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Sunday 6 October 2024

‘We Are Coming for You’: Texas Law Enforcement Raid Building Used as Base by Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua, Make 20 Arrests

 

Two of the 20 arrested suspects in San Antonio Apartment Complex (c) News4 San Antonio

Texas has taken the fight to the dangerous transnational gang Tren de Aragua, and Law Enforcement is warning that this is just the start of a broad campaign.

Texas cops raided a vacant San Antonio building reportedly under the ‘control’ of the notorious Venezuelan gang and used it as a base for crime.

A multi-agency task force was assembled for this operation.

In a pre-dawn raid yesterday (5), cops cleared more than 300 vacant units at the Palatia Apartments on North San Antonio, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus has stated.

Chief McManus said that the operation took place after SAPD received several complaints from the apartment complex regarding narcotics, human trafficking and threats to building personnel.

The New York Post reported:

“’We had information that members of the transnational gang Tren de Agua were in control of the area and committing various crimes’, McManus said.

Twenty people were arrested, four who are confirmed Tren de Agua members — including one person who is an ‘enforcer’, he said. Nineteen of those detained were charged. Several of those arrested had confirmed warrants, officials said.”

 

This raid was the result of a weeks-long investigation, part of SAPD’s “Operation Aurora” initiative, which in turn is being executed within the context of a broader effort to disrupt Tren de Aragua’s influence in Texas.

“The apartments were searched by a joint team of officers from SAPD, Texas Department of Public Safety, Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Customs and Border Protection, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Homeland Security Investigations.”

In San Antonio, the Tren de Aragua gang is allegedly involved in prostitution, cocaine trafficking, and other violent crimes.

Chief McManus said Saturday that the gang has been operating in the area for several months and that they have identifying tattoos.

“’We assure the community and members of the public that we are committed to their safety and on top of this [Tren de Aragua] issue that seems to have gone very public lately’, McManus said.

Saturday’s bust was law enforcement’s first takedown of a known gang location, but the chief said ‘We have other places we are going to hit. We are onto you’, he told the gang members. ‘We are coming for you and we know where you are’.”

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Snapped Shopping For Luxury Clothing as Hurricane Ravages North Carolina

 

Joe Gabriel Simonson / X

The Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, was caught shopping for luxury clothing as North Carolina continues to face the devastating fallout from its recent hurricane.

Mayorkas, whose sub-agency FEMA is responsible for handling the response to the extreme weather event, was snapped by a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon strolling through the mens section of Sid Mashburn, a high-end menswear store, surrounded by his extensive security detail.

FEMA, which is under Mayorkas’s direct control, is leading recovery efforts in the areas devastated by Hurricane Helene last month.

The storm has caused an estimated $30 billion in damages, and at least 200 people have already been confirmed dead, while many hundreds more are missing.

Mayorkas, who has already been impeached by the House for his refusal to secure the southern border, claimed earlier this month that FEMA “does not have enough funds for the remainder of the hurricane season,” and funding is still being held up in the recovery process. 

As a result, many victims are being offered a measly $750 in relief while FEMA spends billions on propping up the lifestyle of illegal aliens who recently entered the country.

In the incriminating photo, Mayorkas appeared to have purchased some items, although it is not clear what they were. According to the store’s website, shirts cost upwards of $150 while its suits often cost thousands of dollars.

The photo, first uploaded to the X platform, caught the attention of Elon Musk, who was less than impressed by Mayorkas’s actions.

“He’s shopping for fancy clothes while people are suffering from hurricane damage,” Musk wrote. This is some Hunger Games shit.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents a district in the neighboring state of South Carolina and has led efforts to force the federal government to provide additional funding to the hurricane’s victims, suggested that Mayorkas should be impeached again.

Meanwhile, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville has suggested that people should to prison for their failure to carry out their duty to help the victims.

“Every day, something comes up now that they’ve been exposed, that they’ve been doing, they shouldn’t be doing,” Tuberville said of the administration’s response to the hurricane.

“And people should be going to jail. This is treason. And not taking care of these people up and down the East Coast because of this. We need to do a supplemental.”

Hillary Clinton: ‘We Lose Total Control’ If Social Media Companies Don’t ‘Moderate’ Content

 Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during an interview over the weekend that there needed to be more regulation and censorship on the internet or else the government will lose “control.”

