FBI works with Colombia to continue to take down more Venezuelan Tren de Aragua leaders

DORAL, Fla. – As a prison gang in Venezuela grew into a transnational criminal organization, investigators believe Carlos “Bobby” Gomez had caused havoc in South America’s western edge.

Investigators believe Gomez followed orders from “Niño Guerrero,” the Tren de Aragua leader born in Venezuela’s city of Maracay, in the state of Aragua, where he co-founded the gang that later spread to South Florida.

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The FBI has been working with the Colombian National Police to take down the Tren de Aragua, or Aragua Train, whose members are accused of a long list of crimes including illegal mining, kidnapping, extortion, money laundering through cryptocurrency, trafficking narcotics, debt bondage, and sex trafficking minors.

On Saturday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro shared a video reporting that a team raided a building in Los Patios, near the border with Venezuela, and arrested Gomez, also known as Carlos Francisco Gómez Moreno, in a bedroom.

Investigators believe “Larry Changa” and “Johan Petrica” co-founded the gang with “EL Chino Pedrera” at the infamous Aragua Penitentiary Center, also known as Tocorón, where the gang had a pool, gym, restaurants, bars, and other luxuries.

“El Chino Pedrera,” also known as José Gabriel Álvarez Rojas, was killed in 2016, in Venezuela. He was 31.

Investigators believe Gomez was an associate of “Larry Changa,” who left Venezuela in 2018 and operated “La Compañía,” the gang’s criminal cell in Chile until Colombian law enforcement arrested him in July.

Venezuelan officials reported dismantling the gang in 2023. Diosdado Cabello, a Venezuelan minister, said the gang was part of a U.S. “destabilization operation” and Yván Eduardo Gil Pinto, a Venezuelan diplomat, described it as “fiction created by the international media.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury designated the gang as “a significant” transnational criminal organization that was abusing the U.S. financial system. In July, the U.S. State Department announced there was a $12 million reward for information leading to the arrests and convictions of “Niño Guerrero,” “Johan Petrica,” and “El Viejo.”

In September, the U.S. Border Patrol assisted with the arrest of Estefania “La Barbie” Primera, a mother accused of running a violent Tren De Aragua operation at the Gateway Hotel in El Paso, Texas, after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023. She allegedly abused her kids and sexually exploited migrants.

U.S., Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents reported arresting Tren de Aragua members Carl Zambrano, and Jhonata Toro on Sept. 26. The U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Border Patrol assisted with the arrest of Ehiker Morales on Oct. 11 in New Mexico.

Zambrano, Toro, and Morales were wanted for the murder of Nilzuly Arneaud Petit, a Venezuelan migrant, on Aug. 24 in Texas. He was 33. After the murder, HSI Dallas acting Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard referred to the gang as “a plague.”

Several Tren de Aragua fugitives were arrested in November.

Colombian authorities arrested “Jeison Comino.” Police officers in Sweetwater arrested Abrahan DeJesus Mavo Bracho at Dolphin Mall. Luis Alejandro Ruiz Godoy was arrested on Nov. 19, in Memphis, Tennessee. After the arrest, INTERPOL Washington Acting Director Jeffrey A. Grimming released a statement saying Ruiz Godoy had traveled to the U.S. via Mexico.

“Tren de Aragua has emerged as a significant threat to the United States as it infiltrates migration flows from Venezuela,” Grimming said, adding that federal agencies “will continue to provide critical intelligence to our police partners across the continent to strengthen border and national security, ensuring these violent gang members find no safe harbor in our country.”

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