The devil is in the details.
This phrase applies to many aspects of New York City’s response to the ongoing migrant crisis, but it’s particularly relevant in light of the news that one teenage gangster, among our “newest neighbors,” is finally facing consequences for his actions.
The gang in question is “Los Diablos de la 42” (the Devils of 42nd Street), which investigators claim is a farm team of teenage criminals recruited by the infamous Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua.
This 42nd Street is not the same as the iconic 1933 movie soundtrack and song, the blockbuster 1980 Broadway musical, or the celebrated 2017-2019 HBO series “The Deuce”—though, like that program set in 1970s-80s Times Square, it is rife with criminal activity.
The fact that it only took at least eleven arrests—yes, eleven—for a court to keep one Little Devil in prison demonstrates a justice system ideal for savvy—or at least persistent—perpetrators to exploit. Despite being 15 years old and classified as a juvenile, we cannot disclose the name of this professional criminal-in-training. However, his story has proven to be both extraordinary and typical, prompting the New York Post to report on it on October 15.
He entered the United States in May 2023 through Eagle Pass, Texas. They briefly held him and his family before releasing them, and scheduled their first (and only) immigration court for next month, in November 2024. The resolution of their asylum plea is unlikely to occur within this decade.
It’s unclear what this wayward son did during his first year in America, but he’s believed to have joined the Los Diablos by May 2024, based at the Roosevelt Hotel, 45 East 45th Street, between Madison and Vanderbilt.
Pakistani International Airlines owns the architecturally stunning 800-room hotel, which opened in 1924. COVID forced its closure in October 2020, but it reopened as an “asylum-seeker arrival center” in May 2023.
Since then, it is believed that the city has spent more than $2 billion on migrant housing alone, including rent for the Roosevelt Hotel and approximately 150 additional hotels that serve as “temporary shelters.”
It is unclear which, if any, schools the Diablos—some as young as 11—attend or have attended, despite the fact that all are eligible for free city education. However, based on their social media posts, truancy does not appear to be a major worry.
On May 28, he was one of three juvenile hoodlums who used fists and brass knuckles to rob two subway riders on the 7 line in Queens. He was charged with first-degree robbery.
On June 2, he was arrested for knifepoint robbery on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. He was charged with first-degree robbery.
On July 20, police said he was a member of a Central Park-area robbery group that seized a victim’s phone on East 60th Street. A few days later, authorities apprehended him for pilfering a chain from a passenger on the No. 4 train at Lexington and 59th Streets.
On August 9, someone took a phone and wallet from an F train passenger in Midtown.
On August 14, he and another criminal committed a knifepoint phone robbery in Times Square.
On August 27, he was nabbed for chain snatching in Penn Plaza, only steps from Straus News’ Manhattan office.
He faced charges of chain snatching at 12th Avenue and West 43rd Street on September 2.
On October 15, the New York Post, with the help of unnamed federal and local law enforcement officials, made the case public, which he most likely would not have received otherwise. Other media outlets, both English and Spanish, also covered the story.
Before former migrant and criminal reform advocates could refute this portrayal of Los Diablos running wild, emboldened by a court system incapable of containing them, Little Devil found himself imprisoned once more.
The crime this time was a knifepoint robbery outside the H-Yard Deli on 9th Avenue and 35th Street.
In the colorless words of the NYPD Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information (DCPI), which issues the city’s official crime reports:
The Midtown South Precinct has received a report of a robbery. According to authorities, on Monday, September 30, 2024, at around 1905 [7:05 p.m.], a 34-year-old male was walking in front of 450 9 Avenue when an unknown guy pushed him, flashed a knife, and demanded his phone. “The suspect fled on foot toward 9 Avenue on 34 Street without taking the complainant’s phone.” The victim refused medical attention at the scene.”
Video surveillance eventually led to the Little Devil’s capture on Columbus Avenue and 59th Street.
DCPI continues:
On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, about 1930 hours, the following person was arrested and charged:
15-year-old man
Charges:
Robbery First Degree
Robbery, Second Degree.
On October 16, the Little Devil, who had previously been released without bail, appeared in Manhattan Family Court and cried when told that he would not be released right away.
Said Judge Betsey Jean-Jacques; “The court finds that remand is appropriate and at this time there are no alternatives, and that a return to home at this time would be inappropriate.”
It is unknown how long the Little Devil will have to reflect on his life choices in the country from which he is seeking sanctuary.
