Free Republic

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....

Jose Luis Sanchez Valera, a 43-year-old retired Venezuelan police officer, was lured to a hotel by two women, then robbed and murdered on November 28.. The killers tortured Sanchez to hand over his apartment keys, then raided the property: they told his niece, with whom he lived, they were Tren de Aragua.. Tren de Aragua is one of the most feared gangs in Latin America: it was born in Venezuela around 2012, and the Miami murder is the first by the gang in the US ... A former Venezuelan police officer lay dead in his silver Toyota 4Runner in a...

Bukele's war on gangs is credited with slashing homicide rates while restoring security and dignity to citizens of what was once one of the world's most dangerous countries. There is no sign of Bukele's crackdown coming to an end any time soon. The president, who describes himself as the 'world's coolest dictator', appears to have swept to victory in last weekend's election, so far winning 83 percent of the vote. His war on El Salvador's gangs is cited as a major reason behind his popularity.

UNITED NATIONS — An unprecedented surge in gang violence is plaguing Haiti, with the number of victims killed, injured and kidnapped more than doubling last year, the U.N. special envoy for the conflict-wracked Caribbean nations said Thursday. In a grim briefing, Maria Isabel Salvador told the U.N. Security Council, “I cannot overstress the severity of the situation in Haiti, where multiple protracted crises have reached a critical point.” She said the 8,400 victims of gang violence documented by her U.N. office last year — a 122% rise from 2022 — were mainly targeted by gangs in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Some...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 21 people have been shot, four fatally, in gun violence across Chicago this weekend, police said. A man was shot and killed Saturday night in the South Loop. The 32-year-old victim was found dead in the driver's seat of an SUV around 9:16 p.m. near South State Street and East Cermak Road, Chicago police said. He was shot more than once in the chest, police said. No one was in custody as police continue to investigate. Three people were shot, one fatally, in an exchange of gunfire on the city's Northwest Side early Saturday. Police...

President Joe Biden’s immigration crisis is hitting home in an all-new way. For border state residents, of course, the long, national nightmare has been ongoing since before Biden took office. More recently, Democratic-run cities like New York and Chicago have felt the pain. Now, upscale homes in what used to be considered safe neighborhoods are getting a taste, too. And one dangerous piece of technology is playing a role.

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Court records revealed that a fourth suspect has been arrested in connection to the brutal murder of a Phoenix man last month. According to arresting documents, 21-year-old Christopher Ibarra was arrested on Monday in connection to the death of 30-year-old Bernardo Pantaleon. Ibarra was arrested on Tuesday, but no details surrounding his arrest were immediately released. On Nov. 26, Pantaleon’s body was found with “significant trauma” on a trail near Mountain View Park, near 7th and Peoria avenues. Court paperwork revealed that he had been shot multiple times and that his body was mutilated. Injuries extended...

Gangland shootings and bombings that have plagued Sweden's biggest cities have spread to quieter suburbs and towns, shattering its reputation as a safe and peaceful nation.Half an hour north of central Stockholm, Upplands-Bro features lakeside boat clubs, copper-red wooden villas and apartments flanked by pine and spruce trees. But a 14-year-old boy was found dead in a forest here in August, and since January there have been several shootings and bombings targeting houses and apartments. "It's awful. We've [been] woken up by explosions in the neighbourhood and it's scary," says 42-year-old Anna Petterson, who lives in Bro and has...

It was a sinister attack that erupted after a simple road rage row. An innocent victim who was caught up in the crossfire; left with his hand severed by an axe amid the horror. The violence exploded on the Newbold Estate in Rochdale in 2017, where organised crime gang 'Adam' had a firm hold - wreaking havoc on the streets and instilling fear in the many innocent civilians living there. The victim, 18-year-old tree surgeon Cameron Brooksbank, was among his other colleagues who were set upon by the mob and attacked as he tried to diffuse the escalating volatility. The...

A FedEx tractor-trailer was blocked by several cars in a Memphis, Tennessee, intersection before dozens of people pillaged the back of the truck for packages, leaving boxes discarded all over the road during the brazen weekend theft. Video from the scene shows multiple people running through parked cars in the road toward the FedEx truck as the driver attempts to escape the ravagers who are carrying their loot. Multiple men allegedly used an unknown tool to open the safety latch on the truck’s sealed back doors and took numerous packages, the driver said, according to multiple local reports. When police...

THE son of federal judge Esther Salas has been killed and her husband critically wounded after a gunman dressed as a Fedex delivery driver ambushed them inside their home last night. Daniel Anderl, 20, was shot and killed Sunday evening after the killer entered the house in North Brunswick, New Jersey days after Salas took on an Epstein-linked case. There is no suggestion that the shootings are linked to any of the judge's cases. Her husband Mark Anderl - a 63-year-old criminal defense attorney - was also shot at their home and was taken to the hospital in critical condition,...

