Police arrested on Tuesday a teenage reputed member of the Los Diablos de la 42, an offshoot crew of Tren de Aragua (TdA), wanted for a slew of robberies, including an attack on a 16-year-old autistic boy in Staten Island.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, the 15-year-old boy, whose name is being withheld due to his young age, was apprehended inside a Northern Brooklyn migrant shelter on May 20 through an operation that the NYPD Warrant Squad conducted.
Law enforcement sources said the teen had been wanted for several violent robberies in Manhattan and Staten Island.
The 15-year-old is accused of being one of about four youngsters who, on May 4, one day after other Los Diablos members attacked two police officers in Times Square when the cops responded to a robbery, assaulted an autistic teen as he waited for a bus on 2555 Richmond Ave.
“My son was sitting at a bus stop, they approached him, they attacked him, they threw him on the floor,” said the boy’s distraught mother in an interview with amNewYork; she asked not to be identified out of fear of retribution from the gang. “They were all from the gang in the city.”
During the brutal beatdown, the mother said, the suspects left him in a bloody heap and took just $38 in cash from him. The victim was also left afraid to leave his house after the attack.
In addition to the Staten Island assault, police sources said, the suspect was also connected to a gunpoint robbery on May 15 in the Financial District.
During that incident, police reported, the teenage perpetrator pointed a gun at a 17-year-old victim, then took off with one the teen’s name-brand sneakers.
Sources with knowledge of the incident reported that the young suspect is a known member of Diablos de la 42.
He has now been charged with multiple counts of robbery.
