According to a report from a Denver law firm, a Venezuelan gang took over an apartment complex in Colorado more than a year ago.
The Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization based in Venezuela, has had a “stranglehold” on the Whispering Pines Apartments in Aurora since late 2023, law firm Perkins Coie alleged in a letter to Aurora officials.
The company found that the gang has been involved in assaults, murder threats, extortion and even child prostitution, as reported by CBS News Colorado.
The law firm was hired by the lender of Whispering Pines Apartments, 1357 Helena Street, to investigate the reported takeover and alleges the gang is “extorting rent” from people they’ve moved into vacant apartments.
According to the apartment manager, the vacant units are used for “parties” with the gang involved in “drug and child prostitution”, adding that “minors are a good source of income”.
Aurora police deny that the complex was robbed by gangsters.
Footage from a resident of the Aurora complex shows armed men knocking on the door of an apartment, raising fears that the Tren de Aragua gang has taken control of the complex.
The Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization based in Venezuela, has had a “stranglehold” on the Whispering Pines Apartments in Aurora since late 2023, law firm Perkins Coie alleged in a letter to Aurora officials.
However, the report, released in August, states that “Tren de Aragua threatened to kill members of Whispering Pines’ management (and in certain instances, he apparently actively attempted to do so).”
In November 2023, an advisor to the complex’s management company was so badly beaten and beaten by gang members that he had to be hospitalized.
The gang’s activity increased this year, with a housekeeper claiming in April 2024 that two individuals “entered an apartment, came out with large firearms and were on their way to kill.” [the property manager].
The property manager said the two individuals were gang members and were arrested when they tried to kill him.
The manager also alleged that “gang members stabbed a Whispering Pines resident for refusing to pay ‘rent’ to the gang.”
He told the law firm that the gangsters offered to help him in June if he paid them 50 percent of the rental income.
A housekeeper said that a gang member told her, “This is our business plan… If he… [property manager] “If he doesn’t like it, we’ll shoot him full of bullets.”
Four alleged members of Tren de Aragua have been arrested in Aurora in connection with an attempted murder in July
Former U.S. Attorney T. Markus Funk wrote: “The evidence we reviewed indicates that gang members are engaged in high-profile crimes of trespassing, assault, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, illegal possession of weapons, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations.”
Whispering Pines Apartments has 54 apartments with rents ranging from $1,450 to $2,000 per month.
Four alleged members of Tren de Aragua have been arrested in Aurora in connection with an attempted murder in July.
ICE officials told Fox News that all four are illegal immigrants who were detained and released after crossing the border into Texas.
However, Aurora police say the gang did not take over any buildings. City officials say the buildings, along with two other apartment complexes, were left in disrepair due to negligence by the property manager, CBZ Management.
During a visit to the apartments where the gunmen were filmed, Aurora Interim Police Chief Heather Morris said gang members had not taken over the property and were not collecting rent. The comments came after Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said “criminal elements” had taken over several unnamed buildings and were extorting residents.
Aurora Police Officer Matthew Longshore reiterated in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday that the agency has confirmed that residents are not paying rent to gang members, but they found that apartment managers are no longer sending representatives to the complex.
The city of Aurora is already taking legal action against Zev Baumgarten with CBZ for “years of neglect of property and numerous code violations” after another building he managed in Aurora was closed for being uninhabitable. The residents were evicted in mid-August. Baumgarten’s trials, scheduled for August and September, have been postponed for at least six months.
Among the nearly 1 million Venezuelan migrants who entered the U.S. in recent years have been suspected gang members with ties to police shootings, human trafficking and other crimes — but there is no evidence the gang has established an organizational structure in the U.S., Jeremy McDermott, the Colombia-based co-director of InSight Crime, told the AP this summer. He published a recent report on Tren de Aragua’s expansion.
Many immigrants from Venezuela and other Latin American countries living in the Aurora complex say there are no gangs and that they are unfairly portrayed as criminals.
They blamed New York-based CBZ Management for refusing to address bed bugs, rodents and constant water leaks, despite monthly rents of $1,200 or more. Residents fear they could be evicted, but the city said Wednesday there are no immediate plans to pursue that option.
“The only criminal here is the owner of the building,” Moises Didenot, a Venezuelan, said through an interpreter at a news conference in a dusty courtyard of the complex on Tuesday.
He showed reporters mice he recently caught with sticky traps in the basement apartment he shares with his wife and 11-year-old daughter. Only two of the burners on their stove work, their ceiling fan is missing a blade and as soon as they clean their bathtub, the mold quickly creeps back, he said.