent family men (doctors and engineers all) who just want to build a better life for themselves. They are entitled to endless due process until a judge can be found who will rule that these innocent lambs can stay in the United States forever.
rico is a very spanish name
so it fits