Connect with us

Southwest

FBI fears Venezuela migrant gang members could potentially team up with MS-13 killers

Published

on

FBI fears Venezuela migrant gang members could potentially team up with MS-13 killers

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus get unlimited access to thousands of articles, videos and more with your free account!

Please enter a valid email address.

By entering your email, you are agreeing to Fox News Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided.

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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)

Advertisement

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

Advertisement

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)

Advertisement

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

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Los Angeles, Ca

Woman ambushed, violently attacked by robber in downtown Long Beach

Published

on

Woman ambushed, violently attacked by robber in downtown Long Beach

A woman was hospitalized with serious injuries after she was violently attacked by a robber in downtown Long Beach. On June 18, Jennifer Silva, 34, was attending a World Cup watch party at a Hooters restaurant at 90 Aquarium Way. After the game ended, she left the restaurant just before 11 p.m. As she walked […]

Continue Reading

Los Angeles, Ca

Jury says it is deadlocked in trial of man accused in Palisades Fire

Published

on

Jury says it is deadlocked in trial of man accused in Palisades Fire

Jurors deliberating the fate of the man accused of starting the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California’s history, failed to reach a verdict Thursday afternoon, telling the judge they were deadlocked.

A spokesperson from the United States Attorney’s Office told KTLA that jurors will continue to deliberate until they reach a verdict or give up.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, a former Uber driver and one-time Pacific Palisades resident, is accused of starting the Lachman Fire on New Year’s Eve. The fire continued to smolder underground for about a week, even after Los Angeles firefighters believed it had been extinguished.

Flames reignited on Jan. 7, erupting into the deadly Palisades Fire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in the upscale community, authorities said.

  • A courtroom sketch of Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, during his initial court appearance on Oct. 23, 2025.
  • Palisades Fire Suspect

Prosecutors argued that Rinderknecht deliberately set the fire, claiming he had grown increasingly resentful of wealthy residents and viewed Pacific Palisades as a symbol of that frustration.

“Their case, though circumstantial, is strong,” KTLA legal analyst Alison Triessl said. “The defense is relying on, can they (prosecutors) show beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Rinderknecht actually started this fire and it wasn’t the result of fireworks or some intervening cause.”

Advertisement

The defense argued there is no direct physical evidence tying Rinderknecht to the fire and said the prosecution’s case relies entirely on circumstantial evidence. Rinderknecht did not testify during the trial.

Defense attorney Steve Haney spoke outside the courthouse Wednesday about why he believes it will be difficult for prosecutors to prove how the fire started.

“The lack of scene preservation. The fact that they got there after a lot of the evidence was missing. Not a lot of direct evidence. This is a circumstantial case, which is always difficult as a prosecutor to prove,” Haney said.

Rinderknecht, who was arrested and indicted last October, faces up to 45 years in prison if found guilty of three arson counts, including destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire.

Tony Kurzweil contributed to this report

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Los Angeles, Ca

Boyle Heights warehouse cleanup begins as crews face 85 million pounds of spoiled food

Published

on

Boyle Heights warehouse cleanup begins as crews face 85 million pounds of spoiled food

Cleanup efforts are underway Thursday at the Boyle Heights cold-storage warehouse that burned for eight days after firefighters officially declared the massive blaze knocked down Wednesday evening. Los Angeles Fire Department crews remain at the Lineage warehouse near Union Pacific Avenue and South La Puente Street as they transition into the overhaul phase, searching for […]

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending