DOJ charges dozens of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members with drug trafficking, murder-for-hire

The Justice Department on Monday announced charges for nearly 30 suspected members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in Colorado, including drug-trafficking and murder-for-hire charges.

The charges stem from a nine-month investigation into crime at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, which made headlines last year after the gang allegedly took over the complex. The department said 28 people faced a total of 39 charges related to the crime spree. 

Other charges include firearms trafficking, using guns in drug crimes and illegal possession of firearms, Fox News reported. Five people were charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

"The charges tell a story of people selling guns and drugs – lots of them," U.S. Attorney for Colorado Peter McNeilly said during a press conference. "The affidavits which have been filed in this case also tell a story of a murder-for-hire plot and other crimes that the defendants were willing to commit, such as sex trafficking."

McNeilly said the murder-for-hire charges include a group who allegedly agreed to kill two people for $15,000 and then a bonus $5,000 if they included the victims' severed heads as proof. 

"One of the people who offered to commit murders in this case bragged to the undercover officers that the people he would use to commit those murders were the very same people that we had seen committing crimes on the news in these apartment complexes in Aurora," McNeilly said.

The months-long investigation also resulted in the discovery of 69 guns, including guns that were connected to shootings in Aurora and Denver last year.

Authorities said that 24 of the 28 suspects are now in federal custody.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.