A New York City drug trafficking and credit card scam bust this week netted two Tren de Aragua gang members allegedly tied to an apartment invasion in Aurora, Colorado earlier his year.
Denyeer Aramillo Meneses, 23, and Edison Pena Angulo, 25, were among the 15 suspected members of the Venezuelan migrant gang who were arrested in the raid in the Bronx, reports the New York Post.
A cache of assault rifles was also seized in the raid, coming after a months-long investigation led by a gang task force of the New York City Police Department and U.S. Homeland Security, law enforcement sources said.
"Enough already with these guys," a law enforcement source told the Post. "[TDA's] time is up."
Meneses and Angulo are allegedly among the gang members who crashed into an apartment in Aurora in August, with video from the burglary that was caught on camera making national headlines.
Aurora police issued warrants for Meneses and Angulo on Oct. 1, according to 9 News in Denver. They are both wanted on charges of first-degree burglary and menacing with a firearm.
The New York arrests come after a six-month-long investigation into violent gang crimes. Sources say the drug ring was running from the Bronx into lower Manhattan, with the group allegedly selling drugs including heroin, fake marijuana, and the synthetic drug Tusi, also referred to as pink cocaine. It is often laced with ketamine, MDMA, or fentanyl.
Weapons seized in the raid included three assault rifles, two pistols, and ammunition cans packed with cartridges, law enforcement sources said.
The charges against the suspects are under a federal indictment and remain sealed.
In Aurora, police said Meneses, Angulo, and four other armed men were caught on camera at The Edge at Lowry Complex apartments on Aug. 18 minutes before another man, Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo, 25, was shot and killed, according to local news reports.
Five of the men were armed with handguns and another with a rifle and had broken into two apartment doors and threatened people inside, police said.
The video emerged after the Post identified Venezuelan prison gang "shot-caller" Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino, who had taken part in an assault and shooting at another Aurora apartment complex.
According to court documents, the building was shut down over code violations that the owners said couldn't be fixed, as the gang took over the complex.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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