Sep 5, 2024
Venezuelan Gang Takes Over An Apartment Complex...Or Did They?
Here's what is really going on with Venezuelan gangs and the Aurora, Colorado apartment complex story that is going viral.
- 24 minutes
You're watching footage from last August
featuring members of the Venezuelan
gang Trend Aragua breaking into an
apartment unit in Aurora, Colorado.
Now, a shooting later broke out
in the building's parking lot,
[00:00:16]
and there's also some video footage that
shows armed men confronting a driver in
the parking lot of the apartment complex.
Let's put that up.
So if you look closely at the kind
of upper right hand side, you see a car
[00:00:31]
parked and you see individuals approaching
that vehicle armed with guns.
Luckily, in this case, the footage doesn't
show anyone getting hurt or getting shot.
But apparently this particular apartment
complex, according to some
[00:00:47]
of the residents and former residents,
has been riddled with all sorts
of gang violence over the last year.
But this incident has
sparked a big debate,
and I believe some gaslighting
about whether or not there is a problem
[00:01:03]
with Venezuelan migrant gangs
basically taking over apartment buildings
or causing violent crimes
at these apartment buildings,
and the local government can't seem
to keep its facts straight
or its story straight.
So look, at first the mayor of Aurora,
Colorado, admitted that there actually
[00:01:22]
is a problem with Venezuelan gangs.
Let's watch.
These gangs apparently are attracted
to where there's a concentration
of of Venezuelan migrants.
And so they've, in fact have kind of
pushed out the property management through
[00:01:38]
intimidation and then collected the rents.
Arrests have been made, but these
operations are now are still ongoing.
After that, it appeared that the state and
local leaders kind of went into panic mode
[00:01:53]
because they started to claim
that there's no problem at all.
What do you mean?
This is a figment of your imagination.
In fact, the governor Jared Polis,
claims that the allegations are a figment
of your imagination, and Aurora's interim
police chief said that the gangs
had not taken over one of the complexes.
[00:02:11]
Now you depending on what you're hearing,
you're hearing different things
and whether or not this is
a widespread problem in Aurora, Colorado,
remains to be seen.
Let's be clear about that.
But the issue of this Venezuelan gang
carrying out violent acts
[00:02:28]
and crimes in the area, there seems
to be a lot of evidence of that.
While the Democratic lawmakers and leaders
in the state and local level want
to pretend like it's not happening at all.
They don't scroll away,
come back, come back, because before the
video continues, we just want to urge you
to lend your support
[00:02:45]
to tight U power our honest reporting.
You do it at t.com/team
and we love you for it.
Now let's go to the evidence.
There's a law firm representing the lender
to the landlord
[00:03:00]
of that apartment complex.
Okay, remember, this is the lender.
The lender wants to know.
Hey, I've loaned a lot of money out.
I want to know what's going on
with this apartment complex.
So the lender hires the Perkins Coie
law firm, and they start to investigate
claims of gang violence.
[00:03:17]
Because the lender had caught word
that there was an issue of gang violence
at this apartment complex.
The law firm says that it
interviewed witnesses and reviewed video
from the Whispering Pines.
That's the name of the apartment complex
for its investigation.
They then shared their report with Aurora,
Colorado's top administrators,
[00:03:36]
on August 9th.
Now, the video that we showed you earlier
was taken later in August.
So even before that incident occurred,
there were already concerns
about gang violence.
There was already a law firm
investigating it on behalf of the lender.
And they submit their report
on August 9th.
[00:03:52]
And they also sent it
to a local CBS news affiliate.
And the report was further confirmed
by the Aurora Police Department,
which is now denying that there's
a problem of Venezuelan gang violence.
At this apartment complex.
So first, here's what the report found.
[00:04:10]
The evidence we have reviewed indicates
that gang members are engaging in flagrant
trespass violations, assaults and battery.
Human trafficking
and sexual abuse of minors.
Unlawful firearms possession,
extortion and other criminal activities
[00:04:26]
often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan
and other immigrant populations.
So the person who authored the report
on behalf of the law firm
T Marcus Funk, wrote.
And he is a former U.S.
Attorney.
So look for the lefties
who are watching this who are concerned.
[00:04:43]
Oh my God, oh my God,
oh my God, oh my God.
Please, please, please
don't report the truth because it's going
to paint migrants in a negative light.
The migrants are the ones
who are victimized by this.
So if you care about migrants, if you care
about immigrants, you should not want them
to live under these conditions.
Let me go to more of the report where they
write that the gang activity at Whispering
[00:05:01]
Pines escalated in 2024, according to the
document obtained by CBS News Colorado.
In April of 2024,
a housekeeper called the property manager
informing him that two individuals
at the property went into an apartment,
came out with a with large firearms,
and were coming to kill him,
[00:05:19]
the property manager.
The individuals
were apparently past due on rent.
The property manager said, quote,
that the two individuals were arrested as
they were coming to kill him, end quote.
The report says the men who were armed
with large firearms were gang members.
[00:05:35]
Now, the property manager went on to say
that the gang members allegedly stabbed
a Whispering Pines resident
for refusing to pay rent to the gang.
Since then, the property has recorded
footage of gang members knocking on doors
without authorization or without any
justification, attempting to collect rent
[00:05:53]
from the tenants of Whispering Pines.
And then in June, the report says,
suspected gang members approached
the property manager and offered to help
the manager if he agreed to pay the gang
50% of everything the property
management company collected in rent.
[00:06:08]
Now, the investigators who wrote
the report said gang members said
that they were taking over vacant units
at this apartment complex and would
start collecting rent from the tenants.
And they allegedly said, quote,
this is our business plan.
One gang member told the housekeeper if
he, meaning the property manager, doesn't
[00:06:25]
like it, we will fill him with bullets.
The report says video footage shows
Trinidad Agua de Agua gang members
violently breaking into vacant apartments,
kicking doors open
and also moving Venezuelan immigrants
[00:06:41]
into the empty apartment units.
And I'm about to get to confirmation
of all of this by the Aurora
Police Department in just a minute.
But before I do, Jake, I want
to give you a chance to to weigh in.
Yeah.
So, guys, I don't know
what the disputes about.
[00:06:58]
So the left wing is saying what did they
didn't take over the apartment buildings.
They just. They're there.
They're obviously there.
There's no question that they're there.
They.
And did they take over some apartments?
There's no question
that they took over some apartments.
So they're saying
what the lawyers are lying about
[00:07:15]
the entire building being taken over.
Remember, it's not the property owner.
Now, a lot of people say,
oh, the property owner is a bad guy.
That doesn't prove anything.
The property owners could be bad guys
that don't take care of the rodents
and the bedbugs, etc., and a Venezuelan
gang might have taken over the apartments.
[00:07:30]
Those two facts are not at all
logically connected,
so I don't see how that disproves that.
There's a gang there,
so there's more evidence coming
to than has got for you guys.
I was very persuaded by local news.
Unfortunately,
we can't show the video from local news
because of copyright issues.
But number one, the legal report
that Anna is referring to was super clear,
[00:07:50]
and I don't know why people are surprised
that gangs do extortion.
Of course. Of course they do.
Right.
And so and then I was very persuaded
by a local resident, a Latino working
class woman, that we're going to show you
in a minute who told her story of it?
[00:08:06]
So it's definitely real.
The only question is,
is it the whole building?
Is it some of the building
and is it no big deal
if it's just some of the building?
So we'll get into those
questions in a little bit.
But it's no question
that it's a giant problem.
[00:08:22]
And the other question we'll get into
in a minute is who's responsible.
Because that mayor,
I think is the most responsible.
And he's making it seem like,
oh, no, Biden's the most responsible.
We can get into that conversation.
But Brother Biden doesn't run your city.
You do send in the goddamn cops if you
think there's gangs taking over buildings.
[00:08:41]
Yeah, and it does appear based on what one
of the former residents is going to say.
And you're going to hear from her
that the police didn't
really want to deal with it.
So we'll get to that in a moment.
But the in response to that,
law firms report about the gang violence.
[00:08:58]
Basically the Aurora Police
Department provided confirmation.
In fact, they had their own reporting on
this, and their own reporting fell in line
with what this law firm was saying.
So, for instance,
an officer reported responding to a call
[00:09:14]
from a house cleaner at Whispering Pines.
He said she told the police she was
threatened that she needed to give up
the keys to the vacant apartments at the
Whispering Pines Apartments so that
a group of Venezuelans could move people
into the Whispering Pine Apartments.
[00:09:31]
The officer reported, quote, suspects
left, but not before warning her to comply
or else they would kill her or her family.
The Aurora officer wrote to fellow
officers, I would highly recommend
you guys take 2 to 3 friends with you
when responding to any calls there.
[00:09:48]
So clearly the Aurora Police Department
was spooked about responding to any calls
at this apartment complex.
When CBS asked the Aurora Police
Department about this,
especially considering considering
how they have recently denied
gang violence as a as a problem.
[00:10:04]
Here's what they said. Quote,
the information and claims in the letter
underscore why Aurora Police Department
and other law enforcement agencies
formed a special task force to investigate
violent crime impacting migrants and other
communities in the Denver metro area.
