Tren de Aragua may be recruiting migrant women into New York’s ‘Market of Sweethearts’: police

The NYPD is investigating whether the deadly Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is pimping women in Queens’ “Market of Sweethearts” — where dozens of prostitutes boldly plied their trade this week in defiance of a law enforcement crackdown.

It was business as usual on the infamous sex corridor along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights when The Post visited Tuesday evening, less than a week after the NYPD and state police began their operation to combat the scourge of sex trafficking that is rampant among the migrant increased. influx to the city.

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

Suddenly she groped the writer before turning her attention to a disheveled john holding a wad of cash.

Two blocks away, in front of a closed medical office, a shapely Spanish-speaking prostitute in a tube top cooed, “$100, my love.” The service includes everything.”

When asked if she or three other scantily clad girls from the neighborhood knew about Tren de Aragua, she replied, “What? No,” and shook her head.

But across the street, a few men dressed in head-to-toe black, red and white Chicago Bulls shirts and shorts — the signature colors of the migrant gang that has made its way to the Big Apple — seemed to take stock of the situation. to keep an eye on. women.

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

Investigators have identified members of Tren de Aragua with suspected prostitutes on Roosevelt Avenue in videos posted by gang members on social media, Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry said this week.

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

The women “do not look like they are being held against their will,” said Daughtry, who acknowledged that the women were being “sexually exploited.”

Advocates told The Post that gang members are targeting women in migrant shelters across the city.

Taina Bien-Aime, leader of the Coalition Against Sex Trafficking in Women, said Venezuelan gangsters are “recruiting very actively.” Her account was supported by a nonprofit worker at a shelter in Queens, who did not want to be identified or quoted out of fear for her safety.

“I heard from Homeland Security in New York that a woman on Roosevelt (Avenue) had to fill $1,000 in quota every day,” Bien-Aime said. “There is a penalty if you don’t meet your quota.”

The pimps “beat them or refuse to feed them,” the longtime activist said.

That’s why she and other advocates are urging police to go after the sex buyers.

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

The NYPD has said it is focusing on Johns but can provide arrest data until “completion of the operation.”

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

“I’ve never seen it like this and I’m talking many years from now. You see children walking through it. It’s terrible.”

He said pimps mainly prey on migrant women, and many sex workers are duped and entrapped.

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

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

The problem is exacerbated by the soft-on-crime policies that began under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, he said.

“During the de Blasio era, things really changed and all of that opened the doors for things to really get messy,” he said.

The number of pimps has risen sharply recently, said a transgender prostitute who said she had worked on the street for 15 years.

“With 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 chica chica” and gave him her number, before leading him up a flight of stairs between the dentist’s office and a hair salon to a dimly lit spa on the second floor. floor. .

Moans came from one of the four curtained massage beds.

“It’s okay, honey, come on,” the lady said, pushing the reporter toward a massage bed and repeating, “$100 for sucky sucky, everything.”

At that point, the reporter began to leave, prompting protests from the lady.

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

Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts.