27 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members indicted in NYC, officials say
The feds used mob-fighting racketeering laws to arrest 27 alleged members of a dangerous street gang known as Tren de Aragua.
They've been indicted on charges ranging from racketeering, sex trafficking, narcotics, robbery, carjacking and firearms possession, authorities said Tuesday.
The indictments were a result of cooperation between the NYPD and Homeland Security Investigations personnel, officials said.
The indictment was used by White House "border czar" Tom Homan and New York City Mayor Eric Adams to cement their partnership in ridding the city of migrants who commit crimes. They also used it as an occasion to insist that opening an ICE office on Rikers Island is the right thing to do.
"Today, you see one step, one small step, and many more steps to come to make this country safe, and help Mayor Adams and the police commissioner in any way to rid this city of illegal alien public safety threats and national security threats," Homan said.
Homan took the lead in announcing the indictment. Charges included smuggling young women, called multadas, from Venezuela into Peru and the United States for use in the sex trade, trafficking controlled substances including a mixed street drug that contains ketamine, helping associates to flee prosecution, intimidating and threatening violence against potential witnesses, and armed robberies.
He also extolled his partnership with Adams.
"Every member of TDA should be on the run"
"Every member of TDA should be on the run," Homan said. "This is what collaboration looks like. This is why I've been working with Mayor Adams since November. I never asked the city or the NYPD to be immigration officers, I asked them to work with us on significant public safety threats and national security threats, and that's what we're committed to doing."
Homan addressed a lawsuit that's preventing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement from opening an office on Rikers Island. He said the office would help the feds nail more violent criminals.
"I hope the people that filed the lawsuit see this press conference today, because what you see today is the result of collaboration between local and federal law enforcement," Homan said. "This is what law enforcement's about. This is the results you get when cops work with cops, bottom line."
"My mission is to rid every one of these dangerous gangs from our city. I'm unapologetic about it," Adams said. "That mission was pre-election, it's the same post-election."
"The question we must answer: Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of those who are carrying these illegal guns, wreaking havoc, sex trafficking, harming innocent people regardless of their documentation? Or are you on the side of hardworking New Yorkers and Americans. I'm clear on which side I'm on. I'm on the side of those I protected as a cop, state senator, borough president and now the mayor of the city of New York. That's the side I'm on. And I'm clear on it, and I'm not apologizing for those who carry these illegal guns wreaking havoc on communities," Adams added.
Adams, accompanied by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry, made a point of looking at the table of 33 guns that had been confiscated from alleged gang members.
