A violent Tren de Aragua ringleader sought in an infamous, caught-on-camera break-in in Aurora, Colo., was nabbed Tuesday in a dramatic pre-dawn raid in New York City — across from an elementary school, sources said.
Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 25, was taken into custody as part of the Trump administration’s first promised immigration raids in the Big Apple, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
He was caught by heavily armed Homeland Security Investigations officers who stormed an Ogden Avenue apartment building in The Bronx in the early hours, the sources said. The building is across the street from PS 11, a k a the Highbridge School.
Pacheco was wanted for a break-in in Aurora, Colo.
Pacheco was allegedly part of the group of armed Tren de Aragua gang members who were caught on camera forcing their way into an apartment in Aurora last year. Edward RomeroThe gangbanger, who sources described as a leader of the vicious Venezuelan gang in Aurora, had a warrant out on him for a slew of charges — including kidnapping, burglary and menacing – in Colorado.
Pacheco was allegedly among the heavily armed suspects who were caught on surveillance video forcing their way into an apartment in Aurora, just outside Denver, in August.
The terrifying footage quickly thrust the suburb into the national spotlight as it showed that the area had become a hotbed of Tren de Aragua activity, with gang members taking over multiple apartment complexes in the city of 400,000.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Pacheco came to the Big Apple.
DEA removes a man from Ogden Avenue in the Bronx early Tuesday. DEA
ICE raids in New York City started on Tuesday.
His apprehension Tuesday surfaced as President Trump’s new Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, shared footage of a man – who she called a “criminal alien with kidnapping, assault & burglary charges” — being led in cuffs from an apartment building during one of the Big Apple raids.
It was unclear if the suspect was Pacheco.
“Dirtbags like this will continue to be removed from our streets,” Noem wrote alongside the clip.
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DEA and ATF agents assisting DHS with the immigration enforcement on Ogden Avenue in the Bronx. DEA
The broken door knob from the entrance to the Bronx building after police officers entered for the raid. Robert MillerNoem also shared a handful of images of herself wearing a protective ICE vest as she embedded with officers from multiple federal agencies in hitting the targets.
Neighbors at the Ogden Avenue building where Pacheco was busted recalled witnessing officers smashing the apartment door with a crowbar before hauling him away.
“When they brought him out, he had shackles on his wrists to his feet,” said one woman who lives in the building.
The apartment door that police used a crowbar on to enter and arrest Pacheco. Robert Miller
NYPD officers back at the apartment after the raid. Robert Miller“His face had a real angry expression. It was strange.”
Some neighbors confirmed they had seen Pacheco around, while others noted a woman and several children also lived in the raided apartment.
“They moved in September or October of this past year. They were very cooperative, very friendly,” said Emanuel Joseph, 64, who lives across the hallway.
