Through violence and intimidation, a Venezuelan gang took over the Whispering Pines apartment complex in Aurora and sought to collect up to half of the rent from leaseholders, drying up collections for the landlord, according to a law firm’s investigation.

At the behest of a lender, the international law firm Perkins Coie investigated the alleged criminal activities at Whispering Pines apartments, a 54unit complex in Aurora, and outlined an operation that included establishing a “lower-level” presence last year, which then escalated into violence and intimidation, the apparent goal of which was to turn the complex into a steady source of income for the gang.

The law firm said once the gang was entrenched at the complex, it used the units for illegal activities, including the prostitution of minors.

The gang, the law firm added, “operated in the open,” patrolled the area

and “terrorized the community.”

“The evidence we have reviewed indicates that gang members are engaging in flagrant trespass violations, assaults and battery, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, unlawful firearms possession, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations,” Perkins Coie, the law firm representing U.S. Bank Trust Company, wrote on Aug. 9.

The law firm based its conclusions after conducting “multiple witness interviews and reviewing video.” Because the gang had “apparently actively attempted to kill” members of the Whispering Pines management, the law firm said it has omitted all names in its report to help ensure the safety of witnesses.

The firm’s findings were emailed to then-Interim Police Chief Heather R. Morris, Mayor Mike Coffman, and Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor on Aug. 9, four days before officials boarded up a sister property, Aspen Grove.

The 10-page letter provides an exhaustive list of details that paints the picture of a terrorized community. Those details includes death threats and attempts to extort the property manager, who later fled the property. The gang also told staffers and housekeepers that they are now “working for” the gang.

“The gang’s modus operandi appears to be to unlawfully move gang members as well as vulnerable immigrant families into vacant units,” the law firm wrote. “The gang also forces rent-paying residents out to create more open units and uses the apartments for purposes of illegal activities such as prostitution. In addition, the gang attempted to use threats of violence to extort the property manager into paying it some 50% of all rental income.”

The Tren de Aragua, which originated in the Tocorón Prison in Venezuelan, is linked to criminal activities that include human trafficking — particularly of immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering, among others.

Police: Gang activity ‘will not be tolerated’

TDA has extended its tentacles to Denver, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The gang’s victims — according to U.S. officials — are often killed, with their deaths publicized as a way to intimidate others from coming forward. Such intimidation tactics can be glimpsed from Perkins Coie’s outline of the gang’s activities in Aurora.

While CBZ Management’s properties have been the focus of the media’s attention, the landlord’s attorney has said that these were “not an isolated event” and that other multi-family projects in Colorado were “subject to the same gang control.”

Officials — including Coffman — initially pushed back on the gang’s involvement in the decline of the properties owned by CBZ Management, claiming the deteriorating condition at Aspen Grove was solely because of neglect by the apartment’s ownership.

A city spokesperson earlier criticized the company, saying it engaged in “diversionary tactics.”

“Instead of expending the resources to address

the documented issues, CBZ and its stakeholders have hired a team of attorneys and, as we learned today, a Florida-based public relations firm to engage in diversionary tactics, fight the city in its city charter-mandated duties to enforce city code, and alternative narratives with many of you,” Ryan Luby, a city spokesperson, said in an email on Aug. 5.

The issues cited by the city at the time included rodent infestations, sewage backups and trash pileups, water leaks, shattered or missing windows and a lack of electricity.

The law firm’s letter, though, for the first time, offered an explanation why the landlords appeared to have deserted the residents.

“The property manager also shared that since Tren de Aragua took over the property, management has been unable to service it, and rent collections have all but dried up,” the Perkins Coie law firm wrote

City officials have since walked back their initial claims.

“The city received the letter and immediately included it in its ongoing investigative work. APD has been and continues to aggressively investigate and pursue any criminal activity reported on or related to the properties owned by CBZ Management,” Michael Brannen, a city spokesperson, said in a statement.

The information in the letter, Brannen said, underscored why the Aurora Police Department formed a special task force to investigation violent crimes against immigrants.

“While we are not able to share details and information that could compromise an active investigation, we want to ensure the public that any presence of criminal activity, including gang activity, will not be tolerated. APD continues to identify criminals and make arrests,” Brannen said.

Whispering Pines, Aspen Grove and The Edge at Lowry are owned by CBZ Management, a Brooklyn-based business that operates rental apartments in New York and Colorado, with 11 properties in Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

‘A lot of balls dropped’

Aurora officials have struggled with crafting a coherent response to the issue, which sparked national and international interest.

The city acknowledged bringing on a “former city staff person to assist with the volume of inquiries,” according to Kim Stuart, an Aurora spokesperson.

Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky put the blame on the police department, which at the time was under an interim chief who has since been replaced.

“There were a lot of balls dropped from the police department,” Jurinsky said on Tuesday.

Jurinsky also took aim at Gov. Jared Polis.

Last month, Polis dismissed concerns about the gang take over, despite a video showing armed men — believed to be TDA gang members — storming an apartment complex.

“He (Polis) should have just brought the help in,” Jurinsky said. “He shouldn’t have had to wait for us to ask for help.”

Shelby Wieman — a Polis spokesperson who has called out Jurinsky for airing the city’s dirty laundry to “rightwing media” — disputed the assertion.

Polis, Wieman said, and his team have been in regular contact with Aurora officials — including Coffman — for weeks and have provided ongoing assistance.

“Colorado is a zero-tolerance state for illegal activity,” Wieman said in an email to The Denver Gazette on Tuesday.

Wieman added: “The state has been proactive, responsive, and delivered everything asked by the Aurora Police Department, the lead entity in the investigation, and cannot take actions that get ahead of or interfere with their investigation.”

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert fired off a letter to the secretaries of DHS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and Polis, criticizing what she and her Republican signatories called the Biden administration’s “open border policies” and demanding to know — among other things — how many TDA gang members have crossed the border and when authorities knew about the gang’s presence in Aurora.

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s open border policies coupled with the state of Colorado’s sanctuary policies and the city of Denver’s sanctuary city status have fueled and exasperated the immigration crisis in Colorado. Non sanctuary cities and neighboring communities have suffered harm from these policies and don’t have the resources or authorities to mitigate the influx of illegal aliens and TdA gang members,” Boebert and her colleagues wrote on Sept. 6.

Boebert and her colleagues also wanted to know what policies may be hindering local authorities from removing TDA gang members and immigrants unauthorized to live in the U.S.

Nearly 43,000 immigrants — mostly from South and Central America — have come to Denver over the past 22 months after crossing the U.S. southern border illegally, setting off a costly