[00:10:22]
So which one is it?
Is there a problem with Venezuelan gang
violence in the area, or isn't there
because on one hand, they say this isn't
a thing figment of your imagination.
On the other hand,
they're like, no, no, totally.
We created like a special task
force to deal with it.
And by the way,
just going back to something
[00:10:37]
that Jake referenced really quickly.
So there are still tenants
living in this apartment complex.
Many of them are low income,
many of them are migrants.
And so recently they held a protest
to protest against the landlord, who does
[00:10:52]
seem like a giant piece of you know what?
They complain about bedbugs,
they complain about rodents.
They complain about the terrible
conditions that they're living under.
And some of them are saying, no, no, no,
the gang violence isn't the problem.
The real problem is the landlord.
But both things can be true, guys.
[00:11:09]
The landlord being neglectful
and not taking care of the building
could actually attract more crime.
That usually happens
when gangs or criminals
see a building kind of falling apart.
They see it as an opportunity
to come in and take over.
And so I don't see that as,
oh, well, it's one or the other.
[00:11:26]
It could totally be both.
And how do you account for all
of these reports that all of this evidence
that's pouring in in regard to the issues
that they're having,
not just in this apartment complex,
but in the area in general.
And look, there have also been
some pretty interesting arrests
[00:11:41]
ever since this story went viral.
Let's go to this next graphic
where The Denver Post reports that police
have identified ten people linked to the
Aragua gang who are operating in Aurora,
and six of those people have
been arrested and are in custody.
[00:11:56]
Aurora police spokesperson Joe Moylan
told The Denver Post some are in custody
in connection with a previously
reported shooting on Gnome Street in July.
And so that shooting
took place on July 28th.
Two people were shot.
One other person was injured.
[00:12:14]
Now, Moylan said that the officers
have not yet arrested any gang members
on charges related to collecting rent
from residents at the Aurora properties.
So these arrests are separate,
but it also shows that there is a presence
of this gang in Aurora and that police
are trying to grapple with it.
[00:12:32]
By the way, that interim police chief
declined to comment on
how many criminal acts connected to trend.
Aragua members
are currently under investigation,
citing the ongoing investigative work.
He said the police department has been
investigating the gang for a year,
and that the residents making complaints
about the gang's activity have largely
[00:12:51]
been migrants who live in the buildings.
Let me read that one more time
so people can hear it loud and clear.
The interim police chief said
that the residents making complaints about
the gangs gang's activity have largely
been migrants who live in the buildings.
[00:13:08]
Why are we allowing them
to be victimized by this?
- This is ridiculous.
- Yeah.
So look, again, you're going to hear
from one of the residents in a second.
And it's compelling.
But I think almost everyone involved
in this story is full of crap.
So the governor, Jared Polis,
who I like for other reasons,
but in this case, Anna's 100% right.
[00:13:26]
There is no problem.
That's why he did a task force
months earlier.
Okay, that doesn't make any sense at all.
And then the mayor, Mike Kaufman,
who's a Republican, poses a Democrat.
This is a problem that because
of the border, brother,
the border is, what, hundreds of miles,
thousands of miles away from you.
[00:13:43]
What, do you run the city
or don't you like?
Let's say that a terrible gang came in,
crossed the border,
which actually they largely fly in,
and they drove all the way to Colorado
and they came to Aurora, Colorado.
So you're going to do nothing about it
because, oh,
Biden should have done something earlier.
So I'm just going to let them do it.
[00:14:02]
Or Boston, Remember,
Denver was one of the places where Greg
Abbott was busing migrants into.
So I don't know if look,
I don't know how these individuals arrived
to that area, but that's just something
you should keep in mind because that was
[00:14:17]
something that was happening.
So Mike Kaufman, look, let's I'm actually
I'm the most mad at him because he's
the one that's going there's a big problem
and I'm not doing anything about it.
So which one is it?
Then I guess you're a loser.
Total, utter loser who should
definitely be fired in the next election.
[00:14:33]
Who says, oh, it's a giant gangs
taking over buildings,
and I'm not going to send in the cops.
I'm not going to send in anyone.
All I'm going to do is blame Biden
for political reasons.
Okay, well, you seem like a real profile
in courage and not at all full of crap.
Obviously, you're full of crap.
[00:14:50]
If you think it's a giant problem,
do something.
Otherwise,
you should obviously be fired now.
Right wing, left wing.
So the right wing says, oh,
because there's a criminal migrant gang,
we should ban all immigrants.
Well, that doesn't make any sense.
And overall,
when you look at the crime rates,
[00:15:06]
we've been over this many, many times.