Clinton made the remarks during a Saturday appearance on CNN’s “Smerconish” with host Michael Smerconish while talking about social initiatives that Clinton wants to see society engage in.

“We can look at the state of California, the state of New York, I think some other states have also taken action,” Clinton began.

“But we need national action, and sadly, our Congress has been dysfunctional when it comes to addressing these threats to our children,” she said.

She said that the issue should be “at the top of every legislative political agenda.”

“We should be, in my view, repealing something called Section 230, which gave, you know, platforms on the internet immunity,” she said. “Because they were thought to be just pass-throughs, that they shouldn’t be judged for the content that is posted.”

 

“But we now know that that was an overly simple view, that if the platforms, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, X, or Instagram or Tiktok, whatever they are, if they don’t moderate and monitor the content, we lose total control,” she continued.

She said that the companies needed their immunity to be removed so that “guardrails” could be put into place.

WATCH:

“Take phones out of schools,” she added, an effort that has been spearheaded by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “I’m so happy to see schools beginning to do that, where the kids turn their phone in when they walk in the door.”

“And guess what? Kids are paying better attention in class,” she added. “They are talking to each other in the lunchroom, things that used to be part of your daily life when you were a child in school.”

Massive Crowds Await Trump’s Return To Pennsylvania Rally Site

 Massive crowds of thousands of people began arriving early Saturday morning to the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, where former President Donald Trump is returning to hold a rally at the exact location where he survived an assassination attempt in July.

The 5 p.m. EST event at the Butler Farm Show marks the first time that Trump has returned to the location where he was shot by a 20-year-old would-be assassin on July 13 in what was a historic failure by the Secret Service.

The assailant was able to climb a rooftop barely over a hundred yards away from where Trump was speaking on stage and opened fire on with a clear line of site. One of the bullets pierced Trump’s ear, coming within fractions of an inch of ending his life.

Bright and early Saturday morning, thousands of people were already in line for the rally, according to various videos posted to social media.

Jondavid Longo, mayor of Slippery Rock, said that Trump’s return to the site was “a historic moment.”

“This is a moment and a time for healing,” he said. “It’s a time for unity. It’s a show of strength today, and we’re honored to have the president come back to Butler County.”

 

During the attempt on Trump’s life, a few people in the crowd were shot as they caught stray bullets that the shooter fired at the former president.

Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed during the shooting as he shielded his family.

Two others who were shot, 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, were both hospitalized with injuries, but have since been released.

While no official numbers have yet been released about the number of people who have gathered at the rally site, videos appear to show crowd sizes that have likely grown into the tens of thousands.

Trump senior adviser Dan Scavino Jr. posted on social media that the rally would be a “big part of the healing process for those of us who were in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 when those shots rang out.”

“None of us ever expected to leave that site the way we did—ending up at a hospital in total shock with 45, praying,” he continued. “We all cannot wait to be there tomorrow, it is going to be a very special evening for all.”

The Trump campaign also released video showing some who were standing line being interviewed who expressed their excitement to be at the event.


Saturday 5 October 2024

Elon Musk Says Feds Are Preventing Delivery Of Supplies In NC, Talks To Pete Buttigieg

 SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg discussed allegations that the federal government was preventing good Samaritans from delivering supplies via helicopter to storm-ravaged North Carolina on Friday.

Musk posted a screenshot of text messages he had received from a SpaceX engineer on a helicopter trying to land in North Carolina and deliver supplies, including Starlink terminals, for victims of the devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. A group of SpaceX engineers recorded a video of the storm’s destruction in the state while attempting to land.

“SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!! They just took this video a few hours ago, where you can see the level of devastation: roads, houses, electricity, water supply and ground Internet connections completely destroyed. @FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies … my blood is boiling,” Musk wrote on X.

Musk said the information he was getting from his employees showed that “[the] level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!”

In the messages, the employee told Musk that “it’s true” that the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) is stopping people from helping victims of Helene.

 

“They are about to shut down the Air space to ‘regulate’ the private choppers we are riding in to deliver Starlink and supplies. We are pushing back with trump team as well to help us, but not looking good,” the employee said. “We need help to get the word out about FEMA, we spoke to Ivanka [Trump] and handed out starlinks with her yesterday but FEMA then showed up and started blocking us.”

