A dangerous Venezuelan gang has taken over at least four apartment complexes in San Antonio, Texas, as it expands its reach in yet another America city, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Dubbed the ‘epitome of evil’, Tren de Aragua (TdA) is known to run drug smuggling, child prostitution and human trafficking rings in South America, with its members crossing over into the US in recent years amid a wave of Venezuelan migrants.
The tattooed mobsters have since unleashed a wave of crime across the country from Miami and Texas to Denver and New York.
The gang’s activities in the American cities are back in the spotlight after ABC News’ Martha Raddatz claimed the instances of gang members’ presence in apartments was limited to a ‘handful’ of complexes in Aurora, Colorado.
Just last week a small army of police officers raided an apartment complex in San Antonio and arrested 19 individuals – including four gang members.
Law enforcement sources confirmed TdA had been operating at the Palatia Apartments for five to six months – squatting in empty units they either rented out to other migrants, used as a base to deal cocaine or, most horrifically, as prostitution dens to pimp out women and children.
But now DailyMail.com can reveal that this apartment invasion is just the tip of the iceberg in the major southern Texas city, with at least three other rental properties also occupied by the criminal organization.
Tren de Aragua had been operating at the Palatia Apartment Homes near the city’s airport for a few months, before hundreds of officers raided the property Oct. 5, according to the San Antonio Police Department
Mountains of trash were left behind after the raid, including dozens of sofas and mattresses that had been cleared out of the apartments where gang members were forcing people into prostitution
DailyMail.com is not naming the three other apartment complexes to avoid jeopardizing ongoing police investigations.
However, the locations were confirmed by law enforcement sources, and we spent days visiting the sites where we spoke to terrified residents.
The rise of Tren de Aragua in America
In a pre-dawn operation, hundreds of law enforcement officers closed in on the sprawling Palatia Apartments in the early hours of October 5 after spending weeks investigating reports that Tren de Aragua had control of the area.
Neighbors recounted how they awoke to the sound of helicopters, drones, and doors being kicked in at around 5 a.m.
‘Every department was here. They were wearing helmets and body armor,’ said one female resident who asked to remain anonymous.
Dozens of apartment units at Palatia showed signs of the raid, including where police had breached doors with battering rams
Eviction notices could be seen at units at the Palatia apartments where police made arrests connected to Tren de Aragua
‘My husband came outside in his boxers and had a rifle held to him. They said, “Who are you?” He said, “I live here.” They asked, “Where are you from?” He said Pennsylvania and that was the end of that.’
After searching over 300 units, cops arrested 19 individuals – four of which have been confirmed as gang members.
‘One TdA member is a confirmed “enforcer” for that gang,’ and 15 were in the country illegally,’ the city’s top cop William McManus said.
Mobsters, who brazenly showed off gang tattoos, or wore red clothing, were squatting in empty units where they sold drugs or humans, he added.
‘They had women and children and were prostituting the women and the children,’ said one resident.
‘There was a lot of them and watching all the women and children being put into a paddy wagon, I was like, “Aah!”‘
TdA had also threatened apartment property staffers who discovered their criminal schemes.
The gang’s San Antonio activity almost exactly mirrored what was happening in Aurora, Colorado– where a video of armed gang members storming an apartment made national headlines in August.
At least four of the people arrested on Ocober 5 in San Antonio have been confirmed as gang members
Gang members were squatting in vacant units of a San Antonio apartment complex and using them to sell drugs or as prostitution dens
Tren de Aragua gang graffiti covers the walls inside an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado
The gang took over at least three apartment complexes in the Denver suburb – though lawyers for the properties alleged there were many more rentals in the gang’s grip.
A bombshell report by a law firm that represents one of the apartment management companies found the gang engaged in assaults of apartments staff, threats of murder, extortion and child prostitution.
‘Prostitution is a big money-maker, and the thing with prostitution is that it brings guys in that they can then sell dope to,’ former Colorado ICE director John Fabbricatore told DailyMail.com in September.
‘These guys come in, they meet these Johns and shake them down. See if they want to buy drugs. They’ve started with moving these girls through, and if you go in these apartments, you’ll see these young girls. It’s bad.’
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TdA is known to hide among its own law-abiding, asylum-seeking countrymen – not just to blend in, but to also exploit their own people.
The mob transformed from a Venezuelan prison gang to an international criminal ring by smuggling desperate citizens out of the country as they fled communist dictator Nicolás Maduro – profiting from a legitimate humanitarian crisis.
Since 2014, nearly eight million Venezuelans have left their homeland, according to the United Nations. Many went to neighboring South American countries where TdA followed. Now the same thing is happening in the US.
