Tren de Aragua members plead guilty to murdering 2 Americans in the Bronx

Federal authorities announced Wednesday that four members of the notorious Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) have pleaded guilty to the May 2024 murders of two unarmed American citizens in New York.

According to the statement made by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), gang members who entered the USA illegally allegedly shot and killed Claretha LaQuesha Daniels (44) and Justin Lawless (36) in the middle of a settlement in the Bronx, and also shot and injured a third victim.

Keiber “Keybe” Jaen Martinez, Samuel “Klei” Gonzalez Castro, Eferson “Jefferson” Morillo-Gomez and Keineyer “Keiner” Ibarra-Mujica pleaded guilty in federal court to murder with the use of a firearm and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

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A fifth TdA member recently pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and gunpoint carjacking, bringing the total number of convicted TdA defendants in the case to eight.

Law enforcement officials have described the Tren de Aragua as “one of the most vicious gangs on planet earth.”

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. “They rape, maim and kill for sport,” he said. Markwayne Mullin wrote in a statement. “During the presidency [Donald] “Under Trump’s leadership, we target gang members, remove them from our communities, and ensure that those who commit crimes in our country face justice.”

FILE – Guards escort inmates allegedly affiliated with the Tren De Aragua and MS-13 criminal organizations at the CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025. (Government of Salvador/Getty Images)

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U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said TdA members flooded the streets of New York City with “guns, drugs, sex trafficking and violence” after illegally crossing the border.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche added that the terrorist group “has no place and no future in the United States” and vowed that the Justice Department would destroy the organization.

Originally a Venezuelan prison gang, the TdA quickly grew into a transnational terrorist organization operating in cities such as New York. The group enriches itself through illegal cross-border human trafficking, armed robberies and smuggling of the ketamine mixture drug known as “tusi”.

The gang is notorious for its violent sex trafficking, particularly of young women, and is referred to by the gang as “multadas”.

FILE – Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members and MS-13 gang members are deported to El Salvador by the United States in San Salvador, El Salvador, on March 31, 2025. (El Salvador Press Directorate/Anatolia, via Getty Images))

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Women are trafficked into the United States and forced into commercial sex work to pay off their trafficking debts. TdA members maintain control over their victims by threatening their families, attacking them, and stalking and kidnapping women who try to escape.

Convicts face the harshest prison sentence.