The Department of Justice on Friday said that it has indicted members of two transnational gangs for crimes that include kidnapping, murder, drug trafficking and gun-related crimes. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
The Department of Justice on Thursday announced it has charged multiple members of the Tren de Aragua and United Cartels organizations for a raft of crimes.
Multiple members of both transnational criminal organizations were indicted for crimes that include drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping and various firearms offenses, the Justice Department said in separate press releases.
The indictments are the latest in a string of efforts against Latin American and Caribbean criminal organizations engaging in narcoterrorism and other crimes in the United States.
In the case of Tren de Aragua, the Justice Department said it has charged more than 300 members and associates of the transnational gang, which started as a prison gang in Venezuela in the mid-2000s.
The department on Wednesday charged eight members of the gang, who allegedly entered the United States illegally between December 2021 and April 2024, with murders, kidnappings and firearms offenses.
The eight alleged members were charged in Illinois and Texas with actions meant to maintain or increase their position in the gang.
The United Cartels is most known for the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine, the Justice Department said in a press release.
The organization, the department said, operates from hubs in Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago, as well as locations in Europe and Australia.
The two “high-ranking members” of the gang were charged with trafficking “immense amounts of methamphetine into the United States and supporting a foreign terrorists organization,” the department said.
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