Terrifying spread of bloodthirsty Venezuelan super gang Tren de Aragua as they reach new US city: ‘Their tentacles are only getting stronger and longer’

A bloodthirsty Venezuelan super gang dubbed the “epitome of evil” has spread to yet another US city as police in Texas announced the arrests of dozens of people linked to Tren de Aragua.

In a pre-dawn operation, a small army of 150 officers raided an apartment complex taken over by members of Tren de Aragua in San Antonio on Saturday, arresting 19 people – four of whom were confirmed gang members.

TdA, as the South American gang is known to authorities, rose to power by selling drugs, child prostitution, sex trafficking and exploiting their own countrymen. In recent years, the TdA entered the US as a wave of Venezuelans arrived in the US during the Biden administration.

Gang members, designated by the US in July as a transnational criminal organization, have set up shop in US cities, unleashing a crime wave in cities including Aurora, New York and Chicago.

“This is everywhere: it’s Houston, it’s Dallas, it’s every big city, and this is the part that’s scary. These criminal elements, their tentacles, are just getting stronger and longer,” local congressman Tony Gonzales told Daily Mail.

Police arrested 19 people Saturday morning in connection with Tren de Aragua activity in San Antonio

More than 150 law enforcement officers from the federal government, Texas DPS and local police participated in the early morning raid

In San Antonio, gangsters squatted in empty units at the Palatia Apartments and used the spaces to sell drugs and human trafficking, Police Chief William McManus confirmed.

“One TdA member is a confirmed ‘enforcer’ for that gang, 15 of which were in the country illegally,” the city’s top cop added.

TdA had been active in San Antonio for several months, McManus explained, and its members sported red and exposed tattoos.

The gang had set up shop in an area of ​​the city near the Migrant Resource Center, a shelter run by the city of San Antonio and Catholic Charities that has welcomed more than 119,000 migrants since the city began tracking it in 2023.

An undercover agent operating at the migrant shelter was able to gather information that led to the operation, Fox San Antonio reported.

Gang members squatted in vacant buildings at an apartment complex in San Antonio

At least four of the people arrested on Saturday have been confirmed as gang members

The police chief added that authorities were aware of other locations where the criminals were operating and would make more arrests.

“We know who you are, and we’re coming for you,” McManus said. ‘This is only the first place we have reached. We have other places we’re going to attack.

TdA rose to national prominence in August after a video surfaced of armed members storming an apartment.

In that Denver suburb, the gang took over at least three apartment complexes, although attorneys for the properties argued that many more apartments were in the gang’s control.

An impressive report from a law firm representing the abuses, murder threats, extortion and even child prostitution of one of the apartment management companies.

“Prostitution makes a lot of money, and the problem with prostitution is that it brings in guys who they can then sell dope to,” Fabbricatore explains.

“These guys come in, meet these Johns and shake them down. See if they want to buy drugs. They’ve started moving these girls around, and when you go into these apartments, you see these young girls. It’s bad.’

TdA has been linked to crimes in the US, including the beating of a police officer in New York City and several violent robberies in Colorado.