FBI Hispanic Gang Expert Weighs in on Wolf Point, Bozeman Arrests

He's a recently retired Hispanic gang expert with the FBI who now lives in Bozeman, Montana. So what stood out to him when I shared the news earlier this week about the drug related arrests in Wolf Point and the armed burglary near Belgrade?

My story earlier this week featured a report by the Northern Plains Independent showing the 3 individuals in the photo above. It also included a Bozeman Daily Chronicle report about 4 individuals now jailed in Bozeman on an ICE, or immigration, retainer.

Here's what Dan Brunner with the Brunner Sierra Group had to say, especially given the fact that there is an Aurora, Colorado connection with at least one of the cases:

Dan Brunner: "I'm not surprised. So I've been talking about this leading up till now that Tren de Aragua had moved into Montana. I knew this about a year ago, and this is what I specialized in was Hispanic organized crime, gangs, transnational criminal organizations. And the fact that I was getting word that they were here in Montana did not surprise me. The fact that they were in Bozeman did not surprise me. The fact that they are in Northeastern Montana does surprise me....I spoke to some people who live up there, and they said that this is great that these individuals have been arrested. But what concerns me is not that they've been arrested. It concerns me is- what else do we not know that is up there? So those three individuals are going to go to where there is support structure, where there's other individuals, there's other people that will support them. So those three were not the only three Tren de Aragua members in that area. Those three were just the ones that got caught. My concern is, what else is up there?

Aaron Flint: "So do we know if these are actual Tren de Aragua members? I mean, I raise the question because, if you've...because one of the guys...I looked at the Roosevelt County Jail roster, and one of the guys who's named and who's photographed here- one of the guys with all the face tattoos, it lists him as being from Aurora, Colorado...well, what else has been happening in Aurora, Colorado? Tren de Aragua has been taking over entire apartment complexes down there."

Dan Brunner: "It's very difficult these days to identify individuals that have not been associated with a previous incident. So these individuals that were caught up there were associated with the Aurora, Colorado. That's exactly what I expected to happen. When the attention got put onto Aurora everyone scattered to various areas in the region. I would have expected some of them to come to Bozeman. I am surprised that they went all the way up there, which again concerns me that- what do we not know about that up there (Wolf Point)?"

Sure sounds like TdA is wanting to play ball on the same turf the Mexican drug cartels have been exploiting.

Full audio with Dan Brunner starts in the 2nd half of the below podcast:

New addition to this post since article originally published Wednesday:

New info on original reporting: