Report: Alleged takeover of Aurora, Colorado apartments by Venezuelan gang began in 2023

A violent transnational gang from Venezuela gained its first stranglehold on an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, late last year, according to a local report.

Members of the Tren de Aragua gang took over the Whispering Pines Apartments in 2023 and engaged in violent assaults, death threats, extortion, child prostitution and violence, Denver law firm Perkins Coie wrote in a nine-page report to city officials obtained by CBS News Colorado.

The firm was hired to investigate the alleged gang attack on the apartment building, the report said. Before releasing its report, it interviewed witnesses and reviewed video footage of the complex.

“The evidence we have reviewed suggests that gang members commit blatant trespassing, assault, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, illegal weapons possession, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelans and other immigrants,” T. Markus Funk, a former U.S. attorney, wrote in the letter.

Police: Members of the Tren de Araga gang arrested in Aurora, Colorado, in connection with the takeover of an apartment building

The company interviewed the apartment complex's property manager, who said he had “never experienced anything in his entire career that even remotely resembled Tren De Aragua's takeover of Whispering Pines.”

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The property manager, who has 15 years of experience, told the company that two gang members had been arrested because they apparently “wanted to kill” him over a late rent payment.

He also described how the gang collected “rent” from residents and allegedly stabbed one of the residents because he refused to pay. In June, the gang members approached the property manager and offered to help him if he paid the gang 50% of the rent collected, the report said.

“This is our business plan,” one gang member reportedly told a housekeeper who spoke to the company. “If he [the property manager] If that doesn’t work, we’ll rid him with bullets.”

The property manager told the company's investigators that “parties” were being held in the apartment complex's vacant apartments, where the gang offered “drugs and child prostitution,” adding that “minors were a good source of money.”

Aurora police respond to alleged presence of Venezuelan gangs in apartments: “We did not take them over”

Alleged gang activity in at least two Aurora apartment complexes has sparked intense investigations in recent days after surveillance video circulated online showing heavily armed men kicking in an apartment door.

The Tren de Aragua has its headquarters in Venezuela and has around 5,000 members in the South American country and the USA.

Last week, Aurora police denied claims that members of the Tren de Aragua gang had taken over a complex called “The Edge at Lowry,” but said authorities were aware of the gang’s alleged criminal activity in the area.

The ministry announced in August the creation of a special task force to help combat the presence of the Tren de Aragua.

On Wednesday, police released the names and photographs of two documented members of the Tren de Aragua gang and two suspected members who were arrested in July on attempted murder charges.

I'm glad @AuroraPD is finally starting to tell the truth and make arrests!” Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky wrote on X. “The citizens of Aurora deserve to feel safe!”

Jasmine Baehr of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

Source of the original article: Report: Alleged takeover of Aurora, Colorado apartments by Venezuelan gang began in 2023