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.
Gianfranco Torres-Navarro, the Peruvian gang leader wanted for 23 murders, was arrested by ICE in NY after being caught and released at the border. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
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.
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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.
