A photo shows an apartment worker from Aurora badly beaten by members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The building owners say this gang, made up of migrants, has taken control of the area and is trying to extort them for money.

In Aurora, Colorado, the violence of the Tren de Aragua gang is clear. A frustrated landlord shared a photo of one of their workers, who was badly beaten after refusing to let the gang stay in an empty apartment they had taken over.

The landlord, a company based in Brooklyn, said the gang has taken control of entire apartment buildings by threatening their employees. The gang also tried to extort the company, demanding a share of the rent to allow them to continue running the properties.

An apartment-building employee is covered in blood after a brutal assault allegedly at the hands of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang in Aurora, Colo.
X/Cbz Management

CBZ Management said they asked local police and the FBI for help to stop the gang’s extortion, but both refused to get involved.

The company posted on X last week, saying, “Gangs have taken control of several of our properties in Aurora, Colorado.”

The company said, “Some people are spreading false information about our situation to distract from the truth and avoid government responsibility.”

They shared several surveillance videos from their apartment complexes, including footage of the employee being beaten late last year, to show that the gang has taken control in Aurora.

Video footage from a building security camera captures part of the assault.
X/Cbz Management

Surveillance footage shows a group of gangbangers beating an apartment employee who had to be hospitalized following the incident.
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Surveillance footage shows more of the worker’s beat-down.
X/Cbz Management

The company said that because of the gang’s criminal behavior and threats, they had to pull their workers out of the apartment complexes in the city, which has a population of 390,000.

They added, “Even with clear evidence, many people still refuse to accept what’s really happening and sometimes blame us. That’s why we won’t stay silent anymore.”

The company said, “We will keep fighting against false information with clear facts and evidence. Yes, gangs have taken control of our apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and the government did nothing. That’s the real story.”

The Post was the first to highlight the issue of Tren de Aragua taking over apartments and neighborhoods in Aurora. Recently, former President Donald Trump visited the city and tried to connect the problems in Aurora to the border policies of the Harris-Biden administration.

However, there’s also a local angle to the situation. CBZ Management has a history of complaints going back to 2020, before the gang came to Aurora. These complaints include problems like mouse infestations, damaged ceilings, and cars parked illegally, according to Denver7.

Aurora’s Mayor Mike Coffman has called the company “slumlords” for not taking care of their properties.

Zev Baumgarten, identified as CBZ’s owner in court documents, agreed earlier this year to sell or give up control of one of the rundown apartment complexes after a long legal battle against him and his company, according to the Denver Gazette.

CBZ Management has accused the city of hiding the gang’s presence and instead focusing on “code violations” to shift the blame away from itself.

Some of the gang’s members have reportedly been flaunting guns inside the Colorado apartment buildings.
Edward Romero

The company said they “received a perfect inspection in 2022 and 2023” and that any issues were taken care of.

They explained, “The only problems we didn’t address were when the gangs took over, and we didn’t want our six staff members working there for their safety.”

Even though there’s a local disagreement about the condition of the apartments, residents and local officials told The Post that it’s obvious Tren de Aragua is present in the buildings.

CBZ said they took ownership of the apartments in 2019, planning to renovate them over the next few years. They were able to fix nearly every unit in the Edge at Lowry apartments, which is where recent viral videos showed six armed gang members forcing their way into a unit.

To help with this big project, CBZ even moved an employee from New York. However, they soon noticed “a rise in crime and tenant complaints.”

That’s when the employee was attacked. While inspecting a recently vacated unit, he found a group of men squatting there. They tried to bribe him with $500 to ignore the situation, according to CBZ.

When he refused the bribe, the group beat him so badly that he had to go to the hospital.

The issues didn’t stop there. The employee began receiving threatening texts that even included his home address and his spouse’s name, according to CBZ.

Despite the local dispute over the condition of the apartments, residents and local officials interviewed by The Post said Tren de Aragua’s presence in the buildings is clear.
Edward Romero

The situation kept getting worse. Members of the Tren de Aragua gang continued to take over empty units, including one that belonged to a tenant who had only gone on vacation. When the tenant returned, he found he had to find a new home.

The gang started moving migrants into these units. The new tenants claimed they had paid rent, but the company soon realized they were actually paying the gang instead.

CBZ said their managers later met with the FBI. The agents told them that Tren de Aragua was behind the threats and the takeovers but said the issue was “just a small problem” because the gang was active across the country.

The on-site manager of the apartments was then confronted by the gang, which threatened to take control of the apartments unless the company agreed to share the rental profits.

For the safety of their management team and their families, the company decided to pull them from the properties and focus on getting help from government agencies.