Tag: gangs

Ahead of Minnesota State Fair, Ramsey County sheriff sends 233 warning letters to potential gang members

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Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is putting young people with potential gang connections on notice days before the start of the 2026 Minnesota State Fair. Fletcher tells WCCO he sent 233 letters to people across the Twin Cities between the ages of 16 and 22, urging them to “consider this letter an opportunity to separate yourself from persons involved in criminal activity.” He says all were identified during investigations into 12 gangs.   “If you hang around other kids that are committing crimes and you come to the fair with them, we’re going to document your activity and that can be used against you later in some court process,” Fletcher said. “Either a crime for the benefit of a gang, a RICO conspiracy case or racketeering case.”

Ten alleged gang members have already agreed to stay away from the fair after Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a civil suit against them.   Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher WCCO The sheriff says six deputies who specialize in Somali gangs will be at the fair to intervene if those 10 alleged gang members violate the court order. He also said staffing will increase at night and law enforcement will have a focus on the Midway after 7 p.m.  “Settle your grievances elsewhere,” Fletcher said. “Settle your grievances where it’s not going to impact 2 million other people.” Instagram account advertises fair “battle” According to court documents, members of The Ville gang fought members of its rival gang, Muddy, near the Midway last year.

In 2024, a Muddy member shot a rival outside the gates on the last day of the fair.  Outside of the fair, members have been arrested in connection to shootings at the 2025 Burnsville High School graduation and the Metro State graduation earlier this year, according to the lawsuits. In late July, a Ramsey County deputy noticed an Instagram account advertising “THE BIGGEST BATTLE OF THE SUMMER” at the state fair, listing Ville and other rival gangs, one of the suits says. “They’re literally advertising that they’re gonna have a big fight at the fair, and we simply have to stop this before it happens to preserve public safety,” Ellison told WCCO earlier this month. The state fair begins on Aug. 27 and runs through Labor Day.

Source: Ahead of Minnesota State Fair, Ramsey County sheriff sends 233 warning letters to potential gang members – CBS Minnesota

Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
Matthew 24:42

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Trump says U.S. killed Tren de Aragua leader in airstrike in Venezuela

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The U.S. military has killed the alleged leader of Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua, President Trump announced Friday. The president said on Truth Social that U.S. Southern Command carried out a “swift and lethal kinetic strike” to “successfully execute” Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero. The mission was “closely coordinated” with the Venezuelan government, the president said, highligting the U.S.’s shifting relationship with Venezuela since its former leader was removed in an American military operation earlier this year. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X the strike took place earlier this week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela.

Venezuela’s communications ministry confirmed in a statement that Guerrero Flores was killed in a “combined operation” between U.S. forces and Venezuelan security services to target organized crime in the country’s Bolívar state. Mr. Trump’s social media post included a video that showed a projectile hitting a building, causing it to erupt in flames. “Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drugs lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong,” he wrote.

A video posted to Truth Social by President Trump on June 12, 2026, in connection with the killing of Tren de Aragua leader Niño Guerrero. President Trump / Truth Social In a statement on the strikes, U.S. Southern Command described Guerrero Flores, 43, as a “wanted fugitive.” He was indicted late last year in New York federal court on charges that included racketeering, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and cocaine conspiracy. The State Department offered up to $5 million for information leading to his capture. Also known as “The Unspeakable” or “The Big Eyebrow,” Guerrero Flores ran Tren de Aragua for more than a decade, helping to grow it from a Venezuelan prison gang to a transnational organization with a presence throughout the Americas, including in the United States, federal prosecutors say.

The indictment accused him of leading a criminal enterprise that trafficked drugs and people, extorted local populations and committed acts of violence. Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores U.S. Department of State Prosecutors allege that Guerrero Flores initially operated Tren de Aragua out of Tocorón Prison, directing gang members on the outside and collecting a fee from their activities. CBS News’ partner network, BBC News, reported that Guerrero Flores was in and out of Tocorón Prison for years: He escaped in 2012 and was rearrested a year later. He was sentenced to a 17-year prison term in 2018, but escaped again in 2023, remaining at large after that. Guerrero Flores lived “like a king” during part of his time in prison, BBC News reported. He occupied an entire floor monitored by bodyguards, and the prison had a swimming pool, a zoo and a nightclub. Last year’s indictment alleged the Venezuelan government allowed him to “control the day-to-day operations of the prison.”

The apparent collaboration between the American and Venezuelan governments to kill Guerrero Flores came five months after the U.S. military removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power in a daring nighttime raid.  Maduro was flown to New York, where federal prosecutors accused him of scheming to import cocaine into the United States, in part by allegedly partnering with Tren de Aragua and other cartels. The indictment against Maduro also charged Guerrero Flores as a co-conspirator. Maduro has pleaded not guilty. Since then, Venezuela has been led by Maduro’s former deputy, Delcy Rodriguez. The Trump administration has sought to work with Rodriguez’s government, lifting sanctions on her and pushing to collaborate on oil extraction.

Tren de Aragua has been in Mr. Trump’s crosshairs since he returned to the White House last year. He won a second term after frequently highlighting the gang’s violent presence in the United States — and, critics allege, exaggerating their power within some American communities — on the campaign trail in 2024. Mr. Trump argued the gang was fueled by a massive influx of Venezuelan nationals who traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration, amid political and economic turmoil in Maduro’s Venezuela. Early last year, the Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua and other Latin American gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. The administration later cited those designations in its legal justification for striking dozens of alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific last fall, arguing the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with the groups. Some of those boats were allegedly operated by Tren de Aragua.

The administration also invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 on Tren de Aragua in March 2025, accusing the group of working with the Maduro government to perpetrate an “invasion” of the United States. It drew controversy for using that law to summarily deport hundreds of Venezuelan men, many of whom were sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Some of the deportees denied that they were gang members, and some judges found the men were denied due process.

Source: Trump says U.S. killed Tren de Aragua leader in airstrike in Venezuela – CBS Minnesota

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2

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FBI’s “Operation Gangsta’s Paradise” leads to more than 40 Southern California arrests of Mexican Mafia gang members

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Dozens of alleged Mexican Mafia members and associates were arrested during a federal investigation, including several warrants served at locations across Southern California early Thursday.  FBI raids took place in both Los Angeles and Orange counties in what federal officials called “Operation Gangsta’s Paradise.” Arrest warrants were served in Anaheim, Santa Ana and Lakewood, during which 25 alleged gang members were arrested.

They are all believed to be part of “La Eme,” which is a U.S.-based prison gang that has control over other street gangs in Southern California,” said a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.  The arrests were made in connection with three federal indictments that charge 40 defendants with a litany of counts like kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and murder. Federal investigators said that the murder happened at a “gang-controlled Anaheim motel.”

Source: FBI’s “Operation Gangsta’s Paradise” leads to more than 40 Southern California arrests of Mexican Mafia gang members – CBS Los Angeles

Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
Luke 12:3

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