Tag Archives: organized

A violent transnational gang from Venezuela allegedly first gained a “stranglehold” on an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, late last year, according to a local report. Tren de Aragua gang memberstook over the Whispering Pines Apartments in 2023, engaging in violent assaults, murder threats, extortion, child prostitution and strongarm tactics, Denver law firm Perkins Coie wrote to city leaders in …

Romanian mobsters are traveling the country and targeting religious institutions in brazen daylight robberies, police suspect. In April and May, they hit two Buddhist temples, two mosques and one Hindu temple in the Washington, D.C., area, according to authorities.Montgomery (Maryland) County Police suspect that the Romanian Organized Crime Group, who call themselves the ROMAs, targeted seven similar places in 2023, …

More than 53,000 people have fled Haiti’s capital in less than three weeks, the vast majority to escape unrelenting gang violence, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday. More than 60% are headed to Haiti’s rural southern region, which worries U.N. officials. “Our humanitarian colleagues emphasized that these departments do not have sufficient infrastructure, and host communities do not …

Florida residents watching the unfolding unrest in Haiti are expressing concerns for family and friends on the Caribbean island nation, saying they are virtually being held prisoners in their own homes because of the ongoing violence. Cosy Joseph, of Boynton Beach, runs the Gaskov Clerge Foundation, which has worked to provide healthcare, education and sports opportunities in Haiti and the …

This essay was originally published inDiscourse magazine. On Feb. 5, Mirtza Ocana, an American citizen of Cuban origin, arrived at Tampa International Airport from Havana andwas arrested for attempting to smuggle more than $100,000 into the country. When questioned, Ocana confessed to having carried out 45 similar assignments since May 2023. The smuggling operation involved millions of dollars. Because Cuba …

Prosecutors in California say the Romanian mafia has given a new look to an old scam — debit card skimming — by placing devices to steal personal information on self-checkout machines in grocery stores. Debit card skimmers have long been problematic at gas stations and ATMs. Now a highly organized network of crooks is branching out. “They’ll have people sitting …