Colorado video shows Tren de Aragua gang beating apartment complex worker in extortion bid, company says
A Colorado management company has shared brutal surveillance footage and a photo of a bloodied employee to illustrate its ongoing problem with a violent Venezuelan migrant gang.
Brooklyn-based CBZ Management, which operates 11 complexes in Colorado, has said that members of Tren de Aragua commandered entire apartment buildings in Aurora by threatening its employees and tried to extort the company for a cut of rent money in exchange for their continued operation of the properties.
One of the company's buildings made national headlines earlier this year after surveillance footage showed a heavily-armed group of men, allegedly members of the Venezuelan prison gang, making their way through The Edge at Lowry apartments and speaking in Spanish.
The most recent footage shows one of CBZ's representatives being assaulted after he refused to accept a bribe at the Whispering Pines Complex at the end of 2023, the company told Fox 31.
The company wrote on X that the employee found a group of male squatters in a recently vacated apartment and would not accept $500 to "overlook the situation."
The man was beaten so severely that he had to be treated at a hospital, the company said.
"I think they were trying to kill me. I don’t know how I got out, but I got out," that representative, whose bloodied photograph was shown by the management company on X, told Fox 31.
After the attack, the company said, the employee began to receive threats via text message that included his home address and spouse's name.
A police report from the incident obtained from the 18th Judicial District Court by Denver 7 shows that one of the company's property managers was assaulted by documented Tren de Aragua member Yoendry Vilchez Medina-Jose in November 2023. It was not immediately clear if that was the same incident.
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After the incident, the company said its representatives met with members of the FBI. The agency allegedly confirmed that members of Tren de Aragua were behind the text messages and the building takeovers but that the issue was a "blip on the radar" due to the Venezuelan gang's growing national presence.
The FBI could not immediately be reached for comment.
CBZ also said that the gangs took over a tenant's apartment while on vacation, forcing the tenant to find a new place to live when he returned home.
"Gangs have taken control of several of our properties in Aurora, Colorado," the company wrote in a thread on X last week. "In an attempt to discredit this fact for political purposes and avoid governmental accountability, some have spread false information about our situation."
The firm said that it has had to pull its workers back from its apartment complexes in Aurora.
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"Despite clear evidence, many still deny the reality of the situation, sometimes using us as scapegoats. That’s why we are no longer staying silent," the company wrote. "We will continue to counter falsehoods with simple facts and evidence. Yes, gangs did take control of our apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and the government did nothing. That is the real story."
The Aurora Police Department told Denver 7 that it has "not yet obtained evidence of a gang takeover at any CBZ properties."
"We’ve acknowledged it’s likely gang members have and/or are residing at CBZ properties, but as you know from experience you could say the same about a lot of different gangs and a lot of different properties throughout the metro area," a representative told the outlet.
Likewise, a spokesperson for Aurora told the New York Post that the company's claims were "exaggerations."
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"These delinquent property owners, managers and/or ‘investors’ conveniently fail to acknowledge that their own bank lenders took them to court in the last few weeks where a judge ordered some of their problematic properties into receivership," the spokesperson said. "That means a judge has given the legal authority to a third-party receiver to actually manage the properties, and who the property owners will be forced to compensate."
Last Friday, former President Donald Trump visited Aurora and linked the alleged gang problems in the city to the Biden-Harris administration's border policies.
According to Denver 7, CBZ Management has a history of citations dating back to 2020, with violations ranging from mice infestations to dozens of illegally parked cars to ceiling damage. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman characterized the management company as "slumlords," KDVR reported.
"It’s a little late to play the Venezuelan gang card," Coffman said. "Certainly, there are other parts of the city that we’re looking at, that we’re concerned about that. But the problems in this building certainly precede any problems with Venezuelan gangs."
CBZ Management said that the city "drummed up 'code violations'" to cover up the presence of the foreign gang, according to its posts on X. The company said it "received a perfect inspection in 2022 and 2023," and that any violations have been "dealt with."
"The only violations that weren’t dealt with were when the gangs took over and we didn’t want our 6 on-site staff working there — for their safety," the company said.
Media and government officials are downplaying the impact of Venezuelan gangs in Aurora, one woman who moved out of her apartment earlier this year due to increasing violence told Fox News Digital.
"I feel like it's a slap in the face," Cindy Romero said. "How many gangs is OK to have in Aurora? How many properties is OK to take over? How many people, who are citizens paying their bills, is it OK to displace?"