Venezuelan Gang Terrorizing NYC–With Little Consequence

All right. Good morning, everyone. Sorry about the long wait. As you can see, I got the old mic from the old studio here. We had some sound issues. So thank you so much for sticking around real quick. Did all of you see the new special feature we had up on Appalachia? And I think I call it Appalachia. But people out there say it's Appalachia, I believe. We talked about, of course, you know, I was on the ground in North Carolina and, you know, people I talked to there, incredible, incredible stories. Let me know what you all think of it. Again, it's on Crossroads now. So if you haven't watched it yet, you can go there and see it again. Thank you so much for being here, folks. Sorry about the wait. I appreciate you all sticking around. I got my coffee here, luckily. Anyways, everyone, we have some good topics lined up. I want to go into Tren de Aragua, a gang we should not be dealing with, but we're dealing with nonetheless. That gang, that Venezuelan gang has been recruiting underage people in New York City and other places. But there's actually stories they've been going and recruiting like kids from high school. They say as young as 11 years old. And the problem we have with that is that in some cities like New York, where they've changed the laws on crime so that if you're under 18, it's kind of a slap on the wrist unless you do something really serious. These kids are basically getting away with crime. And so the gangs are using children and teenagers to commit their crimes for them. And they're kind of terrorizing New York right now. It's not just New York either. There's actually more evidence coming out now and rumors that members of Tren de Aragua have been seizing apartments in Colorado. You might have seen some of the news on that. There were some videos, of course, where gang members have looked like AK-47s, I believe, or, you know, Kalashnikov type rifles. And they're just walking around this apartment building like checking rooms. Now, some people have fact checked that. They said, well, they're not seizing the entire apartment complex. They're just seizing some of the apartments. I don't think it makes it that much better. But, hey, you know, facts do matter. Also, there's a push in several states to confirm the citizenship of people who are registered to vote. But a judge in Arizona has rejected the group's bid to investigate the citizenship of 42,000 federal only voters. And it's actually a trend we're seeing in some other places as well. A lot of the areas where they're trying to check the voter rolls, make sure illegal immigrants are not registered to vote. That's getting struck down or blocked in many parts of the U.S. right now. Now, that said, you all, let's jump into the first topic. So, illegal immigrant gangs are terrorizing New York. And there's really not much risk of consequence for a lot of them because of the way they're doing it. Now, the Venezuelan gang, Trende Aragua, has been recruiting people under the age of 18, as I mentioned. And because of New York City laws on minors and protections for illegal immigrants, the gang members, they've been robbing people at gunpoint, including right here in Times Square, not too far from here. And they're even bragging about it on social media, flashing their guns and so on. And they're doing it with very little legal risk. There's not much risk the gang members face while committing these crimes. Now, look, a few days ago, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, ERO, they have taken some actions. They arrested a Venezuelan citizen and suspected member of the Trende Aragua gang in New York City. And according to ICE, this individual had been convicted by the Queens County Criminal Court of second-degree assault and currently has charges pending for criminal possession of a weapon and felony assault. Now, on that note, in New York City, a lot of the reform on crime has focused on kind of separating violent crime from nonviolent crime. And this is kind of the discrepancy here. These individuals robbing people at gunpoint, these individuals going into stores and stealing things, these individuals extorting other migrants and so on, or illegal immigrants, if it's not violent, they tend to not face much in terms of consequence. If they engage in assault or murder or, you know, rape or something terrible like that, then oftentimes they will face punishment. But anything short of like, you know, violence, something, some kind of physical altercation, they tend to not really face much threat. Now, look, the recent case, though, ICE arresting one of these individuals, this is just one example of the growing problem that Trende Aragua is posing to New York City. Now, ERO New York City field office director Kenneth Giannullo stated, quote, Trende Aragua gang members have proven to be a significant public safety threat, not just to the residents of New York City, but to communities across the entire United States. Now, although arrests are being made, the problem actually extends a lot further than this. Let me detail what's going on, especially in New York. Trende Aragua members, they include minors, kids, teenagers, you know, pretty, pretty young, down to like 11 years old. Their age, because they're younger, that means they don't face any real consequences. Here's NYPD's Detective Bureau Assistant Chief Jason