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TRENDING NOW IN METRO

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38-YEAR-OLD WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN SOHO HOTEL ROOM ID'D AS QUEENS...

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INNOCENT BYSTANDER DEAD, 5 OTHERS -- INCLUDING 2 TEENS -- INJURED...

Metro

exclusive


NYC MIGRANT MOPED GANG RINGLEADER MAKES CHILLING ADMISSION ABOUT CRIME NETWORK:
‘IT’S MUCH BIGGER THAN ME’

By Joe Marino, Steve Janoski and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

Published Feb. 12, 2024, 3:39 p.m. ET

The migrant moped gangs terrorizing the Big Apple are part of an illicit network
of hoods peddling stolen goods from the five boroughs in Florida — and shipping
the proceeds to South America, law enforcement sources told The Post.

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“It’s much bigger than me,” accused migrant ringleader Franco Alexander Peraza
Navas allegedly told the NYPD after getting nabbed for a string of local heists.

“In a million years, I never thought you’d catch me,” Navas, 30, allegedly told
detectives. “I’ve been going to Miami every three weeks. And it’s much bigger
than me.”

The Venezuelan migrant is allegedly part of a crew that has been linked to
robberies throughout New York City, Yonkers, New Jersey and Florida — and tied
to an illegal gun used in a Fort Lauderdale heist on Dec. 9, the sources said.

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The same gun was used in a $279,000 robbery at Solid Gold Jewelry in Manhattan
on Nov. 22.

Navas and his alleged accomplices are suspected in other Big Apple incidents,
including a shootout with another crew in the Bronx on Nov. 18, and a Bergen
County robbery that is still under investigation.

In all, cops pinned two carjackings and six gunpoint robberies or attempted
robberies on Navas when he was finally nabbed while allegedly shoplifting at a
Macy’s department store in Yonkers on Dec. 17 — all pulled off within the
previous five months, the sources said.

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4
Venezuelan migrant Franco Alexander Peraza Navas, 30, is charged with a string
of carjackings and armed heists. U.S. Department of Justice


MORE ON: MIGRANTS


 * DEADLY ALLIANCE BREWING BETWEEN MS-13 AND BLOODTHIRSTY VENEZUELAN GANG BEHIND
   NYC CELLPHONE THEFTS, FBI FEARS


 * SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON SIGNALS HOUSE WON’T TAKE UP SENATE’S
   UKRAINE-ISRAEL-TAIWAN AID BILL 


 * NY MIGRANT SHELTER WORKERS HOPE CURFEWS CAN KEEP LID ON TROUBLE — BUT SOME
   WORRY OVERNIGHT LOCKDOWN WILL ‘MAKE IT WORSE’


 * TWO NY DEMOCRATS WANT TO LIFT ADAMS ADMINISTRATION’S ‘CRUEL’ LIMITS ON NYC
   MIGRANT SHELTER STAYS

4
Victim Irina Panteleeva was dragged along a Brooklyn street during a robbery by
a pair of migrant thieves in December.

“Nasty as they come,” one law enforcement source said of Navas, who was living
in a taxpayer-funded city shelter after arriving in New York City last year.

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Navas and fugitive suspect Victor Parra, another suspected bigwig in the
network, made regular trips to the Sunshine State to unload the proceeds from
the New York robberies, the sources said.

Parra allegedly ran the local ring out of a Bronx apartment, where stolen phones
were reportedly hacked — with gang members advised to throw the phones out the
window if cops closed in and to ship him clothes to Miami if he had to go on the
run, according to the sources.

4
Franco Alexander Peraza is suspected of being part of a migrant crew pulling off
robberies on mopeds. U.S. Department of Justice

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Meanwhile, the pilfered phones, along with cash and other stolen goods, were
shipped to Colombia through a Texas-based shipping company run by a Venezuelan
husband-and-wife team.

When cops raided the Bronx apartment, they were stunned by the complexity of the
operation, including a food delivery from the apartment that ended up with a
bill from Colombia — where the proceeds were eventually used to order a swimming
pool, the sources said.

Parra’s crew also allegedly helped smuggle migrants into the US, with
traffickers still owed big bucks for the illegal border crossings, the sources
said.

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4
NYPD cops have begun cracking down on moped-riding migrant thieves through a new
Community Response Team. Michael Nagle

Migrants were typically shown photos of their families back in South America and
told they would be killed if the bills weren’t paid, according to the sources.

While Parra remains on the run, Navas is in federal custody facing charges of
carjacking, car theft and interference with commerce by threat or violence,
court records show.

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For New Yorkers, the international crime ring begins with brazen robberies by
migrants on mopeds, with the crew run by Navas and Parra just one part of the
violent spree.

What do you think? Post a comment.

Police have seen a spike in the two-wheeled heists, identifying at least 32
separate grand larceny patterns in the boroughs that account for more than 140
separate crimes, the sources said.

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Among the most shocking was the caught-on-video attack on a 62-year-old woman in
Brooklyn, who was dragged along the pavement by one of the crews in December.

More than 170,000 migrants from the US border have flooded into the city since
the spring of 2022, with more than 65,000 now in city shelters and hotels.


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