Venezuela’s most violent gang, which has already sparked chaos across the US, has moved its headquarters to the outskirts of a major American city, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Dubbed the ‘epitome of evil’, the notorious criminal organization Tren de Aragua, or TdA as it is known by federal agents, previously operated out of an infamous South American prison so completely under gang leaders’ control that it had its own zoo, swimming pool and nightclub.
But after kingpin Hector Guerrero Flores escaped last year, the mafia moved its command center to Ciudad Juarez in Mexico on the US border – directly across from El Paso, Texas, local officials told DailyMail.com.
El Paso officials, who asked to remain anonymous, now fear gang violence will spill over into Texas’ sixth largest city – which is currently ranked among the top ten safest in America by the FBI.
Dozens of gangsters have already been caught trying to sneak into the US, with those who have been successful unleashing a terrifying crime wave across the country from Dallas to New York.
Border Patrol agents are now on high alert and have been warned to check migrants for telltale tattoos that can help identify gang members.
Venezuela’s most violent gang Tren de Aragua has moved its headquarters to just across the US border in the Mexican town of Ciudad Juarez
El Paso officials, who asked to remain anonymous, fear gang violence will spill over into Texas’ sixth largest city
Tren de Aragua gang tattoos (pictured above) were part of a Department of Homeland Security bulletin that was recently shared with federal agents
‘Tren de Aragua is the epitome of evil,’ Congressman Tony Gonzales, who represents El Paso, said.
‘This gang is known to rape children, spearhead murders, and cause widespread chaos.’
Law enforcement in El Paso is currently working on a confidential plan to address the growing threat, insiders told DailyMail.com
But Mexican authorities have been willing to speak more openly about TdA’s troubling arrival in Juarez.
‘We’re tracking them in Ciudad Juarez, that’s where they specifically have their principal point of operations,’ revealed the state secretary of public safety Gilberto Loya.
‘They’re not an easy gang to track, because they don’t act like a traditional gang.’
Members do not look or speak in a specific way – but are up to their old tricks, Loya explained.
Since forming behind the walls of the Tocoron Prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua, Tren de Aragua (Spanish for Train of Aragua) is now linked to widespread human and sex trafficking on the South American continent.
Law enforcement now considers the gang as dangerous as El Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.
The FBI is concerned El Tren de Aragua (pictured in a September prison raid) is linking up with other criminal networks such as the notorious MS-13
Last month, the US government designated Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization and announced a $5 million reward for the capture of its leader, Hector ‘El Nino’ Guerrero Flores
The gang boss escaped Venezuela’s Tocorón Penitentiary last year. When authorities went inside the prison, they found a professional baseball field, a zoo and a pool, among other amenities that they were able to have since gang bosses essentially ran the prison
Pictured: The on-site night club ‘Tokio’ is seen in pictures taken after the raid
TdA succeeded in transforming itself from a group of prison thugs to one of the most dangerous criminal gangs in the world partly because the Venezuelan government allowed its incarcerated leaders, known as Pranes, to run the penitentiary.
From there, TdA’s influence spread to neighborhoods across Venezuela through the establishment of alliances with smaller gangs, according to Insightcrime.org.
In 2018, the gang went international, moving over the border to neighboring Colombia where they began to exploit their countrymen fleeing the Venezuela’s communist regime.
‘While larger Colombian groups focused on drug trafficking, Tren de Aragua began to exploit Venezuelan migrants systematically, charging them extortion fees, smuggling them into and throughout Colombia, and taking control of various nodes of the human trafficking for sexual exploitation market,’ the crime publication stated.
Now in Northern Mexico, TdA is once again taking advantage of desperate migrants.
The kidnapping of South American and Central American migrants in Juarez has become commonplace, as the foreigners travel through Mexico on their way to the US
Last month Mexican officials rescued 22 migrants who had been kidnapped in Juarez and were being held in a shanty home
Migrants arrive in Juarez atop of train in April
Gangsters are charging huge fees to smuggle migrants to the US border and then into Texas.
However, the mobsters are also kidnapping migrants who have made it to the US-Mexico border without their help in a bid to make even more money.
