Tren de Aragua may be pimping migrant women at New York’s Lover’s Market: Cops

New York police are investigating whether the deadly Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang is pimping women at Queens’ “Lover’s Market,” where dozens of prostitutes bravely plied their trade this week despite a law enforcement crackdown.

It was business as usual in the notorious sex corridor along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights when The Post visited it Tuesday night, less than a week after the NYPD and State Police launched an operation to combat the scourge of human trafficking. for the purpose of sexual exploitation, which spread along with migrants. influx into the city.

As 30 officers patrolled the area, a fiery redhead in a sequined top brazenly offered a Post reporter “$100 for sex” on 76th Street, cooing that the good times would last “40 minutes” and would include oral sex.

She suddenly groped for the scribe before turning her attention to the skinny John holding out a wad of money.

Two blocks from a closed medical office, a curvaceous Hispanic prostitute in a crop top cooed, “$100, love. The service covers everything.”

Asked if she or the other trio of scantily clad girls on the block knew about Tren de Aragua, she replied: “What? No,” and shook her head.

However, across the street, a pair of men dressed head to toe in black, red and white Chicago Bulls shirts and shorts—the signature colors of the migrant gang that has made its way into the Big Apple—appeared to be watching the action. women.

Another man was later seen near 75th Street wearing a white Michael Jordan jersey with the number 23, another gang insignia. The gang often wears Chicago Bulls clothing because of the team’s colors, police said.

Investigators identified Tren de Aragua members to suspected prostitutes on Roosevelt Avenue from videos gang members posted on social media, Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said this week.

– How did we identify them? he asked. “They were wearing a hat—a 23 Bulls hat. They had a “23” tattoo. They had red and white clothes that they wore. That’s what our gang experts say. . . either they are part of the TDA group or work with TDA.”

The women “don’t look like they’re being held against their will,” said Daughtry, who acknowledged the women were “sexually exploited.”

Lawyers told The Post that gang members are attacking women in the city’s migrant shelters.

Taina Bien-Aimé, who heads the Coalition Against Sex Trafficking, said Venezuelan gangsters are “very active in recruiting people.” Her account was supported by an employee of a nonprofit shelter in Queens who did not want to be named or quoted out of fear for her safety.

“I heard from the Department of Homeland Security in New York that the woman on Roosevelt Avenue had to fill a $1,000 quota every day,” Bien-Aimé said. “If you don’t meet the quota, you will be punished.”

Pimps “beat them up or refuse to give them food,” the longtime activist said.

That’s why she and other advocates are calling on police to target sex buyers.

“If you want public safety, focus on the guys,” she said. “No buyers – no market.”

The NYPD said it was focused on Jones but could release arrest records until the “operation is complete.”

Roosevelt Avenue is “out of control,” said one recently retired police detective who worked the strip for years.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been saying this for years. You see children passing by. It’s horrible”.

He said pimps prey on migrant women in particular and that many sex workers are duped and trapped.

“When these girls come here, they are promised a job in a restaurant, and this is one of the places they are dropped off at,” he said. “They call it a hub. These girls are basically forced into it. It’s sad.”

The MS-13 and Sureños gangs traditionally “run the show there,” he said, adding that Tren de Aragua is now fighting for “a piece of the pie.”

The problem, he said, has been exacerbated by crime-mitigation policies that began under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Things have really changed in the de Blasio era, and all of that has opened the door to real chaos,” he said.

The number of pimps has increased sharply recently, said one transgender prostitute who said she has been working on the avenue for about 15 years.

“Because of the recent wave of migrants, there are so many men taking over the street corners,” said the orange-haired hustler.

On 88th Street, a blonde lady told a reporter it would be “$100 for a chick-chicka” and gave him her phone number before leading him up the stairs between a dentist’s office and a hair salon to a dimly lit spa on second floor. .

Moans were heard from one of the four curtained massage beds.

“It’s okay, baby, come on,” the madam said, pushing the reporter toward the massage bed and repeating, “$100 for suck, suck, that’s it.”

At this point, the reporter began to leave, which caused protests from the madam.

“What’s happened?” she asked, shouting, “Don’t call me again!”

Additional reporting by Georgette Roberts.