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.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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A broken water main sent water gushing from an apartment building and turned nearby streets into rivers in West Hollywood early Thursday morning. The break was reported around 3 a.m. near Holloway Drive and Sunset Boulevard. “It’s a rupture of one of the significant mains that goes through here. West Hollywood, as it turns out, […]
After more than four decades, the remains of a woman who was found buried in the mountains of Riverside County were identified as a multi-millionaire who went missing in 1981.
The body of Thelma Gaston was discovered by a person gathering firewood in a mountainous area near Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Pinyon Crest community on Nov. 28, 1981.
After experiencing a series of heartbreaking life events, including the death of her husband and her 32-year-old son in the same year in 1957, Gaston continued forging ahead, focusing on her business of buying repossessed properties and selling them.
By 1980, she had amassed a fortune estimated to be over $20 million, SFGATE reported.
On June 28, 1981, a note was left on the front door of her home near Century City, saying she was out searching for her cat. However, she never returned home and her loved ones did not hear from her.
By then, Gaston was 80 years old. As Los Angeles Police Department detectives investigated her disappearance, they discovered a younger man, Lawrence Remsen, then 39, had recently entered her life and was the woman’s romantic companion, SFGATE reported.
At one point, the woman’s friends said Gaston had wondered about Remsen’s motives in being with her.
Police eventually found letters and documents reportedly signed by Gaston that gave Remsen power of attorney. Another letter allegedly written by the woman claimed she had run away “to have some fun in life.” However, her friends said the move was completely out of character.
Detectives later confirmed the letters were certified with a stolen notary stamp and her signatures were believed to be forged.
Remsen had tried selling some of Gaston’s properties and attempted to withdraw more than $100,000 from her bank accounts. Remsen eventually fled the Southern California area.
A few months later, he was arrested by border agents when he tried to enter the U.S. from Mexico. He was charged with Gaston’s murder even though the woman’s body had not been found.
During a trial hearing, Remsen later claimed he found the woman dead of natural causes in her home and, attempting to take her fortune, had disposed of her body in the ocean.
The judge disagreed and later ruled that Remsen had killed the woman “intentionally and with malice.” He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Gaston’s body was later discovered buried in a shallow grave in the mountains. However, due to the poor condition of the remains, investigators were unable to narrow down an identity.
A breakthrough occurred in 2022 when the Riverside County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau received new funding to reexamine long-standing unidentified cases.
“Combined with significant advances in forensic science, this funding opened new avenues for identification,” the sheriff’s office said.
In May 2026, utilizing investigative genetic genealogy and dental records, the remains were positively identified as Gaston’s.
“The Riverside Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau extends its sincere appreciation to everyone whose dedication, expertise, and perseverance made this identification possible,” officials said in a statement. “Together, these efforts have ensured that Ms. Gaston has her name—and her story—returned to her.”
Remsen, who is now 83 years old, continues serving his life sentence at the California Institution for Men in Chino.
Southern California remains under an extreme heat warning as residents brace for the hottest day of the week on Wednesday.
“It will be roasty toasty in the valleys, lower mountain elevations and far interior, with highs ranging from 100 to 110 degrees,” the National Weather Service said. The warmest conditions are expected in the western San Fernando Valley.
An extreme heat warning remains in effect for much of Southern California until 8 p.m. Thursday. Forecasters say there is a high risk of heat-related illness for anyone outdoors for extended periods. Heat advisories are also in place for areas along the coast.
“Highs for today: 98 in Ojai, 100 in Ontario. Temecula, good morning to you, 100 degrees expected there. 112 in Palm Springs. Unbelievably hot,” KTLA’s Kirk Hawkins said Wednesday morning.
Residents are urged to adjust their afternoon plans to limit strenuous outdoor activities during the heat of the day, stay hydrated and check in on elderly neighbors and loved ones.
The Weather Service said record highs are slightly warmer than those forecast for Wednesday. As a result, despite the extremely hot conditions, few, if any, temperature records are expected to be broken.
A few degrees of cooling are expected Thursday, but a more significant cooldown will arrive Friday as onshore winds increase.
Afternoon highs are expected to cool even more over the weekend, with below-average temperatures possible in some areas.
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