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A large prison in a popular Venezuelan city has served as the birthplace of one of the region’s most notorious gangs, with its infamous leader escaping prisoners under the nose of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro – leading to a newly formed gang wreaking havoc on American cities.
Tocorón, in the city of the same name, was once a luxury community – decorated with swimming pools, a nightclub and a zoo – for some of the country’s most dangerous criminals.
For years on Maduro’s watch, the Aragua prison operated under the control of its own inmates. Kidnappings, robberies and countless other violent crimes were planned and organized from the territories of Tocorón, in accordance with The Associated Press.
Shortly after Maduro won the 2013 presidential election, notorious criminal Héctor “Niño” Guerrero returned to Tocorón to be sentenced to prison for killing a police officer, along with several other charges. Guerrero seized on rampant corruption in prison to expand his nascent gang – Tren de Aragua, now designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks to supporters during a rally to mark the 19th anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines in Caracas, Venezuela, on Dec. 10, 2025. (Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“When a country is going through some kind of economic crisis or some kind of negative economic indicator, it can lead to groups coming together – especially in places like prisons or jails where you have a group of people with criminal records. [and] violent histories competing for control of markets selling illegal and other illegal goods,” David Pyrooz, a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder, told Fox News Digital.
Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka “Niño Guerrero,” is the infamous head of the Tren de Aragua. (US Treasury Department)
Members of the special forces of the Bolivarian National Police wait in line at a checkpoint at the Aragua prison as the Venezuelan government announced that it has completed the first phase of its plan to restore control of the prison system, in Tocoron, Venezuela, on September 23, 2023. (REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
Inmates were expected to pay weekly bills to the ringleaders, with as much as $3.5 million flowing into the new gang every year – with money also flowing out of crimes committed outside prison walls.
“What happens in prison affects what happens on the street, and what happens on the street affects what happens in prisons,” said Pyrooz. “So those walls have spaces between prisons and communities.”
“State control, or the lack of it, has been found to lead to gang activity in the United States, in our prison systems and around the world. So it’s not normal, nor is there any reason to believe that Venezuela will be immune from that.”
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The Aragua prison is pictured as the Venezuelan government announced that it has completed the first phase of its plan to restore control of the prison system, in Tocoron, Venezuela on September 23, 2023. (REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
Corruption escalated under the Maduro administration, which did not break Tren de Aragua’s hold on Tocorón until a decade later, when 11,000 Venezuelan soldiers stormed the prison to regain control in 2023.
However, Maduro’s efforts to restore peace to Tocorón were perhaps too late. By the time the military arrived, Tren de Aragua had gathered more than 4,000 members and was present in 11 of the country’s 23 provinces, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence. As officials worked to dismantle the culture being cultivated in Tocorón, Guerrero – now the leader of the gang – was released from prison, along with several other members.
“The fact that it was the leader, there was no conflict after that,” Pyrooz told Fox News Digital. “So it means a lot that there could be some kind of internal conflict or corruption that could lead to that kind of escape.”
Following Guerrero’s escape, crimes involving members of the Tren de Aragua began to increase throughout the US – perhaps one of the main causes of violence in the city of Colorado.
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A demolished gate is shown at the Aragua prison as the Venezuelan government announced that it has completed the first phase of its plan to reorganize the prison system, in Tocoron, Venezuela, on September 23, 2023. (REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
In 2024, a gang took control of several apartments in Aurora, making national headlines as violent criminals held the buildings for ransom.
Surveillance video at The Edge at Lowry sparked national outrage after a group of armed men, believed to be members of Tren de Aragua, were seen roaming the halls of the building.
Additional video showed one of the building’s representatives being harassed after refusing to be fed at the Whispering Pines Complex in 2023, the company. he told FOX 31.
In a post to X, the company revealed that the employee met a group living inside a vacant apartment, and was assaulted after he refused to accept $500 to take care of the situation. After the attack, the employee reportedly began receiving cyber threats including his home address and the name of his partner, who was later arrested for Tren de Aragua by the FBI.
“I think they were trying to kill me. I don’t know how I got out, but I got out,” the worker, whose bloody photo was posted by X’s management company, told FOX 31.
The CBZ management revealed this photo to X, which is suspected to represent one of their employees after he refused to be bribed by gang members at one of the company’s Aurora buildings. (@Cbzmanagement at X)
In another incident, the company’s property manager was beaten by a known Tren de Aragua member Yoendry Vilchez Medina-Jose in November 2023, according to a police report obtained. in Denver 7.
Additionally, a group of gang members took over the tenant’s residence while they were on vacation, forcing the tenant to find a new place to live.
A Colorado judge later ordered the shelter temporarily closed due to a “threat to public safety,” with city officials helping 85 families find a new place to live where they won’t be victimized again.
Surveillance video shows Aurora, a Colorado worker allegedly abused by the Tren de Aragua gang
“The gang was targeting their community, Venezuelan immigrants, with violence, intimidation, extortion and kidnapping,” Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said at the time. “The complex became a hub for drug trafficking, home invasions, shootings and violent attacks.”
In 2025, Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York City, with officials identifying the Venezuelan man as the heavily armed man seen on video kicking in a door inside an Aurora apartment building.
“There are ways to end these problems before they reach the level of Tren de Aragua,” said Pyrooz. “But it can be really hard to do, especially when you have ineffective government programs to stop these groups.”
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An excavator destroys infrastructure built by inmates at the Aragua prison as the Venezuelan government announces it has completed the first phase of its plan to restore prison control, in Tocoron, Venezuela, on September 23, 2023. (REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
“And it could lead to the kind of suspicion or unusual evidence that the government could have led to the migration of members of the Tren de Aragua to the United States.”
Last year, the Aurora Police Department released a doorbell video showing a group of nine alleged Tren de Aragua members harassing a Venezuelan tenant, in an incident officials called “very reminiscent” of the 2024 takeover of a building near downtown.
The video shows the group pointing guns and repeatedly knocking on the door of an apartment building near 6th Avenue and Potomac Street in Aurora, Chamberlain said during a news conference.
WATCH: Disturbing video shows suspected TdA gang members armed with guns at Colorado apartment
“This may sound like déjà vu,” Chamberlain said at the time. “We are dealing with this actively, effectively and quickly.”
Authorities eventually arrested two suspects in connection with the incident, and detained four other suspects.
However, the infiltration of Venezuelan gangs into the Colorado community has decreased, according to Pyrooz.
“It’s very muted in 2025,” Pyrooz said. “The power of Tren de Aragua in the area is very quiet. It seems that some of the enforcement actions are aimed at reducing the influence of groups like Tren de Aragua.”
In December, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced two alleged Tren de Aragua leaders had been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a series of cases in Colorado.
Brawins Dominique Suarez Villegas and Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano are facing multiple charges, including conspiracy to constitute a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO), marking another attempt to hold violent gang members accountable within the confines of the US justice system.
Similarly, the Southern District of New York filed a lawsuit late last year charging Guerrero – who remains at large – with various crimes stemming from his role as leader of the Tren de Aragua.
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However, his capture would probably not have been necessary, if he had not fled Tocorón under the Maduro regime.
“If you allow gangs to take control of these facilities, it could be related to a major failure of the state to support the conditions of detention,” Pyrooz told Fox News Digital. “[Or] to correctional officers with effective management to end these conflicts before gangs take over.”
Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
