Federal officials on Thursday announced the indictment of two suspected Tren de Aragua leaders in Denver on racketeering charges tied to robbery, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering and drug offenses over 14 months.

Tren de Aragua, or TdA, is the notorious Venezuelan prison gang with tentacles in the U.S., including in Denver.

Indicted were Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano and Brawins Dominique Suarez Villegas, aka “Chino San Vicente.”

“We have said we are committed to the total elimination of Tren de Aragua, that we will go anywhere in the world to find the people who are responsible for bringing these violent offenses into our communities in Colorado,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly. “This case demonstrates it.”

Officials were unable to confirm the nationality of Mosquera and Suarez.

In announcing the indictments, McNeilly said the two sanctioned the armed robberies of two jewelry stores in Denver. In the Joyeria El Ruby robbery, authorities said, gang members stole nearly $4 million in jewelry and gold and brutally beat several employees with a firearm.

“This robbery was carried out at the behest of Tren de Aragua leaders, specifically the two individuals who we have now charged in this case,” McNeilly said. “Suarez Vegas and Mosquera Serrano approved the robbery, and they directed that the money be laundered and transmitted back to enrich the leaders of Tren de Aragua outside the United States.”

On Wednesday, Newman Castillo Delgado was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his role in the jewelry store robbery, McNeilly said.

The pair also directed the kidnapping of a young man at gunpoint in October last year in an attempt to extract $30,000 ransom that the family did not pay, McNeilly said. TdA gang members cut off one of his fingers.

Muscara has not yet been apprehended. He is one of the FBI’s top 10 most wanted, with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture or conviction.

Suarez, who has been operating from a prison in Colombia, is awaiting extradition to the United States, said Marvin Massey, acting special agent in charge for FBI Denver.

Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said the gang, which rose to national prominence after taking over three apartment buildings in Aurora last year, no longer posed a public safety threat.

“This announcement may naturally lead people to wonder whether criminal activity involving TdA is increasing or prevalent here in Denver — to which my answer is no,” Thomas said. “We are not aware of any significant criminal activity involving TdA members currently in Denver, and anecdotally, mentions of possible criminal activity by TDA members since late last year have become infrequent.”

Thomas attributed the decline in criminal activity to an increased willingness among community members — particularly residents living in Denver without legal authorization — to report crimes.

Gang members have been linked to a myriad of criminal activities that include human trafficking — specifically of immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping and money laundering.

According to U.S. authorities, members of the Venezuelan prison gang hid in plain sight by infiltrating immigrants headed north. But the gang’s brutal reputation — magnified by reports the gang had “taken over” apartment complexes in Aurora — quickly made TdA a political flashpoint.

President Donald Trump seized on the gang’s activities on the 2024 campaign trail, citing the TdA as evidence of unchecked illegal immigration and calling for stricter border enforcement.

“They’re a savage gang, one of the worst in the world and they’re getting bigger all the time because of our stupidity,” Trump has said.

Law enforcement sources earlier this year said fewer than two dozen TdA affiliates have been arrested in the Denver metro area.

The low arrest figures in the Denver metro area may mask a more complex reality, one in which identifying and apprehending TdA gang members requires time, intelligence and luck.

“Gang members and real criminals aren’t the easiest to catch,” John Fabbricatore, a former ICE field office director, has said.

McNeilly declined to say how Mosquera and Suarez were identified as TdA gang members.

No one knows with certainty how many TdA gang members are in the United States, illustrating the difficulty law enforcement has had in tracking the gang’s operations.

Last year, the FBI reported roughly 400 TdA members in New York alone, according to an internal Oct. 5, 2023 Aurora police bulletin.

Ronna Rísquez – an investigative journalist and author of “El Tren de Aragua: La banda que revolucionó el crimen organizado en América Latina” – estimates the gang has about 5,000 members.