Sabino speaking on this problem with Fox News. Watch. But right now, what we have, I like to call a perfect storm of sorts, where we have individuals tremendously brazen, absolutely ruthless, individuals that have committed a multitude of crimes with basically no repercussions. The main reason there's no repercussions, because of the age, because of juveniles. Because of the age and bail reforms. I mean, we put a lot on our DA. We have to look at our judges as well. You know, what's really going on in New York and some other major cities is it's kind of a perfect storm of sorts. We have individuals tremendously brazen, absolutely ruthless, that have committed a multitude of crimes with basically no real risk of repercussions, depending on how they do it. And again, as they're saying, this is what's going on. Now, New York Post said this. This is from their editorial board. They say, Trende Aragua migrant gangbangers are wreaking havoc in Times Square and elsewhere, with zero real consequences because they're under 18 and their offenses are not bail eligible. Not to mention New York City's sanctuary city privileges for border jumpers. Meaning, of course, because of the sanctuary city laws here, ICE is oftentimes prevented from doing its job. Under normal circumstances, if you illegally enter the United States and you commit a crime, police arrest you. Then they hand you over to ICE. ICE has the international databases of names and criminal records. ICE then identifies you and sends you right back to where you came from. The sanctuary city laws, in order to protect people from being deported, forbid that process. There are some cases where it is being allowed. Again, we mentioned that ICE has gone after one individual. It's not clear if they'll deport him or not. But again, because of the sanctuary city laws, they can't really do anything about it. Now, it notes here, a crew, i.e. a gang, of almost two dozen baby faced thugs has been terrorizing the streets in New York. It says they've racked up 50 separate incidents across tourist hotspots, including gunpoint robberies. And they've been flashing the weapons they use in them on their social accounts. They're bragging about it on social media. And there's nothing we can do about it because of some of the reforms to the laws in New York City. Now, look, it says despite this, not one is behind bars of these minors. Right. And it notes that for that, you can thank both the disastrous raise the age law. That's the name of the one going after, again, the ability to prosecute people under the age of 18. And the Empire State, New York's demolition of bail eligibility. They say, remember, under raise the age, even a 17 year old can commit most crimes with impunity, which is precisely why Trinidad and other gangs, not just them, recruit members as young as 11 years old. It says they face family court hearings, not criminal trials with zero real consequences. So, again, imagine you're a gang or a mafia and you want to rob people in Times Square. You want to do something that brazen. Right. Well, if you do it as the gang leader and, you know, you get arrested, you're probably going to get deported. You risk it at least. You're probably going to go to jail. You're going to face a lot of consequences. But if you go to a middle school and you recruit some migrant kids or, you know, for example, you're in the Roosevelt Hotel right here in New York where they have a lot of these illegal immigrants. You go there and you say, hey, kid, how'd you like to earn 100 bucks tonight? And he says, yeah, sure. You know, what's it take? Nothing. No consequence. There's nothing in New York that will make this dangerous for you. Right. They hire this kid who goes out and commits crimes for them, gives them their cut. He takes their cut. They protect him. And again, he has a type of authority, let's say, within that community. If that kid gets arrested, the only thing that kid will face is family court hearings, not criminal trials. And that means they're not going to jail. They're not going to face any real repercussions for it. That's how it works. Now, New York Post notes that our bail reform laws, plus woke judges, again, kind of the revolving door you have here in New York, intent on letting criminals go free, they say, mean that serial low level offenses often go unpunished, even when violent or destructive. And that's the other point here is, again, they do go after violent, violent crime. But if it's a minor, someone under the age of 18, it's much more lenient because of the reforms on that end. Now, again, I would actually agree it's really the perfect storm of crime. You have several factors kind of converging and creating this problem. You have illegal immigrants being bused and flown into communities. You know, Mayor Eric Adams in New York has tried stopping that and he's been blocked from doing it. He claims the reason he's being criminally investigated right now is because he's been speaking out against it. Others would say, well, maybe there's other reasons for that, too. Who knows? Now, look, aside from that, right, the mass migration policies, these individuals are being given various benefits, various legal protections, including, again, from the sanctuary city laws that protect them from being deported. Right. They're a protected class of individuals in New York City. Add to that, then, the legal reforms, the revolving door for low level crime such as theft. Right. Where, again, a lot of people will go into stores, steal from them. And there's oftentimes very little the store owner can do to prevent it. And then you have other issues from the defund the police movements. If you break a window, if you spray paint something, you're going to jail. That used to be the standard. They had, for example, stop and frisk. People argued that that was illegal searches. Constitutionally, of course, that actually did hold up. They can't just stop you on the street and search you. But when they ended those policies, that started making it so that criminals can carry guns, they can carry knives. And individuals who are very much suspected of being gang members. Well, unless the police witness them committing a crime, there's very little they can do. And even if they witness them doing something on a small scale, their hands are tied behind their backs in other ways. Right. So then you add to that the reforms to laws for people under the age of 18, as we've been talking about. And again, the changes to other policies, you end up with what we're now facing in New York. You end up with gangs that can recruit minors to carry out their crimes and they can do so with little to no punishment. Again, maybe a family court hearing. And that's about it. And not to mention that in New York, also, it's very difficult to get a gun. So American citizens here, people traveling here on vacation, people here with their families. Right. Those people are restricted from defending themselves. If you defend yourself, you're a criminal. But if you're a criminal victimizing innocent people, well, there's not much you can do about it. Now, look, it's not just New York. This is actually a broader problem. There's more evidence coming out now and rumors that members of Trende Aragua, they've been seizing apartments in Colorado. Now, some people challenged this. They said, hey, it's not really happening. They were not seizing apartment complexes. They were seizing a few apartments. Some would argue that's not a whole lot better. But there is a difference between seizing an entire apartment, you know, an entire apartment building in just a few units. There's there's a technical difference here, although I would personally argue both are pretty terrible and neither should be happening at all. Right. Especially if they're on video carrying guns and we know they did it and they're not going to prison for it. Now, the company that manages the property that's been in the news, the management company has now gone public with additional information on this. They didn't want to step forward, but now they've stepped forward. Epoch Times says this. They say a New York based property management company has broken its silence on recent reports that a Venezuelan gang known for its violent and illegal activities took control of several apartment buildings. It manages in Aurora, Colorado, and it's the company said that gang members seized control of some units, allegedly assaulted one of their employees and tried to extort the company. Now, it's the landlord. CBZ management said in a series of posts on social media on October 11th that law enforcement told them the notorious trend. They are Rodwood gang from Venezuela was behind the takeover, which the company said left their tenants and employees in a precarious situation, fearing for their safety. And they said, quote, to address this entity gangs, we contacted every city official we could think of to help with the problem. This is the company saying this in one of the social media posts. Now, look, with this in context, remember, there have also been public debates on violent crime. Now, reporters have pointed out the discrepancies, let's say, with the way crime statistics are now being reported. When people say, hey, crime is up, come to New York, go to Chicago and see what it's like. Other people will fact check them and say, no, FBI statistics show crime is down. Now, people point out the discrepancies in that. Basically, there's different collections of data. And whether you believe crime is up or down depends on which set of data you're looking at. Now, in 2021, around that time, they started changing method that crime statistics are collected. The problem many have pointed out with that is it does not include some of the major cities in the United States. It does not include certain counts of maybe ongoing investigations and things like that. And so many argue that you show crime is down, but it's because the full statistics that used to be factored in are not being included. And so if you have statistics that include more data like this and you maybe cut the data you collect, obviously, you're going to collect less data. And so there's going to be a drop in it. That is the point a lot of people make when saying, well, crime may not be down. We just changed the way we collect the data. People point to that. And others point to, for example, the victim statistics, which do show a rise in crime. A lot of the conservatives notably point to the victim statistics, which show a rise. Now, look, even with that in mind, the FBI crime statistics are now showing a different trend. They're showing in the updated statistics that violent crime in the United States is, in fact, rising. Real clear investigation said this. They said when the FBI originally released the final crime data for 2022 in September of 2023, it reported that the nation's violent crime rate fell by 2.1 percent. Right. A 2.1 percent drop, despite all the factors not being included. But they say this. The FBI has quietly revised those numbers, releasing new data that shows violent crime increased in 2022 by 4.5 percent and notes as well that this new data includes thousands, thousands more murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults. So, in other words, these statistics we've been debating were showing a drop that was false. There actually is a rise. That's according now to the updated crime statistics from the FBI. Now, look, in other news, several states are now trying to confirm the citizenship of people who registered to vote. And in Arizona, an attempt to investigate citizenship of 42,000 federal only voters was just rejected. I'll be talking about this more after I come back from a quick break. Experts agree one of the best ways to protect against financial uncertainty is to diversify your portfolio. Learn how physical gold and silver can secure your retirement funds from today's economic challenges. With a gold IRA from American Heart for Gold, you can safeguard your wealth with no penalties or taxes when you transfer your current qualifying retirement accounts. Call now and our precious metals specialists will send you a free information kit. No cost or obligation. American Heart for Gold, a trusted industry leader with an A plus from the Better Business Bureau, has a five star rating from thousands of happy clients. 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U.S. District Judge Chrissy Lanham, in a 22 page order issued on October 11th, denied a motion by Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. And this would have compelled country recorders, sorry, county recorders to immediately verify the citizenship status of individuals registered to vote only in federal elections. Now, note this. The Strong Communities lawsuit centers on Arizona's two tiered voter registration system. Under state law, individuals who provide documented proof of citizenship can vote in all elections. However, the National Voter Registration Act allows those without such proof to register for federal elections by signing an avowal under penalty of perjury. Now, it's currently about 42,000 voters are registered under this federal only system, bypassing the local one. So, again, there's a discrepancy here between state law and federal law. The old understanding was that basically the state legislatures are in charge of regulating the laws of the elections. A lot of that was overturned through various lawsuits, the many lawsuits, after the 2020 elections. And so now you have federal law to an extent overriding state law on this front. And it's debatable still, right? There are different states pushing back against it. There are similar efforts in Virginia, similar efforts in Texas, Ohio, elsewhere. So, again, you have two different sets of laws kind of coming to a clash here. Some officials at the state level are trying to challenge the 90 day rule because they say that legally they also have a duty to ensure the integrity of their elections. That the things are running like they should. And, again, they are held by laws that mean that they, as local officials in charge of that process, need to do that. And so they risk breaking the law, that's one of the concerns, if they certify it when, again, the systems in place that would let them check it are being blocked from happening. Complicated issue, again, it's going to come to the point, I think it's going to have to go to trial and you have to see which side holds up, right? Because, again, there's a discrepancy in laws. The laws actually contradict each other on this note. And so, again, probably the Supreme Court, I would assume, is going to have to see this eventually. Now, like in other news, Hurricane Helene left a scene of devastation in its wake. Many people are displaced. Homes and businesses in many areas are just totally destroyed. Now, I spent several days traveling through North Carolina. You might remember I wasn't here last Friday. My team and I, we traveled to North Carolina and we met a lot of the people there and we found something incredible. The people of North Carolina are uniting. The people of North Carolina are banding together and the people of North Carolina are making some incredible efforts to save their communities. Now, we did a special feature on this. You can watch it on EpicTV.com. It's like watching an episode of The Walking Dead. We're out here in Asheville, North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene recently hit and trying to get a sense of what's been happening on the ground. We're seeing two sides of this. On one side, we're seeing terrible stories of loss. People who've lost their homes, who've lost loved ones, long-term damage. I do not know how many will be able to open back up. You can't fight Mother Nature. You can't fight God. Wouldn't want to anyway. On the other side, we're seeing a lot of stories of hope. We're seeing people coming together in ways that I've personally never seen before. People are really respectful and people have been so, so generous. It is the best of humanity that you're seeing. What kind of support have you gotten out here? The goodness of people that want to help.