
<p>The FBI has warned that it is getting ready to smash and dismantle the transnational gangs that have helped transform a busy commercial strip in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s (AOC) district into a crime-infested hot spot blighted by illegal prostitution, drugs, human trafficking, and violence.</p>



<p>In an exclusive interview with Fox News over the weekend, Christopher Raia, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the New York office, said he has deployed multiple squads to patrol the troubled two-mile strip along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens and said that agents are aggressively working with the NYPD to &#8220;cut off the head of the snake&#8221; in terms of the gangs’ hierarchy. The area is also represented by Rep. Grace Meng, a progressive Democrat like Ocasio-Cortez.</p>



<p>The news comes after local leaders repeated their calls for FBI Director Kash Patel to finally crush the ruthless gangs, as concerned residents hold weekly protests outside what they say are well-known brothels openly operating in the area, often disguised as beauty salons.</p>



<p>The immigrant-heavy neighborhood has become known as Queens’ “red-light district” and is also scarred by trash, unsanitary conditions, and rows of illegal street vendors selling unregulated food and suspected stolen goods.</p>



<p>Earlier this summer, eight members of the ;18th Street gang were arrested ;in a major FBI-led operation, accused of carrying out several brutal beatings and stabbings to maintain their dominance of the strip. The 18th Street gang began as a street crew in Los Angeles in the 1960s and is made up largely of Hispanic and Latino members.</p>



<p>&#8220;What happened in June was only the tip of the iceberg. We have only just begun out there,&#8221; Raia told Fox in a sit-down interview at the FBI’s field office in Manhattan. &#8220;We have infiltrated you. We are watching you. And someday down the line, you will go to jail.&#8221;</p>



<p>Raia, the bureau’s top official in New York, was appointed to his role in April and said he has made Roosevelt Avenue a top priority, with his mission molding into Patel’s wider strategy of &#8220;crushing&#8221; violent crime in major cities.</p>



<p>&#8220;One of the first letters I received was from the local officials in that area talking about the crime problem,&#8221; Raia said. &#8220;And so, to those local officials who sent us those letters again, we hear you. We are working relentlessly there to keep that community safe.&#8221;</p>



<p> ;Locals say that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and MS-13 operate there, too.</p>



<p>Raia said all of these gangs are “involved in everything” and are profiting from prostitution, and believes many of the women working along Roosevelt Avenue are trafficking victims.</p>



<p>&#8220;Obviously, there are plenty of sex workers who we know are victims there. We’re still kind of picking that apart, we’re peeling back that onion. We are looking at a human trafficking angle, we are looking at a prostitution angle,&#8221; Raia said.</p>



<p>Fox News reporters say they witnessed at least 30 women appearing to solicit sex on one block on the strip earlier this year, following an Ocasio-Cortez town hall in the area.</p>



<p>AOC nor her office has responded to Fox’s reporting or their request for a statement.</p>

FBI Surges Special Agents Into AOC’s Drug and Prostitute Ridden Queens District
