News/Commentary

Violent Venezuelan gang seizes apartment buildings, terrorize quiet American town, and beyond: report

August 27, 2024 | | Print Article

A violent Venezuelan prison gang even more hardcore than MS-13 has reportedly set up shop in Aurora, Colorado, all thanks to local officials’ decision to welcome criminal aliens with open arms.

“Aurora — a quiet bedroom community with a population of 390,000 directly east of the Mile-High City — has become a base of operations for the brutal Tren de Aragua gang, which has seized multiple apartment complexes and set off a wave of violent crime,” the New York Post notes.

The takeover was reportedly led by Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino, a gang leader who goes by “Galleta,” which is Spanish for “cookie.”

Within months of arriving in the country, he and his crew beat up a man at an Aurora apartment complex that they’d taken over.

Pacheco-Chirino was arrested again in July for opening fire inside the same apartment complex and injuring two men.

According to the Post, members of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang have been accused of committing a number of violent crimes across the country, including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

Tren de Aragua gang members were also responsible for shooting two New York Police Department officers during a June arrest.

A local investor who’s affiliated with a company that owns several apartment complexes in Aurora told the New York Post that there was a “massive shootout” at one of the properties some time ago.

“I’m scared that this could happen in America,” the investor said, adding that the company has “lost control” of several properties because of the gang.

“They were first hanging out around the property and creating a bad element that’s constantly there. And then they started taking over, quite a few months ago, they started taking over vacant units,” they added.

Eventually, TDA gang members began to rent units out to criminal aliens whom they reportedly “threatened.” They also reportedly terrorized the apartment buildings’ staff, forcing them to flee.

Earlier this August, the Aurora Police Department announced that it’d formed a task force with the Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to deal with this growing threat.

“APD will not tolerate violent crime in our communities,” the police said in a statement.

John Fabbricatore, a former ICE official who’s now running for Congress, complained to the Post that local officials have been slow to react to the gang’s growing presence.

“It’s become increasingly clear that certain city officials, including the Aurora Police Department, have downplayed or ignored the criminal activities affecting many neighborhoods in North Aurora,” he said.

“Notably, illegal immigrant gang activities have been present in specific apartment complexes throughout Aurora, yet these issues have been understated for what appear to be ideological reasons,” he added.

It seems like he has a point because when questioned by the Post, Denver police union boss Marc Sears claimed it’s “absolutely inaccurate” to say the gang is taking over the city.

“They’re not any different than any other documented gang that we have,” he claimed. “I can tell you that the officers, is there a concern about this quote-unquote ‘green light’ that they have on officers. Sure, there’s a concern about it, but in my opinion, as the union president, I feel that we have been green-lighted since 2020.”

By the “green light,” he meant reports that TDA members have been given a “green light” to open fire on the police.

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles