Two Illegal Tren De Aragua Gang Members Arrested In Connection With Connecticut Murder: Police

Authorities in New York arrested a pair of illegal Venezuelan migrants with alleged gang ties in connection to the murder of a 59-year-old man.

Police in Rensselaer, New York, arrested Moises Alejandro Candollo-Urbaneja, 22, and Gregory Marlyn Galindez-Trias, 24, last week, according to The National News Desk. An investigation into the couple revealed that they are from Venezuela and in the United States illegally. Police also believe the couple are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the members of which have been involved in high-profile crimes across the U.S.

“Our investigation revealed both parties are in this country illegally from Venezuela,” Rensselaer Police Chief Warren Famiglietti said in a statement, according to Fox News. “Both parties are believed to be affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela.”

Candollo-Urbaneja and Galindez-Trias were detained after they allegedly attempted to use the credit card of 59-year-old Angel Samaniego, who was fatally shot at a Super 8 Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut. The Venezuelan couple were found with Samaniego’s credit card at an Amtrak train station in Rensselaer.

Police said the couple had two young children with them: a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old. The children are now being cared for by child protective services in Rensselaer County.

Tren de Aragua has been connected to numerous crimes across the United States believed to be committed by illegal aliens and gang members. Members of the gang have been connected with the takeover of multiple apartment complexes in Colorado and Texas, seizing rent from residents and trafficking drugs, women, and children.

Law enforcement in Texas reportedly busted at least four members in a recent raid on an apartment building that had been taken over in San Antonio, Texas. Police arrested 19 people in the raid. The apartment had been effectively run by Tren de Aragua gang members for roughly six months before the raid, and was one of four apartment buildings in San Antonio that had been illegally seized by gang members.

The bust in San Antonio follows controversy over a slate of apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado, that have been run by Tren de Aragua members for months, according to the property manager. An investigation into the apartments by the Perkins Coie law firm found that multiple commercial properties had been taken over by Tren de Aragua members who were extorting residents and engaging in other criminal conduct.

“The evidence we have reviewed indicates that gang members are engaging in flagrant trespass violations, assaults and battery, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, unlawful firearms possession, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations,” one of the firm investigators said in a letter to local leaders.