An expert says that a new Venezuelan gang could be “more violent” than Tren de Aragua and go after people in rural America.
Members of the gang based in Venezuela have formed the “Anti-Tren” gang, which the federal government says is mostly made up of former Tren de Aragua members.
In a federal charge that was recently made public, 21 men were accused of running drug and prostitution rings in New York City. The charge sheet says that Anti-Tren members “protect their power and territory through various criminal acts, which includes violence against members of Tren de Aragua.”
“Preserving and protecting the power and territory of Anti-Tren and its members and associates through acts involving murder, assault, other acts of violence, and threats of violence, including acts of violence and threats of violence directed at members and associates of Tren de Aragua,” the charge says.
Federal officials say that members of Anti-Tren also make a lot of money from criminal activities like smuggling young Venezuelan women, drugs, and weapons, and from trafficking young women for sex.
Robert Charles told Fox News Digital that he thinks the Anti-Tren group could become more violent than Tren de Aragua. From October 2003 to March 2005, Charles was assistant secretary of state for international drugs and law enforcement affairs at the U.S. State Department. He is also a candidate for governor of Maine.
“I’ve read some of the public accounts that suggest that this offshoot group is trying to distinguish itself by being more violent,” he said. “With MS-13, they had various tests and things that they went through, and there were offshoots there that became more violent than the original group.”
Charles said that gangs like Anti-Tren try to control a certain area, and one way they do that is by intimidating and violently controlling people.
“They are also violent in a place where they are taking advantage of people.” Charles said of Anti-Tren, “They’re taking advantage of the homeless and rural America.”
Charles said that gangs like Anti-Tren are going after rural areas of the US because that’s where they can “maximise their gain” with the least amount of danger.
“We don’t have the infrastructure in a very rural state to put patrols up through the northern part of the state and, frankly, to even keep drugs from coming in and the gangs from coming here,” Charles said about Maine. “James Bonds are bad guys, but they’re not stupid.” So, what they do is look for chances to make the most money with the least amount of risk.
That’s why Charles said he thinks the group will want to fight Tren de Aragua. The police need to act quickly to stop the group.
“I think right now their numbers are relatively modest,” Charles told me. “It will definitely grow if you turn your back on it, act like it’s not a problem, and try to make it happy instead of scared.” That’s just how crime works.”
The Anti-Tren gang is active in more than just New York City.
A woman in Texas was robbed at gunpoint, hit with a pistol, and tied up in her high-class Bluffview neighbourhood home in September 2024. According to Zillow, the average home value in Bluffview is $880,000.
The theft happened around 10 p.m. on September 21, 2024, right after the woman got home from dinner.
Records obtained by Fox News show that the men involved reportedly spotted the woman in her driveway, forced her into her home, and then tied her up with a gun. It is said that the guys threatened to cut off her fingers.
The suspects left the house with the victim’s phone, coins from a box inside the house, a Ferragamo handbag, a Judith Leiber handbag, and a purse worth $75,000, all while talking to the victim through Google Translate.
At the time, Fox News got documents that showed one of the men caught, Manuel Hernandez-Hernandez, said the other men were part of the Anti-Tren gang. The Dallas Police Department did not say anything about this.