Two Venezuelan Migrants Detained in Chicago for Gunrunning and Narcotics Trafficking
Two migrants have been detained by a Cook County judge after a federal investigation into gunrunning and narcotics trafficking in Chicago by the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).
In a detention petition, Illinois Assistant Attorney General Thomas Darman said the case, led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, began in May when authorities suspected the gang was moving narcotics and firearms into the city.
As part of the operation, an informant working for the ATF arranged to purchase “Tusi,” a street drug created by mixing methamphetamine with substances including cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, and fentanyl, Darman said.
On May 14, the informant and an undercover ATF agent met two men and a woman in the parking lot of a McDonald’s at 6515 South Western Avenue, according to Darman. There, the trio allegedly sold the informant and agent nearly 48 grams of Tusi and three loaded firearms: a 9mm pistol, a .45-caliber pistol, and a .40-caliber pistol. A Drug Enforcement Administration lab later determined the Tusi contained ketamine and MDMA.
Investigators identified the men as Alvaro Berrios Godoy, 26, and Oscar Puerta Gorrin, 23, who were indicted by a Cook County grand jury on July 29. But officials only knew the woman as “Nicole.”
Darman said Gorrin and “Nicole” returned to the McDonald’s last Thursday and sold another 50 grams of Tusi to ATF agents. They were immediately arrested. Investigators subsequently identified “Nicole” as 27-year-old Lilibeth Diaz Pirela. Godoy was arrested separately about two hours before the McDonald’s meeting, police records show.
Police estimated the first Tusi delivery was worth more than $15,243 and the second over $16,500. Court filings state the group sold the drugs to investigators for a fraction of their street value.
Darman said Godoy and Gorrin are Venezuelan citizens and not legal U.S. residents. Diaz’s residency status was not immediately known.
Godoy is charged with gunrunning, armed violence, manufacture-delivery of methamphetamine, unlawful sale of a firearm, and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number. Gorrin and Pirela are charged with manufacture-delivery of methamphetamine.
Judge Deidre Dyer granted detention petitions for all three defendants, calling them public safety threats and flight risks.
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