The 19-year-old migrant charged with taking pictures two NYPD cops allegedly advised police he was recruited by a violent Venezuelan gang’s Massive Apple “coordinator” to affix a crew of “snatch and seize” moped thieves, law-enforcement sources stated Wednesday.
Bernardo Raul Castro Mata — who illegally entered the US final July in Texas — allegedly stated he was inspired to get distinctive tattoos to indicate his allegiance to the infamous Tren de Aragua gang, the sources stated.
The “coordinator” for the brutal road gang gives its members in New York Metropolis with mopeds, utilized in profitable cellphone robberies, he advised police, in response to the sources.
Mata, of Venezuela, arrived on the Queens shelter, a facility catering to households, with three different folks however hadn’t been residing there since Might 15, sources have stated.
Within the following weeks, he’s suspected of collaborating in a sequence of grab-and-run moped robberies throughout the 5 boroughs, in response to the sources.
Mata was arraigned from a Queens hospital Wednesday on two counts of tried homicide and different fees for the taking pictures that left two cops wounded.
Cops have but to cost Mata with the robberies.
The sources additionally stated that Mata was believed to be a part of Tren de Aragua — whose members in Venezuela are inspired to shoot at police — due to a tattoo he has on one among his arms of a clock hooked up to an anchor and social media postings.
Tren de Aragua has been identified to manage profitable rings of moped-riding bandits round cities such because the Massive Apple to grab objects together with cellphones — typically whereas armed, sources have stated.
The gun utilized in Monday’s cop-shooting, a .380-caliber Hello-Level pistol, was traced to a lady who purchased it in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, however who stated she had no concept that it had been stolen, law-enforcement sources stated Wednesday.
Mata can also be being eyed by authorities in Nassau County for a Might 22 theft in Hempstead that left the sufferer with a gunshot wound to her arm when she tried to battle off her attackers, sources stated Wednesday. He allegedly admitted to the crime in an interview with police, the sources added.
In line with the sources, police tracked the girl’s stolen AirPods to the shelter the place Mata had beforehand been staying with two suspected accomplices — who investigators imagine might have since skipped city for Texas.
In all, Mata faces 17 felony counts tied to the taking pictures of Officers Christopher Abreu and Richard Yarusso, each 26, at round 1:40 a.m. Monday in Elmhurst.
The cops tried to cease Mata after recognizing him using a scooter the fallacious method alongside Ditmars Boulevard with out a helmet or license plate on a pedestrian-filled sidewalk, prosecutors stated.
Mata ditched the scooter and took off operating, with a 3rd officer, Sgt. Nicholas Condos, leaping on the two-wheeler and giving chase and catching up with the fleeing suspect — who then pulled out a gun, in response to prosecutors.
Regardless of being wounded, Abreau managed to shoot Mata within the ankle and he was taken into custody.
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