I hate to break it to you guys, but native
born Americans are twice as violent.
Twice as many crimes
as undocumented immigrants and four times
as many crimes as documented immigrants.
[00:15:22]
So if we're going to kick people
out of the country based on how much crime
they commit, we'd have to kick out
the native born Americans.
And now right wingers are going,
oh, hold on, dude, it's not my logic.
It's your logic.
If you're saying based on crime, native
born people are the biggest criminals.
[00:15:38]
So if that breaks your heart, wait,
but wait a minute.
You say that about immigrants.
So when I say it factually about you,
why does it bother you?
Oh, if it bothers you,
you think it might bother them.
Especially when you're lying about it.
About them.
Now, on the other hand, the left wing.
Why do you guys want to deny
that any crime exists in the world?
[00:15:56]
Like, where do you like, how do how do
you think that gives you credibility?
And, like, how does it help anyone?
I mean you claim to care about migrants.
Then why don't you care about the migrants
that are in those buildings?
In fact, I think the cops aren't going in.
The mayor didn't do anything because they
thought, what difference does it make?
[00:16:13]
It's migrants.
It's their people. Let them deal with it.
No, no, we don't do that in America.
We're all one here.
Once we're citizens, we're U.S. Citizens.
Okay, you go protect those people
and left wingers.
I just don't get it. I don't get it.
[00:16:28]
If you're pushing back
against the demagoguing of immigrants.
I just did that.
That's how you do that, okay?
But if you say in order to push back
against that, I'm just going to pretend
that no immigrant has ever committed
a crime and that those gangs aren't here
[00:16:44]
and they haven't taken over anything.
You sound ridiculous.
Yeah, I think the problem is
that everything has devolved
into extreme partizanship.
And one of the most common comments
I've gotten on Twitter about this,
just simply noting what the facts are,
is, oh, it's really sad to see
[00:17:02]
that you're now on the other team.
No, no.
I need everyone to understand someone.
I'm not on anyone's team, okay?
I want to know what the truth is.
And I'm really not interested
in lying to my audience
in order to protect one team or the other.
So let's hear from Cindy,
who until very recently was living in the
[00:17:20]
apartment complex, was begging the cops
for help and they were not helping her.
Let's take a look at Cindy again.
Former resident of the Whispering
Pines apartment complex.
A city council member
helped her move out recently.
Now, she says that she's been dealing
with so much violence in the building
[00:17:38]
that she bought six cameras to provide
evidence of what's been going on.
And the videos that went viral
were her videos.
It was because of her cameras.
Now here she is speaking
about her experiences.
I believe it was your doorbell camera
video that we have been watching
[00:17:56]
for the last few days of what appeared
to be gang members heavily armed,
trying to get into the apartment
across the hallway from yours.
What did you see there?
And how bad did it get in that building?
On this particular date, it was.
It was really bad.
[00:18:14]
And but it is not by any means
an isolated occurrence.
Unfortunately, I have months,
almost a year and a half worth of footage
from six separate cameras.
Earlier that morning, I had seen several
individuals carrying, assault weapons,
[00:18:31]
assault weapons down to the next floor
of the building adjoining mine.
And I've reported it to the police.
So all day we were nervous
and on high alert.
Anyway, because they told us
that they really couldn't do anything
unless something happened, and we were
just waiting all day for it to happen.
[00:18:48]
- We knew it was coming.
- Wait a minute.
You've got people running
around the apartment complex
with long rifles and pistols.
You call the police, and the police say
they couldn't do anything about it.
- They said they weren't coming.
- Yeah, that is outrageous.
[00:19:05]
By the way, some streamers have decided
to smear the city council member
who helped this woman,
whose low income move out of her home into
a safe place to live, and they smear her.
The city council member as racist
because she is concerned
[00:19:22]
about this crime that's going on.
Okay, now, Cindy also provided
evidence of, you know,
bullet holes around the building.
A bullet hole in her vehicle.
So there's one example.
This was in the building,
and then here she is standing
[00:19:37]
with a reporter by her Nissan.
And if you look at the next photo, you'll
get a closer look at a bullet hole that
her car, obviously has as a result of the
shootings and the violence in the area.
So, look, you can't fix a problem
or solve a problem
[00:19:55]
if you're in denial of a problem.
And clearly there is a problem here,
and it's difficult to know the extent
to which this criminal gang
is operating in the area because it seems
it seems like there's this real effort
to pretend like it's not even happening.
[00:20:10]
And I have a huge problem with that,
because I think that migrants who are here
should be able to live in peace.
They should be safe.
American citizens should live in peace.
They should feel safe.
