Southwest
FBI fears Venezuela migrant gang members could potentially team up with MS-13 killers
The infamous and bloodthirsty MS-13 gang may be exploring an alliance with a gang of Venezuelan migrants blamed for a crime wave in New York City and trying to plant roots in other parts of the United States, according to the FBI.
MS-13 is known to pragmatically form and break alliances with other criminal groups, according to an FBI threat assessment, ranging from “tenuous alliances” and “vicious rivalries” depending on its needs.
The NYPD last week announced a crackdown on a Venezuelan gang after linking it to more than 62 robberies in four of the city’s five boroughs. That gang is now believed to be Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan organization with international ambitions. While there’s no clear connection between the two transnational gangs, the FBI is monitoring for “emerging threats.”
“The sharing of intelligence allows our law enforcement partners to identify whether these threats are affecting their communities and provides them the ability to be proactive in combating those threats,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Violent transnational organizations which may pose threats to American communities are a top criminal priority for the FBI.”
ILLEGAL MASTERMINDS OF NYC ROBBERY RING HACKED BANK APPS, RESOLD STOLEN PHONES OVERSEAS
Carlos Tiberio Ramirez, one of the leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, attends the Day of the Virgin of Mercy celebrations at the female prison in San Salvador Sept. 24, 2012. Ramirez has been wanted on federal charges out of New York since September 2022 in connection with MS-13’s violent conduct and drug trafficking. (REUTERS/Ulises Rodriguez)
One attack, caught on video, shows a pair of muggers dragging a woman by her purse from the back of a scooter before they tore it loose and she slid into a metal pole. The gang used social media to recruit thieves to snatch specific model phones, according to the NYPD, and then used hackers to break into them and drain bank accounts and payment apps.
Once the money runs out, the phones are then shipped to Colombia to be reprogrammed and resold, police said.
The New York Post on Monday identified Tren de Aragua as the gang behind New York City’s soaring robberies, adding the gang was taking advantage of the Big Apple’s sanctuary policies to plant members in the U.S. and generate profits for its “sprawling criminal empire.”
“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,” El Paso FBI Special Agent in Charge John Morales told 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.”
The gang began in a Venezuelan prison, according to Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector, and has expanded recruitment efforts and its footprint in other countries, including the U.S.
Peruvian police carry out the transfer of several members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization in Lima Oct. 5, 2023. (Cris Bouroncle/AFP via Getty Images)
The gang’s presence on American soil is new, he told Fox News Digital, as it has cropped up on the radars of law enforcement in New York, Texas and Miami.
“[I] don’t ever recall dealing with them as an organized entity,” when he was on the job just a few years ago, Mauro said.
NYPD RELEASES MIGRANT RAID PHOTOS AS SOFT-ON-CRIME LEADERS FACE NATIONAL OUTRAGE
Tren de Aragua began its international expansion with a turf war across the Colombia border in 2018, according to InSight Crime, a nonprofit group that studies criminal organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Facing tough competition in the drug trafficking business, the gang took up human trafficking and smuggling instead.
WATCH: NYC moped mugging caught on video
MIGRANT ARRESTED IN SPAT WITH POLICE AFTER SHOWING OFF NYPD ATTACK VIDEO
As it expanded, it violently seized territory from smaller local groups, according to the nonprofit. It now operates in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil, in addition to its new efforts in the U.S.
In Lima, Peru, the turf war left 24 prostitutes dead, and the group allegedly posted videos of some of the murders online to scare off competition, according to the Post.
MS-13 was well established in parts of the U.S. when Donald Trump became president in 2016 and began targeting members for deportation after a spate of brutal murders involving machetes, knives and other primitive weapons.
An MS-13 gang member gestures inside one of the three “gang cages” in the Quezaltepeque police station May 20, 2013, in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Giles Clarke/Getty Images)
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In 2022, five years after a group of MS-13 members brutally executed four young men on Long Island, the local ringleader “Diablita,” or “Little Devil,” was convicted of federal racketeering and murder charges.
