Young migrant gang tied to Times Square robberies: 'Brazen, ruthless'
NYPD Detective Bureau Asst. Chief Jason Savino explains why there needs to be stronger consequences for criminality
Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan prison gang whose name means Train of Aragua, is putting the loco in locomotive with a New York City robbery spree that sees its young members repeatedly stay out of jail.
Juvenile illegal immigrants in the gang have been attacking people in the Big Apple's famed Times Square and other landmark locations but remain free due to the Empire State's lenient laws on juvenile crime, according to the NYPD's Detective Bureau Assistant Chief Jason Savino.
"It's shocking to say the least, and we've seen a progression with this group," Savino told "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning.
The suspects, some as young as 11, are being housed in the former Roosevelt Hotel, which the city converted into a migrant shelter after an influx of border crossings thousands of miles away, the New York Post reported earlier this week.
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A still image from social media video shows suspected juvenile Tren de Aragua members based out of the Roosevelt Hotel, who have allegedly been attacking nearby Times Square in a string of robberies. (Obtained by New York Post)
The suspected gang members have been postioning pictures and videos of their guns online, according to investigators.
"We know they have access to guns, evident by the fact that they’ve done gunpoint robberies, and they’ve been brazen enough to showcase pistols in and around their social media," Savino told the paper.
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The Roosevelt Hotel closed its doors on 45h Street in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic before reopening as a migrant shelter. Nearby, the Row NYC hotel is in a similar state. Outside both, loitering migrants have been photographed taking drugs and alcohol as a migrant-fueled "crime wave" overtook the city.
A still image from social media video shows suspected juvenile Tren de Aragua members based out of New York City's Roosevelt Hotel. (Obtained by New York Post)
"This is the first formulated group that we found where this group of about 20 individuals that, in pack format, hang out every day, they post on social media, they boast about their crew," Savino added. "You see little pockets in and around Times Square and in and around the shelters."
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The 20 members of a subset of the gang, calling itself "Los Diablos de lat 42" in reference to New York's 42nd Street, have been arrested in connection with 50 separate crimes, according to Savino.
"When they first came, they were actually encouraged not to commit crimes, so they stuck to pickpockets, then they graduated to snatches, soon after scooter crime," Savino told Fox News. "Why? Because their original criminality did not have consequences."
He blamed New York's lenient treatment of juveniles and even adult criminal suspects for failing to deter the gang from getting worse.
"The individuals that actually engage in that criminality become empowered," he said.
The worst attacks, he said, are called "wolfpack robberies," when five or more suspects surround tourists and shake them down for their belongings. Some involve guns, while others involve knives.
A still image from social media video shows suspected juvenile Tren de Aragua members, who have allegedly been attacking New York's Times Square in a string of robberies. (Obtained by New York Post)
Despite the uphill battle keeping juvenile suspects locked up, Savino said his team continues to make arrests and gather evidence.
"We're labeled the greatest detectives in the world for good reason," he told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade. "They come back with that frustration. What do we do? We regroup. We build even better cases."
Nearly 200,000 asylum-seeking migrants have arrived in the Big Apple over the past year, according to city officials. More than half are expected to have their claims denied, but until that happens, they are technically considered in the U.S. legally.
As migrants continue to pour across the southern border, the Tren de Aragua prison gang has expanded from its base in Venezuela into numerous U.S. cities, including New York and Chicago. The gang has also been linked to small town crimes, including in Aurora, Colorado, and Athens, Georgia, where the suspect in the murder of nursing student Laken Riley has been linked to suspected members.
A group of migrants hangs out in the Times Square area of New York City on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
The gang was blamed for an explosive rise in cellphone and purse robberies in New York City earlier this year.
Now, members are growing more brazen, conducting gunpoint robberies, boasting on social media, and remaining out of jail as juvenile suspects are not held in custody, Savino told the Post.
Tren de Aragua, or TdA, began in a Venezuelan prison and spread through parts of South and Central America before entering the U.S.
The criminal organization has been known to recruit members from migrant shelters and recently has been accused of recruiting kids from Texas middle schools.
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