And the idea that we should just allow
this type of criminal activity
to happen unchecked is ridiculous to me.
[00:20:26]
Yeah.
So I find both the leftist streamers
and the cops infuriating here.
They just won't go
to protect those people.
And I mean, and the leftist streams,
you're looking for racial issues
and you're blaming the commissioner
who's actually trying to do something.
[00:20:42]
How about the cops who won't protect
the Latino and Latina immigrants that are
there that are asking, begging for help?
So cops do your goddamn jobs.
Your job is to serve and to protect.
We have a culture of cowardice
in our police departments
[00:20:58]
in this country where they're taught,
don't take a risk with your life.
Your life is so much more important
than the citizens.
Don't take a risk. Don't take the risk.
Oh, they took over an apartment
or an apartment building or half
the apartment building, whatever it is.
Yeah, there's a bunch of migrants
that live there.
[00:21:13]
Who cares?
And now leftist streamers.
You're not supposed to do the same thing.
So here is a member on Twitch
asks a good question.
Please tell us who the left is that you
keep referring to and never defining.
I'd really like to know
as a self-described leftist.
No problem, because we do do that
sometimes on the show and you don't know
[00:21:31]
what we're referring to.
Do we mean the whole left wing?
Absolutely not.
Okay.
The majority of the left wing
is perfectly reasonable on this.
Where are they?
You and I might have
a disagreement here, Jake.
Yeah, we have a massive disagreement. You.
[00:21:46]
You give those tiny little leftist
streamers way too much.
- They're not tiny.
- Little leftist streamers.
Jake Hassan called the city
council member racist for.
- Helping her.
- Move out of that.
But you.
But like, that's not a small streamer.
That's a huge streamer.
That's not a small person.
Okay.
- I mean, look.
- What I'm saying.
[00:22:02]
- I mean.
- What are we going to get into this now?
We're going to be like Trump
with crowd sizes.
Okay, okay. But okay.
- But hold on, hold on.
- Hold on, hold on.
Democrats come out and push back
against that narrative, Jake,
that just the mainstream Democratic Party,
do they come forward and push back
against that narrative?
[00:22:17]
Because you have the Democratic governor
denying all of this.
So I don't know who on the left
wants to do something about it.
Anna, look, you have to be specific, okay?
I'm so glad Octo Squid has asked that
question, because we have to be specific
about who we're talking about.
So if you're saying, oh, well, you know,
Hassan or some other leftist
[00:22:36]
streamers is big, so that counts.
Well, TYT network is much, much larger.
So okay, we win.
We represent the left.
So we can play this game all day long.
All day long.
Come at me. 400 million views per month.
[00:22:53]
So we definitely represent the left
more than any streamer,
no matter how popular they are.
Pretending to speak for the left.
Never showing any polling.
Never showing any facts.
Never showing anything
about how they represent
left wing voters in this country.
[00:23:08]
And if you tell me Democratic politicians
are doing the wrong thing,
that's called Tuesday.
Democratic politicians
and Republican politicians
almost always do the wrong thing here.
So we have a collaboration here from the
Republican mayor, the Democratic governor,
Democratic president, the local cops.
[00:23:24]
They're all like,
I don't want this problem.
Who cares?
A bunch of working class Latinos
are having a problem.
Who cares? Just ignore it.
Right.
So so don't talk to me
about the Democratic Party.
We're not.
What I'm talking about is
the great majority of left wing voters
[00:23:39]
are, of course, normal, real Americans
who don't want crime.
That's so obvious.
Only the craziest leftist streamers
are like, oh, there's no crime,
there's no crime, there's no crime at all.
There's no crime.
If you ever mention crime, oh, you're
a right winger or you're a right winger.
[00:23:57]
It's a ludicrous.
You show the bullet holes, you show the
guys taking over the apartment buildings,
you show the residents,
you show a giant report about how they
have, in fact, taken over apartments
and done extortion, etc.
And they're like nope,
nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.
There's never any crime.
And crime is awesome.
[00:24:12]
And there's nothing wrong with crime and
you guys shouldn't be worried about it.
That does that.
You know what percentage
of actual human beings believe that?
Like maximum 2%. 98% of left wing voters
do not want Venezuelan criminal gangs
or American criminal
gangs taking over the apartments
of working class people who are just
[00:24:32]
trying to survive in this country.
So let's be accurate about who we're
criticizing, but it definitely isn't
the left wing voters.
Yeah, no, I don't think
it's the voters either.
I think it's people with microphones.
I think that it's, to some level,
elected lawmakers as well,
[00:24:48]
both on a local, state and federal level.
But I agree with you on the voters.
Of course, people don't want
to live like this.
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