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NEW YORK – EXCLUSIVE: NEW YORK – The FBI has warned it is getting ready to smash and dismantle the transnational gangs who have helped transform a busy commercial strip in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district into a crime-infested hot spot blighted by illegal prostitution, drugs, human trafficking and violence.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Christopher Raia, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the New York office, said he has deployed multiple squads to patrol the troubled two-mile strip along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens and said that agents are aggressively working with the NYPD to “cut off the head of the snake” in terms of the gangs’ hierarchy. The area is also represented by Rep. Grace Meng, a progressive Democrat like Ocasio-Cortez.
The news comes after local leaders repeated their calls for FBI Director Kash Patel to finally crush the ruthless gangs, as concerned residents hold weekly protests outside what they say are well-known brothels openly operating in the area, often disguised as beauty salons.
The immigrant-heavy neighborhood is often referred to as a red-light district and is also scarred by trash and unsanitary conditions, with illegal vendors selling unregulated food and suspected stolen goods.
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Earlier this summer, eight members of the 18th Street gang were arrested in a major FBI-led operation, accused of carrying out several brutal beatings and stabbings to maintain their dominance of the strip. The 18th Street gang began as a street crew in Los Angeles in the 1960s and is made up largely of Hispanic and Latino members.
“What happened in June was only the tip of the iceberg. We have only just begun out there,” Raia told Fox News Digital in a sit-down interview at the FBI’s field office in Manhattan. “We have infiltrated you. We are watching you. And someday down the line, you will go to jail.”
Raia, the bureau’s top official in New York, was appointed to his role in April and said he has made Roosevelt Avenue a top priority, with his mission molding into Patel’s wider strategy of “crushing” violent crime in major cities.
“One of the first letters I received was from the local officials in that area talking about the crime problem,” Raia said. “And so, to those local officials who sent us those letters again, we hear you. We are working relentlessly there to keep that community safe.”
“I hear you. The FBI hears you. Director Patel hears you… we are working around the clock to clean up that community.”
Christopher Raia, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the New York office, speaks with Fox News Digital about the bureau’s deployment of multiple squads to patrol Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
As well as the 18th Street gang, Raia said that several Asian gangs are also operating in the area.
“We’re getting a lot of intelligence about Asian gangs…and of course, you’ve got other neighborhood-based street gangs and different associates there that obviously we’re concerned about,” he said.
Some locals say that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and MS-13 operate there, too.
New York Reps. Grace Meng and Alexandria Ocasio. ( Andrew Harnik/Getty Images, left, David Dee Delgado/Getty Images, right.)
Raia, who previously served in Washington as a deputy assistant director overseeing counterterrorism, said gangs on Roosevelt Avenue are engaged in a wide spectrum of criminal activity, including armed robbery, assaults and sex trafficking, as well as narcotics and weapons trafficking.
“All of these gangs…they’re kind of involved in everything. You may have certain parts of one gang that’s involved in, say, prostitution, robberies, narcotics smuggling, and you may have another part of the gang that only does narcotics smuggling. It’s kind of a smorgasbord when it comes to these gangs.”
Raia said gangs are also profiting from prostitution and believes many of the women working along Roosevelt Avenue are trafficking victims.
“Obviously, there are plenty of sex workers who we know are victims there. We’re still kind of picking that apart, we’re peeling back that onion. We are looking at a human trafficking angle, we are looking at a prostitution angle,” Raia said.
WATCH: New York City block becomes open-air brothel with alleged prostitutes working in the open
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Meanwhile, a Queens grand jury recently indicted a 31-year-old woman on sex trafficking charges tied to at least two women, including one she allegedly brought from Mexico in 2022. Prosecutors say Valezka Echeverrias forced the victim into prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue for $800 a night and beat her when she failed to meet quotas. Echeverrias had already been indicted last year for allegedly forcing a transgender woman into prostitution and trying to extort another victim.
Fox News Digital witnessed at least 30 women appearing to solicit sex on one block on the strip earlier this year following Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall.
Earlier this week, police said a man was stabbed multiple times in the back as he rode the subway above Roosevelt Avenue, while two weeks ago a maniacal driver fatally mowed down a 16-year-old girl on the strip.
Raia, meanwhile, warned the gangs to brace for raids, which will come when the bureau is ready to pounce.
“There is a ton of work going on behind the scenes,” he said. “You won’t see us overtly until we’re getting ready to do a take-down of multiple members of the gang.”
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. speaking at a press briefing announcing the busts in June. (US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York via X @EDNYnews)
One of the biggest frustrations for locals has been the sense that brothels linger for months and that suspects are arrested only to return to the streets. A massive 90-day police crackdown on crime in the area late last year put a dent in criminal activity, but that was short-lived, residents said.
Raia drew a sharp contrast with the FBI’s enforcement, noting that while NYPD cases often lead to quick arrests and lighter penalties, federal prosecutions allow the FBI to bring much tougher charges. Statutes covering racketeering, human trafficking, narcotics and weapons trafficking carry stiffer sentences and keep offenders behind bars longer.
For instance, the NYPD told Fox News Digital recently that its officers arrested 350 people so far this year for prostitution-related offenses in and around the beleaguered strip.
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“When the FBI gets involved in a case, we tend to attack what I would call the head of the snake. Our investigations are more complex; they take a little bit longer,” Raia said.
“But I think we can bring more resources and typically in the federal system as well, those penalties for those violent crimes tend to be much stiffer, much longer… A lot of these folks don’t get out pending trial…the penalties are just much more severe when you bring that federal hammer.”
Former Democratic state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who has been organizing the weekly rallies against the brothels with his Restore Roosevelt Avenue Coalition and wrote to Patel, welcomed news of increased FBI enforcement.
PHOTOS: Swipe to see images of residents protesting, led by Former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate
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“Because of organized crime, we’ve become the Walmart of the illegal sex trade in New York City and a haven for criminal operations,” said Monserrate, a former police officer. He recalled the strip as a criminal hub in the 1990s before the NYPD cracked down, but said today’s wave of crime is unprecedented.
“We welcome the full and expansive participation of the FBI in investigating and ridding our community of the cartels and street gangs that have wreaked havoc here…It’s the only real option for a lasting solution that will bring safety and stability.”
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Meng also welcomed the news and said she has pressed for more federal resources.
“These include measures to prosecute human trafficking, combat violent crime and gangs and boost funding for state and local law enforcement,” Meng told Fox News Digital.
“I am also seeking federal money to support local initiatives, such as a request for a mobile command center. As I’ve said and continue to say, public safety and quality of life must be a top priority.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.