Gematria is the ancient practice of coding numbers into letters, often to reveal meanings and connections that are not outwardly apparent. The coding of numeric values to letters/alphabets goes back at least as far as the 8th century BCE.
from myjewishlearning.com (not a link):
This system, developed by practitioners of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), derived from Greek influence and became a tool for interpreting biblical texts.
Currently, Gematria (using the English alphabet) and numerology are used to break down events and stories in the news - to reveal meanings and connections that are not obvious. The idea behind this is that news and events are scripted, and the numeric component is evidence of the scripting.
(To be clear, this is not the same thing as Biblical Gematria - which uses the Hebrew alphabet and is a complete field of its own, complex and mathematical).
The four base Gematria ciphers used are Ordinal, Reverse Ordinal, Reduction and Reverse Reduction. Ordinal counts letters A to Z, A = 1, Z = 26. In Reverse Ordinal, Z = 1, A = 26. The Reduction ciphers use numbers 1-9 only.
The terms "Venezuelan gang" and "seven boroughs" - each have a value of 62 in the reduction ciphers.
Other relevant terms in the article have a Gematria value of 62:
Police say they arrested the migrants, all believed to be from Venezuela, in a safe house in the Bronx after executing a search warrant.
Shocking video shows migrant moped riders
Mayor Eric Adams went along for the sting operation and later appeared at a press conference with police.