UPDATED: Sunday, November 5, 2023 8:15PM CHICAGO -- At least 34 people have been shot, seven fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A child was shot and critically injured inside a South Side home on Sunday afternoon, Chicago police said. Earlier Sunday, a man was killed and another was wounded in another Englewood shooting, police said. The two were shot while standing on a sidewalk around 1:10 a.m. in the 7400 block of South Stewart Avenue, according to police. One man, whose age has not been reported, was fatally shot in the head and the other, a...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Six-time convicted felon William Groves remains in a lockup after prosecutors convinced a Cook County judge he's a danger to society. The 48-year-old is accused of opening fire in a crowd of people attending a Halloween party in the city's North Lawndale neighborhood, injuring 15 people. Groves, who had a pre-trial detention hearing on Tuesday, has arrests and convictions dating back to when he was 19 years old. He faces 15 counts of attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon for the attack that happened early Sunday in the 1200 block of South...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 15 people were shot at a Halloween party on the city's West Side early Sunday, Chicago police said. The shooting happened just after 1 a.m. in the 1200 block of South Pulaski Road in the Lawndale neighborhood., police said. There was a large gathering at the location to celebrate Halloween. Officers responded to the scene and observed a male suspect shooting, police said. The man fled on foot and was later arrested, and a firearm was recovered by officers. Six women and nine men were shot, police said. The victims' ages ranged from 26 to...

Nearly 30 children have gone missing in Cleveland in the first two weeks of May, in an “extraordinary” surge of disappearances in the area, officials said. Cleveland police said 27 kids have been reported missing between May 2 and May 16, as Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy warns that the disappearances have reached unprecedented levels in 2023. “There’s always peaks and valleys with missing persons, but this year it seems like an extraordinary year,” Majoy, who serves as the board president of the Cleveland Missing nonprofit group, told Fox News. “For some reason, in 2023, we’ve seen a lot...

In the early hours of Thursday, a loud explosion ripped through a quiet residential street of new-build family homes just north of the Swedish city of Uppsala. Soha Saad, 24, was killed in the blast. She lived with her parents, and had recently qualified as a teacher. In footage of the aftermath, her mother can be heard screaming for her daughter, cursing the nation to which they once fled. Saad was one of three victims of gangland violence in a violent 12-hour spell last week, and one of 12 people to be killed in September - Sweden's deadliest month since...

Sunday, October 8, 2023 6:52PM CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 40 people have been shot, two fatally, in gun violence across Chicago this weekend, police said. Eight people were shot downtown early Sunday, Chicago police said. EMS responded to the scene at 2:40 a.m., near West Erie Street and North Orleans Street in River North, and discovered three people who had been shot, Chicago fire officials said. Just under an hour earlier, two people were critically wounded after an argument turned physical inside an Auburn Gresham home on the South Side. At about 1:50 a.m., a man and woman, 33...

The U.N. Security Council voted on Monday to authorize a multinational military intervention against the gang lords of Haiti, led by Kenya, which volunteered to take point in July. The resolution, drafted by the United States and Ecuador at the request of Haiti’s government, passed with 13 votes in favor, zero against, and two unsurprising abstentions: Russia and China. “Russia and China’s abstentions suggested that neither country endorsed the resolution but they were not going to block it. Diplomats said that negotiations had been tense with the two countries for several weeks, with the text being rewritten multiple times, but...

Sweden can’t control Kurdish gangsters. They now have the highest homicide rate in Europe. How is that? The Swedish police can stifle political dissent, big and small, quite effectively. But they claim they don’t have the ability to stop Mexican style cartel bombings and shootouts in city centers, much less firearms trafficking and drugs from pouring in. The nation once admired by the whole world is now a racially incoherent failed state. A good fit for NATO. news.sky.com/story/amp/sweden-military-could-help-tackle-unprecedented-surge-in-violence-12972089 Sweden’s Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, addressed the nation (www.regeringen.se/tal/2023/09/statsminister-ulf-kristerssons-tal-till-nationen/) on September 28th as violence in the country continues to spiral out of...

The gang situation in Sweden has been bad for a while but this summer it has gotten significant worse. The gangs are mostly made up of foreigners and earlier this month the country was shocked when a 13-year-old boy was found murdered in a forest area. Two fourteen-year-olds were murdered near Stockholm earlier in the summer. But the situation keeps getting worse with 12 people dead from gang violence this month alone. Remember, Sweden has roughly the same population as the state of Georgia and historically has had a very low murder rate. Last year, more than 60 people died...