Overview

• The charges span firearms trafficking and drug crimes, with prosecutors alleging distribution of multiple controlled substances including methamphetamine, cocaine and the Venezuelan mix known as “Tusi.”
• Agents recovered 69 firearms, including automatic weapons, and investigators say ballistics tied dozens of guns to shootings, carjackings and other violence in Denver and Aurora as several pounds of narcotics were seized.
• Court filings describe a murder-for-hire plot in which suspects allegedly agreed to kill two people for $15,000, with one offering decapitation for an additional $5,000.
• Of the 28 defendants located in the United States, 24 are in federal custody; two alleged leaders arrested in Colombia on July 30 remain detained pending extradition.
• The investigation began with undercover work around Aurora’s Ivy Crossing complex, grew to at least 40 covert operations by ATF, DEA and HSI, and is being prosecuted under Joint Task Force Vulcan and DOJ’s Operation Take Back America.