In a significant law enforcement action, Los Angeles authorities have apprehended the purported leader of a notorious Venezuelan criminal syndicate, dubbed “El Turko,” following a request from the Chilean government.

Rafael Enrique Gamez Salas, aged 40, is suspected of heading “Los Piratas,” the Chilean faction of the Venezuelan criminal network known as Tren de Aragua (TdA). His arrest took place on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Justice disclosed the arrest on Friday, stating that Salas will be extradited to Chile. There, he faces prosecution on seven criminal counts.

Salas is set to be charged with criminal association, two instances of extortion, two cases of illegal firearm discharge, one charge of kidnapping leading to homicide, and another for kidnapping with extortion. These charges reflect a range of alleged crimes involving multiple victims.

Authorities allege that Salas orchestrated several kidnappings and extortion schemes for TdA. Notably, he is implicated in the February 2024 kidnapping and murder of a Venezuelan military Lieutenant in Santiago, Chile.

The accusations against Salas include planning and executing a kidnapping operation where Los Piratas members posed as Chilean police officers to forcibly abduct the Lieutenant from his residence.

The Lieutenant’s body was discovered a week later, when a tip ultimately revealed that he was buried in concrete and found covered in lime.

An intercepted conversation with Salas revealed he had been tasked “from above” to carry out the kidnapping and murder.

The Chilean government also alleges that Salas played a role in an April 2024 confrontation that lead to the killing of a Chilean police officer, plus kidnappings in February and June 2024.

Salas has previously been convicted in the United States for human smuggling and illegal entry after deportation.

Chilean authorities claim that Salas, who also uses the alias “Adrian Rafael Gamez Finol,” was involved in planning many kidnappings, extortions and homicides.

Salas was previously deported back to Venezuela from the United States in 2023 for entering the country illegally, though he subsequently entered the country illegally once again.

He was arrested and prosecuted for human smuggling by the Val Verde County District Attorney’s Office in Texas and indicted in February 2025.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Salas plead guilty in April 2025 and was serving his sentence in Central California when he was arrested on an extradition warrant.

He was finishing serving a federal sentence in San Bernadino County when he was arrested by the United States Marshal Service (USMS) and remanded into their custody.

The criminal appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick in Los Angeles on Wednesday before he was returned into federal custody.

“Our country must never become a refuge for criminal illegal aliens who are senior members of foreign terrorist organizations,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli.

“We will continue to work closely with our overseas law enforcement partners to ensure this defendant will face justice in a Chilean courtroom.”

“This illegal alien from Venezuela is an alleged leader of the foreign terrorist organization TdA,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “

While in the United States, he was convicted of human smuggling and is accused by Chile of heinous violent crimes. This man is a clear public safety threat and should never have been in this country but reentered the United States illegally under the Biden Administration. The Justice Department, along with our federal and international partners, will continue to put safety and security first.”

“Rafael Enrique Gámez Salas’s arrest for purposes of extradition is evidence of the strong and ongoing cooperation between the United States and our foreign partners to combat transnational crime, dismantle foreign terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua and hold members accountable for their heinous criminal acts,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“The United States is not a safe haven for dangerous criminal aliens. Thanks to the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, which worked extensively with Chilean authorities over the last year to obtain the facts and evidence necessary to initiate these extradition proceedings.”