Migrant gangster seen in drag trying to escape police after violent torture of Colorado couple

A member of the infamous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua dressed up as a woman in a failed attempt to slip past police after a brutal kidnapping in which he is accused of taking part, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Niefred Jose Serpa-Acosta, 20, a well-known TdA member living in Aurora, Colorado, wore a wig and a knitted lady’s hat, hoping police would believe he was a she and not arrest him last week.

Aurora Police Department officers responded to the outskirts of Lowry Apartments early Tuesday morning after a Venezuelan couple called 911 and accused the gangsters running the property of holding them hostage, tying them up, beating them and torturing them for hours.

As officers searched the building and took TdA members and their associates into custody, Serpa-Acosta emerged with her hands up and presented herself as a woman, according to footage shared with DailyMail.com.

“He actually came out in disguise. He had on a woman’s wig and a woman’s hat, and I think that’s probably a big reason why he wasn’t apprehended sooner,” Police Chief Todd Chamberlin explained.

“Whether he did that all the time or whether he just did that that day, I can’t determine.”

Serpa-Acosta had been wanted by the department since August when a video surfaced and went viral across the country showing him and other TdA members carrying weapons and storming a unit in Denver’s suburban complex.

Investigators knew the transvestite’s name and identity, but were unable to find him until last week after the August incident.

For months, authorities had an active arrest warrant out for him in connection with the August armed takeover of the same Aurora apartment complex.

“It’s something, I think, to say how organized these people are, or how much they want to avoid arrest, and how calm they stay,” the top cop added.

On August 18, six armed men, five with pistols and one with a rifle, knocked on the doors of two units on the outskirts of Lowry.

They entered and extorted the people who lived there: fellow migrants.

About 10 minutes later there was a shooting to which local police responded.

The images of the armed home invasions went viral and made the Venezuelan criminal organization a household name in the US.

With his arrest, Aurora police have now arrested four of the six suspects in the August takeover, the department confirmed Monday.

Niefred Jose Serpa-Acosta, 20, a well-known TdA member, dressed as a woman on December 16. He had been wanted by Aurora police since August for participating in an armed takeover at the Edge of Lowry apartments that went viral

The Edge at Lowry Apartments was the second property taken over by the South American gang

It also appears they are cramming people into one-bedroom apartments, she added. In another building, a maintenance worker said they think TdA members live there because he has seen Venezuelans shamelessly walking around with famous Tren de Aragua tattoos.

DailyMail.com was the first news organization to report that TdA had crossed the US border in October 2023.

Hidden among their compatriots seeking asylum in the US, the South American prison gang has been able to infiltrate the country.

Located in 18 states, they are responsible for a wave of crime in America’s cities: beatings of police officers, rapes, murders and child prostitution.

In Aurora, the gang managed to take control of at least three apartments, charging migrants who were too afraid to report them to police for rent.

The thugs beat and threatened the apartment staff who rebelled against them.

They also turned empty units into crime dens: they lured drug users there to get their fix and then offered women and children to have sex with for money.

Serpa-Acosta has also been charged in last week’s kidnapping, police announced Friday.

A total of eight TdA members are charged in the torture case.

Eight additional migrants are still being investigated to determine their involvement, if any.

Police are also looking for three others who were not in custody in last week’s case.