Burglaries at the homes of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have opened America’s eyes to a growing crime threat — hi-tech, intelligence-led hits orchestrated by criminals overseas. Forget about old-school masked housebreakers carrying swag bags. These crooks are closer to the Ocean’s Eleven movies, using drones, camo suits, and wifi jammers to blitz the mansions of multi-millionaires.
They’ve struck the homes of NFL players when athletes are on the field, raising fears of more break-ins over Thanksgiving , when the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys and others will be playing to packed stadiums. Gang members operate across the US, but belong to networks in South America, including Tren de Aragua (TdA), a violent group that emerged in Venezuela’s prisons but now causes mayhem across the hemisphere.
Experts told DailyMail.com that weak security at the southern border has allowed wrongdoers into the US, and urged the rich to lock up their valuables, as this crime wave will only get worse. ‘We are a long way from getting on top of this,’ Michael Barbieri, a security expert with Global Intelligence Consultants, told DailyMail.com. ‘This is the work of an international cartel with extremely intelligent individuals who use drones, GPS trackers and surveillance. All of this doesn’t happen by accident.’ At least three professional sports leagues have in recent weeks warned players about skilled burglars targeting athletes’ homes for break-ins, including when they’re at work or travelling for games.
Those warnings followed burglaries at the homes of NBA and NFL players, including Mahomes, Kelce, and Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis. The Kansas City homes of Mahomes and Kelce were raided hours apart in early October, when the Chiefs were hosting the New Orleans Saints. Burglars made off with $20,000 in cash and caused $1,000 in damage to Kelce’s home, a police report obtained by NBC shows. Mahomes called his ordeal ‘frustrating’ and ‘disappointing.’ It’s ‘something that you don’t want to happen to really anybody but obviously yourself,’ he said.
Portis said burglars nabbed ‘most of my prized possessions’ in the November 2 raid. It’s not yet clear whether the stars were targeted by overseas or US-based criminals. Barbieri noted how the Mahomes’ burglars entered his gated community and then his home without arousing suspicion — suggesting they had help from inside. He suspects that electricians, housemaids, plumbers, or other tradespeople have worked on a rich person’s property and then sold security details to a cartel, who organize a raid.
This involves using drones or surveilling properties by posing as joggers or ground maintenance staff to work out how to enter the property and when it will be empty, said Barbieri. An NFL security bulletin said crooks use game schedules, social media and other public sources to work out when to strike. Players were advised to boost their security, hire trusted home sitters, hide valuables, and to avoid posting online about their collections of jewelry, luxury watches or flashy clothing. They were also advised to have any real estate photos of their interiors pulled down.
An NBA alert warned of ‘well-organized, sophisticated rings’ of criminals based out of South America. The burglars were able to raid homes without tripping alarm systems, it is claimed. The FBI declined to comment to DailyMail.com about their investigations. The leagues’ warnings come amid mounting fears of ‘burglary tourists’ flying into the US under a visa waiver program, armed with disguises and other gear to target plush properties in gated communities. Travelling criminals have been operating for the past five years, but the strikes have intensified in recent months as more information about potential targets becomes available online.
Mansions in Orange County, California, were early targets in a crime wave that has spread across the Golden State and to North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and beyond. The FBI arrested six South Americans in Southern California in August for allegedly targeting some 120 wealthy households and businesses across 80 US cities from 2018 onwards, resulting in losses of more than $35 million. Prosecutors say members ran a car rental business that provided criminals with vehicles and information on target homes, as well as afterward fencing the swag and laundering the proceeds.
Six Chileans were charged in New Jersey in May for allegedly operating another burglary ring, which involved lifting valuable collections of pearl, gold and diamond jewelry, rare coins and other loot. Sheriff Grady Judd in August warned of a highly-organized Colombian burglary gang that stole $1.7million in cash and jewels in several raids on ‘high end’ properties in of the Polk County area of Florida . Joseph Humire, director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, a think tank, said burglary tourism has worsened alongside the rapid expansion of Venezuela’s TdA gang in the late 2010s.
The group’s tattooed bosses were creating a ‘complex web of criminal alliances’ involving members of Los Gallegos and Los Pulpos gangs, which operate across Ecuador and Peru, he said. ‘The TdA is a state sponsored transnational criminal organization that is empowering criminal networks throughout Latin America and bringing this advanced form of criminality to the US,’ Humire told DailyMail.com. Barbieri in part blames the Biden Administration for allowing an influx of foreigners across the southern border — mostly people looking for work, safety, and opportunity but in some cases people with criminal intent. ‘When you let 15 or 20 million people across the border without proper vetting, you’re obviously going to get these gang members,’ Barbieri said. ‘Now we’re suffering the consequences of an open border.’
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