The victims, non-gang members, were murdered because photos of them emerged online showing them flashing MS-13 hand signals. The gang also killed two teenage girls in the area in September 2016. A month later, carrying bats and machetes, they beat a 34-year-old man to death, believing he was a rival gang member.
The following January, they gunned down a 29-year-old man in a deli because he was wearing a football jersey with the number 18 on it, according to federal prosecutors.
Read the full article from Here
Los Angeles, Ca
L.A. police shoot knife-wielding man during response to assault call
A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
Los Angeles, Ca
Rip tides, high surf forecast for Los Angeles beaches this weekend
Dangerous rip currents and high surf are forecast for Los Angeles County beaches, including the Malibu Coast this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous beach statement, warning of the potentially deadly beach conditions. The dangerous conditions are forecast to last from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
“There is an increased risk of ocean drowning,” the NWS forecast reads. “Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea. Waves can wash people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats nearshore.”
Minor Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible through the weekend. The flooding is most likely to occur during evening high tides from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Beachgoers are advised to stay out of the water and remain near lifeguard towers. Jetties and tidepools are also especially dangerous during the weekend forecast.
“Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks,” the NWS forecast reads.
Similar hazardous beach conditions are also in the forecast for Santa Barbara County. A high surf advisory is also in effect for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties this weekend, where 10 to 15-foot waves will be possible.
Los Angeles, Ca
Los Angeles releases searchable list of worst rental properties
If you live or want to live in Los Angeles, the city controller has released a new dashboard highlighting some of the city’s most notorious problem rental properties, a tool designed to help renters avoid future headaches.
“This project comes at a time when tenants are reporting harassment and illegal evictions violating the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and Tenant Anti‑Harassment Ordinance, but very few of the complaints end up leading to strong enforcement or real accountability,” L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a media release Thursday.
The new Top 100 Problem Rental Properties dashboard includes a searchable database of all residential addresses with reported housing violation cases within the city of Los Angeles, a ranked list of the 100 addresses with the most violations and an interactive map.
“There has never before been an uncomplicated way for anyone to look up years’ worth of violations by address,” Mejia said in the release.
Data for the dashboard was compiled from multiple sources, including the Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles City Planning and the L.A. County Assessor’s Office, according to the controller’s office.
The release also identified the top three addresses with the highest number of reported housing violations:
1. 636 1/2 North Hill Place, Chinatown
192 housing violation cases
2. 11700 West Wilshire Boulevard, Sawtelle
166 housing violation cases
3. 6650 West Forest Lawn Drive, Hollywood Hills
113 housing violation cases
“Our new dashboard is an easy‑to‑understand public tool that we hope will help renters and organizers document patterns of harm, as well as put pressure on both landlords and the City to act,” Mejia said. “Everyone deserves safe, stable and dignified housing.”
-
Cleveland, OH5 minutes agoPlan ahead: Road closures and where to watch the Cleveland Marathon
-
Austin, TX11 minutes agoTexas Softball Keeps Cruising in Austin Regional, Shuts Out Wisconsin
-
Alabama17 minutes ago‘They may draw racist maps, but we are the south’: thousands rally in Alabama for Black voting rights
-
Alaska23 minutes agoRoyal Caribbean Changes Disembarkation Port for Alaska Cruise – Cruise Industry News
-
Arizona29 minutes agoArizona high school band to perform at America’s 250th birthday parade
-
Arkansas35 minutes agoCourtney Deifel press conference: Arkansas softball coach, players recap 9-1 win over USF at NCAA Fayetteville Regional | Whole Hog Sports
-
California41 minutes agoGovernor’s Race: Katie Porter speaks 1-on-1 on strengths, criticisms and priorities for California
-
Colorado47 minutes agoKeeler: Colorado’s best prep distance runner? Niwot’s Addison Ritzenhein makes case with 4A record
