NYC and Chicago Police Try to Curb Growth of Tren de Aragua Gang

The Venezuelan gang, Tren De Aragua, has reached New York City. The gang started in a Venezuelan prison and then moved to the United States and other countries.

According to New York police, the gang is behind a series of shoplifting crimes targeting high-end items.

Officers have also linked Tren De Aragua to ride-by robberies, when gang members ride around on scooters and take people’s cell phones and expensive watches on the street.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said there were 415 scooter-related robberies in early June. As of Sept. 10, that number has doubled.

So far, the NYPD has identified 24 Tren De Aragua members out of the city’s 14,000 known gang members. But they believe the number of Tren De Aragua members is much higher. Police say they’ve been quick to adapt. It’s believed the gang recruits members arriving in the U.S. from the city’s migrant shelters.

Tensions are rising on the South Side of Chicago as members of the Tren De Aragua have also moved into the area, with some fearing a turf war between local gangs and their Venezuelan counterparts.

Tyronne Muhammad, a former Chicago gang member who served 20 years in prison, told the New York Post: “When the black gangs here get tired of the illegality and criminal activity of these immigrants or non-citizens, the city of Chicago will go up in flames and there will be nothing the National Guard or the government can do when the bloodshed happens in the streets. It will be blacks against immigrants.”

Police in Aurora, Colorado, have confirmed the presence of Venezuelan gangs after a video of gang members with guns in an apartment building went viral. They are still investigating whether that incident is specifically linked to Tren De Aragua.