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Queens DA, NYPD arrest 10 alleged Tren de Aragua members in Queens gun trafficking takedown

By WABC Staff

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    QUEENS (WABC) — Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced the arrest of 10 individuals alleged to be members and associates of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang, a transnational criminal organization involved in trafficking firearms into New York City.

“This took a lot of work as this is an arrest, an indictment that took over a year of investigation. We convened a special grand jury in order to make the presentation in order to get the indictment,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

A gun-running operation using product videos and party music was dismantled by the Queens District Attorney and the NYPD.

The agencies announced the 120-count indictment against the 10 alleged members of TDA on Wednesday.

“This group was very open in its dealings. In one instance, the defendant transported an AR-15 wrapped in a black garbage bag for sale in the Bronx County. This buy occurred in the afternoon, in front of a residential building. Five transactions between October 30th and December 10th occurred in the vicinity of the Target parking lot,” Katz said.

Eight of the 10 suspects are in custody including Wrallan C. Meza and Rosemary Sanchez who were arrested Tuesday in the Bronx.

A defense attorney says a 20-day-old baby was also in the home.

According to the indictment, the defendants operated a hierarchical network, with key figures including Venezuelan nationals Wrallan C. Meza and Rosemary T. Sanchez, who led the operation.

Meza reportedly acted as Blanco’s second-in-command and was responsible for trafficking firearms, while Blanco handled the overall trafficking operation.

Other defendants, including Aguilera, Aguilar, Rondon, Monroe, and Sanchez, served as firearms couriers, while Zabrano coordinated negotiations and transactions.

In all, 34 guns were seized in the investigation that started in January 2024.

“Six of these weapons were reported stolen from other states across the country, including Colorado, Pennsylvania and Texas,” Jessica Tisch said.

According to prosecutors, the suspects ran the business like true entrepreneurs. The guns were allegedly bought or stolen from other states and sold in New York with plans to smuggle them to Colombia.

Federal investigators said TDA has rapidly expanded in the United States, a criminal enterprise connected to the drug trade, kidnappings, and murders.

“Currently we have 67 documented members of TDA in New York. We first started seeing the emergence of them when the migrant population started to come into New York around 2023, participated mostly in organized retail theft and in robberies where they utilized scooters to either forcibly steal or snatch cell phones,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.

In a show of cooperation, Commissioner Tisch also praised the partnership between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, noting the role of the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations in tracking down the gang members across state lines.

A separate federal investigation led to the arrest of one TDA member, Anderson Zambrano Pacheco, who was apprehended in the Bronx earlier this week for his involvement in burglaries and firearm possession.

In response to a question about the gang ties to New York City, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny confirmed that the city is home to 67 documented TDA members, with the group’s influence spreading across boroughs, including Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan.

The arrested individuals face charges related to the criminal sale and possession of firearms. They are expected to stand trial in New York.

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