Free Republic

HOUSTON – A top leader of the infamous international gang MS-13 was arrested at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Sunday; delivering a significant blow to the criminal organization. Authorities tell KPRC 2 that Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, known as one of the original “Twelve Apostles of the Devil,” was apprehended. This group expanded to 14 members, becoming known as the “Ranfla Nacional.” Over the past 20 years, MS-13 has been responsible for numerous crimes, including drug trafficking and murder. ... How it happened.. After being on the run for over three years, Lopez-Larios was finally captured when he landed...

Two armed men believed to be Venezuelan migrants — one of whom was carrying a fully automatic pistol — carjacked an off-duty NYPD officer in Harlem, law enforcement sources said. The men approached the officer while he was sitting inside his personal 2020 BMW around 11:30 p.m. Friday at West 146 Street and Bradhurst Avenue, sources said. The suspects, who had tattoos believed to be associated with a Venezuelan gang, had their weapons drawn. One of them knocked the officer’s gun out of his hand and demanded his keys. The pair then sped off into the night in the officer’s...

An alleged multistate human trafficking ring forcing immigrant women into prostitution. The mysterious killing of a former police officer in South Florida. Attacks against police officers in New York. The arrest of a drug dealer in Chicago. Local and federal officials say these apparently unrelated crimes have a common denominator: Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang that originated in a Venezuela prison and has slowly made its way south and north in recent years. They say it’s now operating in the United States. The scale of its operations is unknown, but crimes attributed to alleged members of the gang...

One of the alleged gun-toting Bronx migrant squatters — a suspected member of Venezuela’s Tren De Aragua gang — was taken into the custody of federal immigration authorities on Friday, officials said. Yerbin Benjamin Lozada Munoz was one of five suspects released without bail by Bronx judges after they were busted by the NYPD in March inside a borough apartment with a cache of guns and drugs, according to authorities. On Monday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Lozada was busted in Nassau County, Long Island, on felony charges of grand larceny in the fourth degree. ICE said it lodged...

The Village of Dolton, Illinois' monthly town hall meeting has made national headlines yet again for fiery confrontations with scandal-ridden mayor Tiffany Henyard. Henyard has been accused of misdeeds ranging from weaponizing police in retaliatory business raids to spending taxpayer money on luxuries like traveling to Las Vegas. Last month, Henyard reportedly vetoed the board’s resolution to probe her spending over purported misuse of funds. While the FBI has allegedly already begun to investigate Henyard for purportedly misusing her local police force, the board’s resolution had called for the FBI to do further investigation into her spending of the town’s...

As you’ve probably caught wind of, Joe Biden’s border disaster is really putting America through the wringer. It’s not just the border towns feeling the heat anymore. With Biden’s border invasion cranking up, the ripple effects are hitting every corner of the United States, touching more than just the working and middle classes. Now, even the upper crust of American society is starting to squirm as some fresh “gang” creativity shows up at their doorstep. Trump’s been saying (and getting slammed for it) that we’re not exactly getting the cream of the crop. It’s like some places are just clearing...

There’s no way in hell they shouldn’t tell all’.. The FBI is closing the book on the agency’s “corrupt” handling of James “Whitey” Bulger — forever. The feds are refusing to make any further installments of Bulger’s case file public, saying the records are “investigative” and no longer subject to the Freedom of Information Act. “The records responsive to your request are law enforcement records; there is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records, and release of the information could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings. Therefore, your request is being administratively closed,”...

A massive wave of Haitians is reportedly heading toward Florida, with rumors suggesting a staggering 300,000 are on their way. Haiti, as you might have heard, is currently under the rule of a gang leader nicknamed “Barbecue.” And before you think it’s because of his amazing grill skills, it’s actually due to his penchant for burning people alive. So, it’s no surprise that we’re on the cusp of yet another massive wave of migrants flooding over. Among them, it’s likely we’ll find a colorful assortment of gang lords, all keen to avoid becoming the main course at “Barbecue’s” next feast....

The Chinese operative, who was Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-CA) personal companion and staffer, broke cover in an X-post of her sitting with a Global Times reporter nearly 10 years after her abrupt exit from the United States—shortly after the FBI warned Swalwell she was a foreign agent.“I had lunch with this lady today. Her name is Fang Fang, and U.S. media called her a ‘suspected Chinese spy,’ wrote Hu XiJin, along with the operative who became an omnipresent force in San Francisco Bay Democratic politics—with significant dalliances in the Midwest.Hu wrote that Fang Fang, who presented herself in the U.S....

A California mom-of-three has been accused of masterminding an organized crime ring that stole nearly $8 million worth of makeup from stores like Ulta, T.J. Maxx and Walgreens — and then re-sold it online to churn a profit. Michelle Mack, 53, ran the sprawling enterprise from her $2.75 million, 4,500-square-foot mansion in the San Diego foothills, according to authorities. Mack allegedly paid as many as 12 women to steal from stores across the country, stockpiling the hot goods and then selling them on her Amazon storefront at a fraction of the retail price, according to authorities, NBC San Diego reported....

An armed crew terrorized Manhattan food delivery workers in a spree where they stole seven e-bikes – and stabbed one worker during a botched stick-up, authorities said. Several suspects — seen in images released by the NYPD Monday — flashed guns, knives and razor blades in the 11-day spree across Harlem where they targeted at least nine victims, cops said. Eight of the victims were confirmed to be delivery workers, and seven of them lost their bikes to the thieving crew, police said. In the most violent case, two suspects approached a 41-year-old man making a delivery on West 131st...

Already facing a major crime crisis, the Biden administration’s migration policies have brought even more gang violence to American cities. Due to the administration’s anti-border policies, foreign gangs have successfully infiltrated the U.S., and the federal government has shown little interest in stopping the flow. The explosion of illegal alien crime received increased national attention after a group of illegal aliens were caught on camera brutally assaulting New York police officers. Federal officials later confirmed that the alleged assailants were part of “Tren de Aragua,” a violent Venezuelan gang. Unfortunately, this was not the only beating New York police officers...

hicago is also being terrorized. There, professional criminals enlist migrants from the shelters to raid luxury stores at the suburban Oakbrook Center shopping mall, 20 miles west of downtown. These migrants wouldn't have a clue where Oak Brook, an upscale suburb, is, or how to get there without the criminal masterminds. South American gangs are turning suburban malls into danger zones, explains retired Riverside, Illinois, Police Chief Tom Weitzel. "You're at one of the suburban malls... pushing your kids in a stroller" and you can get caught in the violence, he said in an interview with Fox News. "A lot...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office sought high bail for a group of illegal immigrants accused of attacking two NYPD officers near Times Square last month after their initial no-bail release caused a national uproar. The suspects each pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on a superseding indictment Friday morning. Despite the prosecution's change in stance, one suspected Venezuelan gang member who was ordered to leave the country last year had his bail set at $1. However – it is not expected to be paid. The move allows him to avoid deportation while in custody. First up, the judge set...

The deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade that killed one and injured nearly two dozen was the result of a personal dispute that exploded into violence – and cops have detained three people who may be at fault, authorities said Thursday. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves emphasized that the Wednesday afternoon attack on the west side of the city’s landmark Union Station had nothing to do with homegrown terrorism or violent extremism. Instead, the shooting “appeared to be a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” Graves told reporters at a Thursday press conference.

Have you heard of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal gang? Maybe not, but this is “the little engine that could” that may bring your quiet American neighborhood some dangerous young men with little to contribute and even less to lose. Joseph Humire, an expert on Latin American security, calls the Tren “the fastest-growing transnational criminal organization in the world.” Last year, the Tren de Aragua didn’t even make the Border Patrol’s “Nationwide Apprehensions by Gang Affiliation,” an alphabetical list of 50 Central and South American gangs invading the United States—from the Angelino Heights Sureno 13 to the Zetas....

With the mayor’s tie-breaking vote, the Chicago city council passed a resolution Wednesday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and condemning Israel, even as the Windy City continues to suffer the daily death toll from an out-of-control murder rate and as a rising rate of antisemitism plagues the city. The council tied on its vote, with 23 in favor and 23 against. But Chicago’s self-proclaimed “progressive” Mayor Brandon Johnson jumped in and supplied the tie-breaking vote to pass the attack on Israel, according to the Times of Israel. Johnson had signaled his support of the resolution last week.

Two Canadians planned to conduct assassinations in the U.S. on behalf of Iran's intelligence services, according to allegations in a newly unsealed indictment. The suspects are accused of plotting to shoot a man and woman living in Maryland, one of them a defector from Iran. The charges unsealed Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice include details of the alleged plot, including the sum the would-be killers had charged for the job: $350,000 US. News of the charges emerges at a time of acutely high tension with Iran, as the U.S. threatens retaliation after three U.S. military members were killed...

This is the moment an elderly employee scared off a gang of robbers with a gun after they attempted to ransack his Bay Area store on Monday. Albert Marcu faced down a group of would-be robbers with sledgehammers after they stormed the Estates Consignment Store in Pleasant Hill. Surveillance video shows an apparent coordinated attempt to rob the store as a woman on the phone held the shop door open, allowing a group of men to run in. The footage shows two masked men standing at the door threatening and holding back the security guard while three others made their...

Nine members of a gang that descended upon a small French village to “stab white people” have been arrested after leaving one dead and 16 injured. During a village winter ball in Crépol on Saturday evening, a gang of “outsiders” descended on the French village and went on a rampage that left a sixteen-year-old boy named Thomas dead and 16 others aged between 16 and 65 injured. The dance had seen around 300 of the 532 members of the village attend.