A Venezuelan gang may be linked to an execution-style killing in Connecticut

STAMFORD, Conneticut – Police say a bloody incident occurred at a Stamford hotel.

Angel Samaniego, a 59-year-old Stamford resident, was found sitting in a chair with his arms and legs taped shut. According to the medical examiner, he was beaten, suffered head trauma with a blunt instrument, and was fatally shot in the chest – according to arrest warrants for two people in connection with the October 13 murder. Investigators believe the person who pulled the trigger used a pillow to muffle the sound of the gunshot, according to the warrant.

Court documents say a housekeeper at the Super 8 Hotel on the city’s west side found Samaniego about 12 hours after two people were leaving the hotel with two children.

The couple, Moises Alejadro Candollo-Urbaneja, 22, and Gregory Marlyn Galindez-Trias, 24, were arrested days later in a town near Albany, New York. An arrest warrant affidavit shows the pair were in possession of a bloody letter with Samaniego’s credit card information. Police say the two also fled in Samaniego’s car, which investigators say ended up in Detroit, Michigan.

“There is certainly a strong suspicion at this point that the defendant engaged in what the court would characterize as an execution,” Judge Kevin Randolph said during Candollo-Urbaneja’s arraignment in state Supreme Court in Stamford this week.

Candollo-Urbaneja and Galindez-Trias have not been charged with murder, and police have not said whether they were involved in the man’s death or how they knew him.

Before being extradited to Connecticut, the couple was arraigned in upstate New York after their arrest. During her hearing in New York, Galindez-Trias expressed concern about the situation of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Speaking through a Spanish court translator, Galindez-Trias said she was afraid of what the gang might do about her arrest.

Stamford police have not said whether the gang is connected to the hotel killing. But Galindez-Trias’ comments in court raised concerns among some Connecticut residents. In a statement, state Republicans characterized the group as “one of the most brutal and inhumane terrorist groups.”

What is Tren de Aragua?

Federal authorities have described the gang as a “significant transnational criminal organization.” The group began as a prison gang in the Tocorón prison in Aragua, Venezuela, a coastal state in the country’s north, west of the capital Caracas.

“Over the past six years, Tren de Aragua leader Niño Guerrero has expanded the group’s criminal network throughout South America, and has recently expanded north into Central America and the United States,” the Department of State and the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release in July .

The New York Police Department said it was seeing more gang-related crimes, including sex trafficking, drugs and robberies. Most notably, the shooting of two New York City Police officers in June has been linked to a gang, NBC reported.

“They were moving through Central America and now they’ve come to the United States,” said Ken Gray, a retired FBI special agent and distinguished lecturer in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven. According to him, the group was founded in 2009 but has only become a problem in the US in the last two years.

The group gained national attention earlier this year when video of armed men in an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, led to claims that Tren de Aragua had taken over the complex. The claim was supported by former President Donald Trump, who told a Fox News town hall that Venezuelans were “taking over the whole city,” according to the Associated Press.

In an August 28 statement, Aurora police said they were “aware that TdA elements are operating in Aurora,” but based on their investigation, reports of the group’s influence were “isolated.” Aurora police later announced several arrests of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members.

“They moved with migrants through Central America,” Gray said. “Wherever they go, they establish their dominance as a gang.” He said the group is involved in everything from sex and human trafficking to smuggling, extortion and drug trafficking.

“This is a gang that is all about resources because they are into just about everything,” Gray said.

Colombian and U.S. authorities believe Guerrero, whose real name is Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero, and Giovanna San Vicente, another leader, are in Colombia. Johan Petrica, co-founder of the group identified by authorities, is believed to be in Venezuela.

US officials are offering a reward of several million dollars for information leading to the arrests of the group’s leaders.

An “emerging issue” in the US

The U.S. Department of State’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report describes the group as “the most powerful criminal gang in Venezuela.” She and another organization, the National Liberation Army, “operate sex trafficking networks in the border town of Villa del Rosario in the Norte de Santander department,” the report said.

The report said these groups exploit migrants and internally displaced Colombians for sex trafficking and subject victims to “debt bondage.” This practice involves imposing a high price that trafficked persons or their relatives must pay in exchange for employment or other services.

“According to sources, members of El Tren de Aragua gained the trust of their victims by providing them with accommodation” in Colombia, the report said. The report shows that the gang provides its victims with food and allows them to incur daily debts, and “when they are unable to repay” – uses them for sex work. It is also alleged that the gang “marked women and girls behind the ears to prove ownership,” the State Department report said.

The group reportedly transported human trafficking victims to other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Ecuador and Peru.

Gray said that because the group deals with migrants and sometimes hides among migrant populations, it “comes into contact” with cartels.

“This is an emerging problem here in the United States,” Gray said.

“They are following the Venezuelan community and attacking the Venezuelan community,” he added. “It means they are victims of their own crimes.”

Galindez-Trias and Candollo-Urbaneja, both from Venezuela, have so far only been charged with first-degree theft, conspiracy to commit first-degree theft, third-degree identity theft, conspiracy to commit identity theft and criminal liability for the acts of another .

Officials said the couple was arrested in Rensselaer, New York, along with their two children, who were turned over to county child protective services. Officials said one of the children is a U.S. citizen and the other is from Venezuela.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been notified of the arrests, Rensselaer Police Chief Warren Famiglietti said. The chief said ICE had issued a warrant to detain the couple.

Candollo-Urbaneja is scheduled to appear in state Supreme Court in Stamford on Dec. 17, and Galindez-Trias is scheduled to appear on Dec. 19. Their cases were moved to the Part A docket, where the district’s most serious cases are handled.

Includes past reporting by Albany Times Union reporter Kenneth C. Crowe II and Hearst Connecticut Media reporter Pat Tomlinson.

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