DOJ hits Tren de Aragua gang members with RICO charges for murder, sex trafficking
More than two dozen people who federal prosecutors say are current or past members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang have been charged in connection with racketeering, sex trafficking and drug trafficking conspiracies in the New York City area.
The Justice Department announced two indictments that charged alleged gang members with a litany of crimes such as murder, robbing and extorting small businesses, forcing women trafficked from Venezuela to be sex workers and selling a "pink powdery drug," said Matthew Podolsky, acting U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York.
He added that the drug, called pink cocaine, is the gang's calling card.
“As alleged, Tren de Aragua is not just a street gang – it is a highly structured terrorist organization that has destroyed American families with brutal violence, engaged in human trafficking, and spread deadly drugs through our communities,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
The Department of State designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization in February.
Twenty-one of the 27 charged are in federal custody, the Justice Department said. Five were arrested recently in New York State and other states. Bondi added that the arrests will "devastate" the gang's infrastructure.
Six people believed to be members of Tren de Aragua were charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The group, stylized as TdA, started as a prison gang in Venezuela and grew to a "transnational criminal organization" led by Hector Guerrero Flores, the Department of State said in July. The gang is believed to be active in the U.S., Chile and Peru. Under Flores' leadership, the gang has controlled gold mines in Bolivar and drug corridors on the Caribbean coast and in border crossings between Venezuela and Colombia.
New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tren de Aragua is being charged "for the first time ever" as a criminal enterprise.
"This isn’t just street crime — it’s organized racketeering, and this gang has shown zero regard for the safety of New Yorkers," Tisch said. "As alleged in the indictment, these defendants wreaked havoc in our communities, trafficking women for sexual exploitation, flooding our streets with drugs, and committing violent crimes with illegal guns."
Six TdA members charged with RICO Act crimes
According to court papers, Tren de Aragua maintained its power through murders, assaults, robberies and threats of violence. Federal prosecutors said many of those threats and acts were carried out against those allied with Anti-Tren.
The six charged are: Jarwin Valero-Calderon, also known as “La Fama;" Samuel Gonzalez Castro, also known as “Klei” and “Kley;” Eferson Morillo-Gomez, also known as “Jefferson” and “Efe Trebol;” Brayan Oliveros-Chero; Sandro Oliveros-Chero; and Armando Jose Perez Gonzalez, also known as “Biblia.”
Federal prosecutors said the six charged smuggled Venezuelan women into Peru and the United States, and then forced them into becoming sex workers to pay off debts they owed to the gang.
Tren de Aragua members have violently coerced the women into remaining as sex workers, according to federal prosecutors. Violence included killing or assaulting the women, kidnapping anyone who tried to flee and threatening to harm their families.
The Justice Department said that the six men are also charged with a drug trafficking conspiracy for transporting controlled substances like "tusi" into the country. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said tusi is a compound substance called pink cocaine that produces hallucinogenic effects. The actual compound doesn't always have cocaine in it, despite its name, but the DEA says the compound can be a mixture of ketamine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, xylazine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).
"Pink cocaine is dyed pink to distinguish it from other substances such as cocaine and methamphetamine. The distinct pink color comes from food dye or colored baking powder," the agency said.
Rival Anti-Tren members, associates face RICO charges
According to court papers, 21 people charged include members or associates of Tren de Aragua's rival, Anti-Tren. They face prosecution for violently exerting their power in the NYC metro area from 2022 to 2025 through murder, assaults and threats. The charges were issued under the RICO Act.
A number of the Anti-Tren defendants and codefendants Wilfredo Jose Avendaño Carrizalez and Carlos Gabriel Santos Mogollon were charged with sex trafficking, drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, firearms offenses and conspiracy to import and harbor immigrants, according to court papers.
In one instance, federal prosecutors wrote that Velasquez-Hurtado attempted to prevent law enforcement from executing a search warrant in the winter by biting the officers. They added that Anti-Tren operated similarly to TdA in that they wielded violence to keep human trafficking victims under their control, trafficked controlled substances like pink cocaine and illegally obtained firearms and ammunition.
Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at knurse@USATODAY.com. Follow her on X @KrystalRNurse, and on BlueSky @krystalrnuse.bsky.social.