Victor Barra, head of a dangerous Venezuelan criminal network caught in New York by a stupid mistake

The fugitive leader of an interstate migrant moped gang that wreaked havoc in the Big Apple has been arrested by NYPD cops in the Bronx three months later, The Post has learned.

By New York Post

Victor Parra, 30, who was part of a ruthless gang that sold stolen goods in five metropolitan areas to associates in Florida and contacts in South America, was caught riding a moped without a helmet last week and is now in custody, police sources said.

According to sources, the scooter had Texas plates.

Barra and Franco Alexander Peraza Navas, who were arrested by New York’s Finest in February, allegedly ran the operation from a Bronx apartment until investigators dismantled the ring.

“Everybody wants to degrade the quality of life – reduce the level of law enforcement, but how do you create a safe and orderly society,” said a police source.

“Enforce minor violations like helmet laws [la Ley de Tráfico y Vehículos del estado], which helps attract bigger fish,” the source said. “We caught the bad guy.”

Sources say Parra, a Venezuelan immigrant who fled the city as police shut down the illegal operation and hid in Chicago and Miami, returned to five boroughs.

The mob was so arrogant that Nawaz boasted to police after his arrest: “I never thought in a million years they would catch me,” sources told The Post at the time.

“He’s a lot bigger than me,” the alleged immigrant offender told detectives.

The two-wheeler group was linked to robberies in New York City, New Jersey, Yonkers and Florida, Navas was linked to two carjackings and six robberies at gunpoint before his arrest on Dec. 1 on a shoplifting charge at a Macy’s department store in Yonkers. 2019. 17.

Barra and Nawaz are said to have made frequent trips to the Sunshine State to offload the stolen goods.

Officials said the items were collected through a Texas-based company owned by a Venezuelan couple and the profits were tied to lavish expenses, including the construction of a swimming pool installed in Colombia.

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