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U.S. immigration officials on Wednesday nabbed a Peruvian gang leader wanted for nearly two dozen murders in his home country.
Gianfranco Torres-Navarro, 38, was arrested in Endicott, New York, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday.
He’s being held at a federal detention facility near Buffalo pending an immigration hearing, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said.
Authorities say Torres-Navarro entered the U.S. illegally at the Texas-Mexico border on May 16. He was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol the same day near Roma, Texas before being released into the U.S. with a notice to appear for immigration proceedings, Fox News was told.
It took almost two months before federal authorities learned Torres-Navarro was wanted in Peru for 23 killings. He allegedly fled Peru after the killing of retired police officer Cesar Quegua Herrera at a restaurant in San Miguel in March, Peruvian media reported.
ICE found and arrested him and his girlfriend, Mishelle Sol Ivanna Ortíz Ubillús, on Wednesday.
Peruvian authorities say Torres-Navarro is the leader of a gang known as “Los Killers de Ventanilla y Callao.” That gang is accused of using violence to thwart rivals seeking to cut into its core business of extorting construction companies.
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Thomas Brophy, director of enforcement removal operations for ICE’s Buffalo field office, said Torres-Navarro poses a “significant threat to our communities, and we won’t allow New York to be a safe haven for dangerous noncitizens.”
“Well done by our ERO Buffalo officers who brought this individual into custody,” Brophy said in a statement provided to Fox News.
Ortíz Ubillús is being held at a processing center in Pennsylvania, according to ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System.
Peruvian authorities have described Ortíz Ubillús as Torres-Navarro’s right-hand man. She’s said to play a prominent role in “Los Killers,” being his lieutenant and cashier.
She also has a sizable following on the social media platform TikTok where she showed off her lavish lifestyle, including designer clothes, resort vacations and shooting targets at a gun range.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