“The largest concern for us here is the FAA throttling flights for our choppers where they are requiring To/from information and mission now to deliver discrete code. Doing this could take a long time and [is] very cumbersome to the ops. This is the largest concern and most help we could use,” the message added.

Buttigieg responded to Musk’s post on X, writing, “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.”

Musk shot back, telling the Biden Transportation Secretary, “There are hundreds of reports of FEMA/FAA blocking flights. This literally just happened. I will follow you. Please DM me the number to call.” Sixteen minutes later, Musk pinged Buttigieg again, writing, “Still waiting … the helicopter is trying to land to deliver critical supplies. What’s the number to call?”

Finally, Buttigieg apparently called the SpaceX CEO and the two discussed the issue. Musk thanked Buttigieg after the call, adding, “Hopefully, we can resolve this soon.”

 

Earlier on Friday, whistleblowers accused FEMA of misappropriating taxpayer dollars and leaving first responders on the ground with no orders.

“My office has been in contact with whistleblowers in numerous emergency-management functions at the federal, state, and local levels, and they all point to the same critical management issue. FEMA has wasted taxpayer funds, misappropriated funds, and left other federal, state, and local responders without deployment orders on the ground,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “As reported and further confirmed by my office, hundreds, if not thousands of service members were deployed by the Department of Defense to North Carolina and have sat idle, waiting for FEMA.”

Auditors Found 18% Of Longshoremen’s Union Hires Had Mob Ties. The Union Had The Auditor Shut Down.

 A large body of information shows that the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union, whose leader rejected 50% raises and threatened to “cripple” the United States unless greater demands were met, has pervasive and enduring ties to the Mafia.

Just a few years ago, the union responded to anti-mob investigations by the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor by successfully lobbying New Jersey politicians to neuter the oversight body, despite uncertainty of whether that was even legal.

The Waterfront Commission was formed in the 1950s to police mob activity at shipping ports, and in recent years, the International Longshoremen’s Union argued it should be abolished because it slowed down hiring and was no longer necessary. But a Daily Wire review of the Commission’s recent annual reports shows that the hiring holdup was because it found that nearly 1 in 5 of the union’s proposed hires were connected to the Mafia, and 1 in 3 had other ethical barriers to employment.

The union often steers what they call “special packages” to mobsters, giving them pay of up to $500,000 for largely no-show work. These “special packages” have only grown in recent years, according to Commission reports. In 2020, 18 port workers made salaries more than $450,000, 41 made salaries of $400,000 to $450,000, and 82 made $350,000 to $400,000.

 

“Today, every terminal within the Port still has special compensation packages given to certain ILA longshore workers, the majority of whom are white males connected to organized crime figures or union leadership. Based on the industry’s reported figures, the Commission has again identified over 590 individuals who collectively received over $147.6 million dollars last year in outsized salaries, or for hours they never worked,” the Commission found.

Two decades ago, current ILA boss Harold Daggett was acquitted of racketeering in a trial related to mafia ties in which co-defendant, alleged Genovese capo Larry Ricci, disappeared during the trial and was found dead in the trunk of a car.

Last month, Daggett said if his demands were not met, including a ban on automation and raises of 60% to 80%, “I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means.” Shipping companies on Thursday folded to many of the union’s demands after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris sided with the union, putting a quick “tentative” end to a strike — at least until after the election.

General Foreman Paul Moe, Sr. was convicted in 2017 of wire fraud for collecting nearly $500,000 in pay while showing up as little as eight hours a week. But instead of disavowing him, others in the union seemed to go to great lengths to continue sending money to his family.

“Just one week after Moe’s conviction, the NYSA-ILA Employee Benefit Funds contacted his wife – a high school graduate who had not been employed for 47 years – and gave her a newly-created $70,000 a year job which had never been advertised and for which she had never applied. The very same week that Moe was arrested, the industry submitted his grandson to be a longshoreman. Incredibly, citing contrived dire labor shortages – the industry actually enlisted the unwitting assistance of the New Jersey Governor’s office in efforts to get Moe’s grandson through the hiring system,” the Commission found.

Longshoreman Peter Boragi made more than $350,000 a year, purportedly working 25 hours a day in some days. The lucrative, union-blessed pay may have had to do with mob ties: Boragi submitted a character letter to the judge on behalf of Louis Romeo, a Colombo crime family associate, and visited him in prison. The Commission said that in one of its hearings, one of the defense’s own witnesses conceded that “the mob has exercised its control of the docks by determining who get work, who gets which position, and who gets overtime.”

