Eight migrants have been charged so far in the Jan. 27 mob attack on two NYPD cops in Times Square, with up to 14 suspects believed to have been involved in the assault, officials and law-enforcement sources said.
All of the asylum-seekers are Venezuelan natives, sources said — and at least two of them have been identified by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as members of the notorious Venezuelan street gang known as “Tren de Aragua,” or Aragua Train, a former railroad labor union.
Here is a look at the suspects:
Arrested on Jan. 31 and charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental administration, Brito is among seven suspects who were later indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Police said Brito was the initial instigator in the assault by refusing to leave the scene when cops asked the rowdy group to move along.
In addition to the assault and obstruction charges, Brito was also indicted for tampering with physical evidence.
While most of his alleged accomplices were freed without bail, he was ordered held on $15,000 cash or a $50,000 bond — and stayed behind bars, before being briefly freed.
The Rev. Juan Ruiz, the activist pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, stepped in to post Brito’s bail Tuesday, sending him back on the streets.
Brito, an alleged serial thief since he’s been in New York City for the past eight months, appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court for his arraignment Friday, when his lawyer argued to the judge, “Ultimately, Mr. Brito did move [before the cop melee]. … He was pushing a baby stroller.”
But jurist Ruth Pickholtz balked, noting, “There wasn’t a baby in the stroller,” and re-instituted Brito’s bail at $15,000, saying, “Since he has been here, he has four separate cases’’ of petit larceny.
Reveron is accused of grabbing and tossing a cop to the ground and pushing another officer during the mob attack around 8:30 p.m. Jan. 27 outside a migrant shelter at West 42nd Street near Seventh Avenue.
The suspect, who has lived in the city for about a year, was previously arrested at least twice before in Manhattan — and dumped back on the street without bail both times.
He is accused of stealing pants from Nordstrom Rack and punching and biting a store employee there in late November and then helping to swipe a coat and suitcase from Macy’s in Herald Square, where he also allegedly punched a worker in the face, just before Christmas.
His lawyer said at his cop-beat-down arraignment in Manhattan on Friday that Reveron had “received numerous death threats on social media in regards to this case” and asked the judge to free the suspect again so he could supposedly stay safe.
Pickholtz scoffed, “It’s clear that Mr. Reveron has been here one year and already had two interactions with the law: petit larcenies and assaultive behavior.
“And while he was out on supervised release, he continued in this case. So bail is appropriate at this time,” the jurist said — ordering Reveron held on the $100,000 bail that Manhattan prosecutors sought.
The suspect’s mother, father and brother live in New York City, too, his lawyer said.
Bhoda was arrested on Jan. 31 and charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental administration in Manhattan Criminal Court.
He was released without bail — and sparked further outrage by defiantly flipping the finger at reporters as he left the courthouse.
Bohorquez was busted on Feb. 14 and charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental administration.
He was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday and ordered held on $100,000 cash bail or a $250,000 bond. Prosecutors had asked that he be held without bail.
Prosecutors accused him of “kicking one officer’s foot and grabbing the leg of one officer” while they were struggling with Brito.
When apprehended, the suspect found to be wearing the sweatshirt of his alleged cohort, Wilson Juarez, police said.
Juarez, one of the two reputed gang members, didn’t touch any of the officers but tried to throw off cops over the beat-down by switching clothes with Bohorquez afterward, prosecutors said.
In addition to the assault and obstruction charges, Juarez was also indicted for hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence.
He had been arrested by the NYPD near the scene and released without bail before his alleged gang ties surfaced. He was then nabbed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a Bronx apartment Tuesday under a removal order signed by a judge in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 23, 2023.
Juarez was given a procedural $1 bail Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court over the cops’ beating, having been charged with tampering with physical evidence, a non-bail-eligible crime, but he was also being held on ICE charges and is expected to be deported.
His lawyer claimed he was here working and sending money to his mom and 2-year-old child back home.
Arocha, the other alleged gang member, tried to hide his role in the cop brawl by changing clothes afterward, authorities said at his Manhattan arraignment Friday.
The suspect, who has been in the US for three months, had initially been freed in the cop beating but was taken into custody along with Juarez on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant.
He was handed $15,000 bail Friday in the cops’ beating. Prosecutors had asked that he be held without bail, but as with Juarez, Arocha is also being held on an ICE warrant.
Officials noted that he “did not make physical contact with the officers,” but alleged that he had kicked away an officer’s radio which had dropped on the ground.
Gomez-Izquiel was charged in the beating of the cops and released without bail, only to be rearrested two weeks later over a violent Queens robbery at Macy’s and remanded till his Manhattan Supreme Court arraignment.
He was ordered held Friday in Manhattan on $50,000 bail. Prosecutors had sought $100,000 bail.
The suspect, whose lawyer said he has no family here, is accused of “grabbing one officer and kicking’’ another in the Times Square incident, prosecutors told the judge.
In the shoplifting case, Gomez-Izquiel, who has been in the US for five months, most recently staying at the Rose Hotel in Manhattan, allegedly acted as a lookout while one of his cohorts punched a store security guard at the Queens Center Mall Macys and helped swipe $600 in merchandise.
Madris was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental administration. He was ordered held without bail at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
According to the Manhattan indictment, Madris was also charged with tampering with physical evidence.
Questions surfaced in court regarding Madris’ age, with prosecutors alleging that he is older than 17 and lied to face the charges as a minor. They believe he may be in his 20s.
One other suspect was arrested in connection with the attack but not charged due to a lack of evidence, prosecutors said. As many as five other men were believed to have been linked to the incident, law enforcement sources said.