‘According to the security reports we have, this group of Venezuelans, Tren de Aragua, control which migrants can ride the train,’ Mexico state prosecutor Carlos Manuel Salas said – referring to the many migrants who ride a top trains in Mexico to reach Juarez to avoid having to make the journey by foot.
The presence of the Venezuelan mob in Mexico has caused panic among migrants, many of whom are fleeing the very violence TdA created in their homeland.
‘They can do a lot of harm to us: they can make us disappear and many other things they can do to us,’ Ayari Cedeno, a migrant in Juarez waiting to cross into the US told a Spanish-speaking outlet.
Kidnapped migrants are often held captive in Juarez until TdA can get a ransom from the migrant’s family back home, with many women forced into prostitution.
Just three weeks ago, Mexican officials rescued 22 migrants who had been kidnapped in Juarez and were being held in a shanty home.
Alarmingly, many TdA members have already crossed into the US, as DailyMail.com was first to report, unleashing a wave of crime from Dallas to Miami to New York.
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
Former Venezuelan police officer Jose Luis Sanchez Valera, 43, who lived in Florida, was brutally murdered by Tren de Aragua gangster Yurwin Salazar, 23, (pictured) according to Miami officials
A memo by the Department of Homeland Security recently revealed that the TDA members in Denver have been given a ‘green light’ to shoot or attack police officers, reported Fox News.
The gang is also thought to have joined forces with other criminal networks in New York, unleashing violent schemes including brazen moped phone thefts.
And in Miami, Tren de Aragua gangster Yurwin Salazar, 23, stands accused of murdering former Venezuelan police officer Jose Luis Sanchez Valera, 43, according to officials.
At least 70 TdA thugs have been caught trying to sneak into the US through the southern border, according to US Border Patrol.
This year, 29 members have been stopped at the international boundary, while 41 were detained last year.
Border Patrol agents on the front lines are increasingly scrutinizing Venezuelan migrants who might have criminal ties.
One agent on the ground in West Texas described how he is now scanning every migrant he encounters for tattoos.
An AK-47 rifle tattoo on a suspected Tren de Aragua gang member who crossed into El Paso, Texas in April was shared by US Border Patrol
A Venezuelan migrant with some of the TdA signature tattoos was stopped trying to enter the US through El Paso in April, the US Border Patrol announced. The clock is among the gang member’s most common monikers
A crown, sometimes with the letters HJ, underneath it, is another well-known Tren de Aragua give-away
‘As soon as I see them, I ask them to lift their shirts or take it off if I see even a hint of a tattoo,’ the federal agent, who asked not to be identified, recounted.
Most agents across the southern border have been shown the tattoos associated with TdA, including a train (‘tren’ is Spanish for train).
Gang monikers also include a crown, a clock and an AK-47.
‘If they have any of those, they get flagged as possibly being gang members,’ the agent explained.
He added that when he questions migrants about the markings on their body, most will either admit to being a gang member and stop talking all together, or they will confirm they had been a member previously but fled their country to get away.
Either way, the admission often means they will not be released into the country.
However, not all TdA members have tattoos, which is how they have been able to infiltrate communities across the country.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R) represents a Congressional district that stretches from El Paso to San Antonio and includes over 400 miles of US-Mexico border
In San Antonio, the local sheriff is starting to see TdA members appear in jails, Rep. Gonzales told DailyMail.com.
‘I’m working with Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar to create the first intelligence unit located within a jail in Texas. This initiative will go a long way in helping law enforcement at all levels combat gang activity,’ the member of Congress explained.
‘The unit would be located within the Bexar County Jail – which is the largest jail near the Texas-Mexico border,’ he added.
Rep. Gonzales, whose district stretches from El Paso to San Antonio and includes most of the Texas border, has been sounding the alarm about TdA.
‘Now it’s time for action. Designating Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization was step one.
‘Step two is strengthening our intelligence capabilities to ensure our law enforcement personnel have the tools they need to track down these criminals,’ he said.
The House Republican had been urging President Biden to designate TdA a transnational criminal organization for months – and it finally did so in July.
‘Today’s designation of Tren de Aragua as a significant Transnational Criminal Organization underscores the escalating threat it poses to American communities,’ Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said last month.
TdA’s leader remains on the run with a $5 million bounty from the US government on his head.