In another case, Genovese family soldier and former longshoreman Stephen Depiro was sent to prison for forcing union workers to turn over Christmas bonuses to the Mafia. After that, the union kept referring relatives of Depiro for jobs. Checker Dock Boss Patrick Cicalese, who was paid a $487,000 a year “special package,” surrendered his employment after wiretaps picked up conversations between him and Depiro, as well as Depiro’s girlfriend.

The Commission’s 2019 report said the mafia problem was only getting worse, with an “increased number of mob-connected union referrals this year,” including “members of the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, Bonanno, and Bruno-Scarfo organized crime families.”

Gambino associate Anthony Pansini II pleaded guilty to exerting “control over the Brooklyn and Staten Island piers and, in particular, over International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) Local 1814 in a conspiracy to control the awarding of union jobs.” The union might have claimed that Pansini was a bad apple who was victimizing the union without its knowledge—except that after Pansini was busted and the union nominally put him on a list of barred individuals, the Local President “sponsored Pansini’s son, Anthony D. Pansini III, to be a longshoreman. He was allowed to ‘jump the line,’ and was referred by the union for employment ahead of 40 other prequalified union candidates.”

One of the Commission’s main roles was to vet new hires proposed by the union before giving them the greenlight. Many of the interviewees seemed to adopt the Mafia ethic against “rats” in these interviews. For example, Pansini III claimed to be unaware of his father’s mob ties, as well as those of other associates, despite them being widely publicized. The union president who tried to get him on the payroll, meanwhile, claimed that he didn’t realize Pansini III was the son of his disgraced predecessor.

A former president of ILA Local 1235, Thomas Leonardis, was also a Genovese mafia family associate, and was convicted of collecting tribute payments to the mob from union members “based on actual and threatened force.” The Commission found that records showed that after that, Leonardis and another mobster were in contact, from prison, with longshoreman Nicholas Atria.

The now-defunct Commission’s papers are replete with specific documentation of the mob’s penetration of the waterfront and the ILA. For example, the union attempted to put on the waterfront’s payroll Michielangelo Palumbo, who was tied to alleged mobsters including “Frankie Jupiter” Martini, who convicted of RICO, and another convicted of conspiracy to commit arson.

One requested hire was a felon who struck a victim in the head with a baseball bat and whose uncle was a “made man.” Yet another lived at the home of, and shared a credit card with, a Colombo family soldier convicted of racketeering.

The Commission also sometimes removed longshoremen from the waterfront after they were hired because of mob ties. Longshoreman Vito Lavignani surrendered his job following charges of organized crime associations and stealing a police officer’s phone. Lavignani claimed that he didn’t know his associate “Tough Tony” Federici was a capo with the Genovese crime family, and that his associate “Mickey the Leach” Generoso was a mob underboss convicted of racketeering.

Another waterfront worker was Joseph Ferdico, who for seven years worked for Anthony Calabrese, a convicted racketeer and Bonanno soldier. In April 2019, a port warehouseman was suspended for possessing an improvised explosive device.

Access to international ports allows for drug and human trafficking. In February 2019, $77 million of cocaine was seized at the port. One man charged with promoting prostitution following a Waterfront Commission investigation “claimed to have ‘extradited’ women from Colombia to work in his brothels.”

Union “checkers” can have enormous salaries and potential for abuse. Checker John Riccobono was removed from the ports after the Commission found that he attended crew dinners where the Gambino crime family discussed business, and communicated with Gambino capo “Sonny” Juliano in prison.

Andrew Marano Jr.’s referral to work as a checker was blocked by the Commission after claiming he was “completely unaware” that his girlfriend’s father, “Charlie Tuna” Giustra, was in the mafia, despite having dinner with him the night before he went to prison.

In September 2019, former longshoremen were sentenced related to a loansharking and gambling scheme involving Genovese solder Vito Alberti. In 2020, longshoreman James Gunsherfksi Jr. was suspended after being arrested for assaulting a woman with a frying pan, and longshoreman Robert Florio was suspended after being arrested for allegedly possessing an illegal firearm with a filed-off serial number.

Efforts to discredit the Waterfront Commission’s work as unnecessary and overly restricted only seemed to make the opposite case: One of the people who sued claiming that the Commission’s background checks were slowing down hiring too much was the son of Pasquale “Pattty the Clubber” Falccetti, Sr., “a capo in the Genovese organized crime family who was convicted multiple times of extortion conspiracy and racketeering activities on the waterfront.”

Another who took to the courts to try to block the Commission’s actions was Frank Ferrera, a purported maintenance man with a $355,000 “special package” who denied knowing anyone in the mob, but who was associated with Falccetti, Genovese soldier “Little Carm” Della Cava, and Andrew Gigante, the son of former Genovese boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante.

“Expert testimony during the trial revealed that Gigante had served as a messenger between his father and Falcetti regarding ILA matters,” the Commission said, with a judge noting “the uncontroverted power over waterfront labor and industry exercised by the Genovese crime family.”

In 2017, the Commission bounced the application of Anthony Battaglia, who wanted to be a “maintenance man.” Battaglia is the son of “Sally Hot Dogs” Battaglia, a former Local 1181 president who was sent to prison for taking bribes. The younger Battaglia also had his own history at the center of labor and the mob.

New Jersey withdrew from the bistate Waterfront Commission, leaving only a significantly weaker New York version, following lobbying by the ILA. The Democrat legislature passed a bill to do so, but Republican Gov. Chris Christie intially vetoed it, saying nothing in the law permitted one state to unilaterally withdraw. But on his last day in office, he signed it. The courts went back and forth on whether the withdraw was legal or not, until the Supreme Court said it was.

Friday 4 October 2024

Fatal Confusion: Mexican Soldiers Kill 6 Migrants and Leave 10 Injured in Chiapas Operation After Mistaking Them for Organized Crime

 Six immigrants were killed, and 10 injured, by Mexican soldiers who fired on them. Thirty-three people were aboard the vehicle. In their defense, the security forces argued they believed they were criminals, as the vehicle had avoided a checkpoint.

Among the nationalities of the migrants were Egyptians, Nepalese, Cubans, Indians, Pakistanis, among others.

“Members of the Mexican Army, while conducting ground reconnaissance, detected a ‘pick-up’ truck speeding. The vehicle evaded the military personnel when it spotted them,” detailed the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA). 

To justify the soldiers’ version of events, SEDENA added that two other trucks were following behind the one that was shot. These vehicles were the same type typically used by criminal groups operating in the region, which is what led to the soldiers’ confusion.

According to SEDENA’s statement, the trucks were “like those used by criminal groups in that region.” This did not happen at the U.S. border but in the southern part of the country, closer to the Guatemalan border, in the state of Chiapas, where migrants from Central America and other parts of the world enter.

“Military personnel reported hearing gunfire, prompting two soldiers to open fire, stopping one of the pickup trucks,” adds the document. 

This incident occurred just days after the inauguration of a government that prides itself on being so progressive that it put a woman from a minority (Jewish) background in power, who participated in an indigenous ritual to mark the start of her mandate.

However, for more conservative sectors, it was seen as a witchcraft ritual, even of a satanic nature. Before the arrival of Christianity to what is now Mexico, human sacrifice was the way the Mexica worshipped their gods. In 2024, organized crime does so through the cult of Santa Muerte. Now, the State does it with migrants.

The 17 immigrants who survived were placed under the custody of Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration (INM).

It is worth noting that if this had been a conservative, right-wing government, Mexico would be under international scrutiny. It would be accused of xenophobia at the very least. And there would be an even greater outcry if this had happened on the other side of the border. But the outrage is not the same when it happens in Mexico, especially under a left-wing government. 

Since these are human lives, they deserve visibility, no matter who the perpetrator is. If this is how Claudia Sheinbaum’s term begins, what can be expected by the end? Mexico receives an influx of immigrants, first from Central America and then from the rest of the world. And thanks to Barack Obama, a Democrat, now also from Cubans who can no longer reach Miami by sea.

Criticism from Human Rights Organizations

There has already been criticism from human rights organizations in Mexico. The Human Dignification Center (CDH) A.C. reproached the involvement of the Mexican Army in immigration enforcement.

“These immigrants are simply seeking to improve their quality of life, which does not constitute a federal crime but rather an administrative issue. The military should not pursue them as if they were criminals,” said Luis García Villagrán, director of the CDH, to local media.

He also said that the role of federal forces was to maintain peace in the country, not to act in this manner towards immigrants.