As DailyMail.com exclusively reported, TdA moved its new headquarters to the US-Mexico border in Juarez, Mexico, where it is kidnapping asylum-seeking migrants who are attempting to enter America.
In South Texas, TdA set up shop in an area of just north of San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center, a shelter run by Catholic Charities that has welcomed over 120,000 migrants since the organization starting tracking numbers in 2023.
Migrants seeking to enter the United States through a barbed-wire fence installed along the Rio Grande are driven away with pepper spray shots by Texas National Guard agents at the border with Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, on May 13
Venezuela’s most violent gang Tren de Aragua has moved its headquarters to just across the US border in the Mexican town of Ciudad Juarez
An undercover officer operating in the migrant shelter was able to gather intelligence that led to the operation at Palatia Apartments, Fox San Antonio reported.
The local police chief added that authorities knew of other locations where the criminals were operating and would be making more arrests.
‘We know who you are, and we’re coming for you,’ McManus warned. ‘This is just the first place that we’re hitting. We’ve got other places that we’re going to hit.’
The spread of TdA in San Antonio
TdA is now believed to be replicating what it did at the Palatia Apartments at three other properties San Antonio, using the units they occupy to illegally make money.
At these properties, residents and workers described Venezuelan men flooding the buildings in recent months.
They claimed the new arrivals stand out partly because they have gone out of their way to intimidate anyone they come across.
‘They act like they own the place,’ said one resident, who asked to remain anonymous because she feared for her safety.
‘There’s one Venezuelan here – they call him “the boss” and his face is covered in tattoos. I’m honestly afraid of him.’
Two of the 19 individuals arrested during the Oct. 19 raid at the Palatia Apartments in San Antonio where authorities say Tren de Aragua had been operating
She described how nearly every single unit in the back row of her complex is now occupied by Venezuelan men who do not go to work but are still seemingly able to make rent.
They also appear to be cramming people into one-bedroom apartments, she added.
At a different property, a maintenance worker said they believe TdA members are living there because he has seen Venezuelans walking around shamelessly showing off well-known Tren de Aragua tattoos.
‘They don’t care to be discreet about who they are,’ the worker added. ‘I think in their country, being a part of that group is a big deal, so maybe they feel it’s a big deal here, too.’
The maintenance worker was able to give detailed descriptions of the well-known train tattoo associated with TdA. (Tren de Aragua is Spanish for ‘train from Aragua’ -the Venezuelan province where the group originated.)
The worker said they have also seen men walking around with rifles and Michael Jordan branding on their skin, which are similarly well-known TdA markings.
At the fourth property suspected of being TdA-run, no one dared speak about the gang and its presence in San Antonio – and simply closed the door or ignored questions.
However, one man wearing red appeared to be acting as a look-out and spotted the DailyMail team in the area.
He was seen darting in and out of several buildings as he seemingly passed along information via cell phone.
Later, a different man approached the DailyMail.com team as we waiting in a car, taking pictures of our license plates.
Locals fear for their safety
‘We assure our community and members of the public that we are committed to their safety, and we are on top of this TdA issue,’ San Antonio police chief William McManus said after the Oct. 5 raid.
But while most residents believe the cops are doing everything they can to track down TdA and take them off the streets, they say city hall is treating the threat very differently.
‘I think that they (city hall) are completely under-representing the presence here in San Antonio, based on our own members and what we’re seeing with governmental agencies,’ Joe Jones, president of the San Antonio fire fighter’s association, told DailyMail.com.
He first went to the city manager about two weeks ago to ask about TdA after fire fighters who respond to emergencies in the area where the gang is operating became concerned for their safety.
‘They come back, “there’s no credible threat to public safety,” Jones recounted.
He is particularly concerned as fire fighters wear similar uniforms to police officers, however, fire fighters are not armed.
Tren de Aragua gang tattoos (pictured above) were part of a Department of Homeland Security bulletin that was recently shared with federal agents
An AK-47 rifle tattoo on a suspected Tren de Aragua gang member who crossed into El Paso, Texas in April was shared by US Border Patrol
A crown, sometimes with the letters HJ, underneath it, is another well-known Tren de Aragua give-away
Earlier this year, law enforcement warned that TdA leadership had given its goons the green light to shoot American cops, reported Fox News.
‘The response from city management was exceptionally underwhelming, especially when the safety of fire fighters and paramedics is involved,’ Jones said.
Days after city hall downplayed TdA’s threat in San Antonio, the police sweep at Palatia netted 19 arrests.
The San Antonio Police Department did not respond to DailyMail.com’s multiple requests for comment, including how many TdA members they have encountered in South Texas.
