A suspected member of a notorious Venezuelan migrant gang has been charged in the “execution” of a man he kidnapped and shot dead on the side of a Texas road.
Eiber Gabriel Sira-Vargas, 29, is believed to be a gangster from Tren de Aragua and was already in a federal immigration prison when police accused him of the brutal murder in recent days, according to News 4 San Antonio.
Texas police napped Sira-Vargas during an Oct. 5 police raid on an Alamo City apartment complex that had fallen under the full control of TdA, as the gang is known to authorities.
The South American was in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in the Lone Star State when investigators linked Sira-Vargas to a murder last summer.
On July 1, Sira-Vargas and another man kidnapped three men, tying their hands and feet together with zip ties and putting them in a vehicle.
For an unknown reason, one of the victims was released, but the other two men were driven to a busy road where they were taken from the car and shot.
Alexis Jose Vegas, 18, was later found face down in the grass after dying from the gunshot wounds.
The other unknown victim played dead.
Despite being shot, he survived the ordeal.
Eiber Gabriel Sira-Vargas, 29, is charged with murder by terroristic threat/or other felony for the July 1 murder and kidnapping of Alexis Jose Vegas, 18, according to Bexar County court records
Although the surviving victim initially told San Antonio Police Department investigators that he knew nothing about the case, he was eventually released months later and betrayed Sira-Vargas to police.
Dubbed the “Epitome of Evil,” Tren de Aragua is known as the leader of drug smuggling, child prostitution and human trafficking networks in South America, whose members have crossed into the US in recent years amid a wave of Venezuelan migrants .
The tattooed gangsters have since unleashed a crime wave across the country, from Miami and Texas to Denver and New York.
As DailyMail.com exclusively reported, TdA has taken control of four apartment complexes in South Texas.
An army of law enforcement sources raided the Palatia Apartments in the early morning hours of October 5.
Investigators learned that TdA had seized control of the building five to six months prior to the raid. They squatted in vacant buildings that they either rented out to other migrants, used as a base to trade cocaine or, most gruesomely, as prostitution dens to pimp women. and children.
In exclusive reporting, DailyMail.com revealed that this apartment burglary is just the tip of the iceberg in the major south Texas city, with at least three other rental properties also occupied by the criminal organization.
DailyMail.com did not name the three other apartment complexes to avoid jeopardizing the ongoing police investigation.
Law enforcement sources confirmed that TdA had been operating in the Palatia Apartments for five to six months – squatting in empty units that they rented out to other migrants, or used as a base for drug trafficking and other illegal activities.
The rise of Tren de Aragua in America: In a pre-dawn operation, hundreds of law enforcement officers closed in on the sprawling Palatia apartments in the early hours of October 5, after weeks of investigating reports that Tren de Aragua had control of the area
However, the locations were confirmed by law enforcement sources and we spent days visiting the sites where we spoke to terrified residents.
In the Palatia Apartments, authorities arrested 19 people, four of whom have been confirmed as gang members.
“One TdA member is a confirmed ‘enforcer’ for that gang,” and 15 were in the country illegally,” said the city’s top cop, William McManus.
Gangsters, brazenly displaying gang tattoos or wearing red clothing, squatted in empty units where they sold drugs or people, he added.
“They had women and children and they prostituted the women and children,” said one resident.
“There were a lot of them and when I saw all the women and children being put into a paddy wagon, I thought, ‘Aah!’
TdA had also threatened apartment complex employees who discovered their criminal plans.
The gang’s activities in San Antonio mirrored almost exactly what happened in Aurora, Colorado, where a video of armed gang members storming an apartment made national headlines in August.
The worker said he also saw men walking around with guns and Michael Jordan’s mark on their skin, also well-known TdA markings.
After searching more than 300 units, police arrested 19 people, four of whom have been confirmed as gang members. “One TdA member is a confirmed ‘enforcer’ for that gang,” and 15 were in the country illegally,” said the city’s top cop, William McManus.
A shocking report from a law firm representing one of the apartment management companies revealed that the gang engaged in attacks on apartment staff, threats of murder and other illegal activities
As DailyMail.com exclusively reported, TdA has moved its new headquarters to the US-Mexico border in Juarez, Mexico, where it kidnaps asylum-seeking migrants trying to enter America.
The gang took over at least three apartment complexes in suburban Denver, although attorneys for the properties argued that many more rental properties were in the gang’s control.
A shocking report from a law firm representing one of the apartment management companies found that the gang engaged in attacks on apartment staff, threats of murder, extortion and child prostitution.
“Prostitution makes a lot of money, and the problem with prostitution is that it brings in guys who they can then sell drugs to,” former Colorado ICE Director John Fabbricatore told DailyMail.com in September.
“These guys come in, meet these Johns and shake them down. See if they want to buy drugs.”