Before they became national news, young Venezuelan gang members in Colorado were harassing each other at gunpoint, stealing cars to commit other crimes and crashing wherever they could find a bed, according to arrest documents obtained by The Denver Gazette.
One particular set of crimes involving two of the 10 Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members arrested by Aurora police, involved an entanglement of mostly 20-something Venezuelan immigrants who were scrambling from one crime to another in a what appeared to be a free-for-all turf war.
Documents reviewed by The Denver Gazette tell the stories.
Two weeks before a confirmed TdA gang member was arrested for assault in an argument over rent money, he was the victim of a mafia-style crime at The Edge at Lowry apartments, 1218 Dallas St., in Aurora, arrest affidavits show.
During that incident, Daniel Mora-Marquez told police that he was afraid for his life, adding that if he was seen talking with authorities, “his family could be placed in danger in Venezuela.”