The National Court is studying whether to take on an investigation of "Latin gangs" for the first time

A civil guard searches a young man at a control to prevent violence between youth gangs on February 11 in Arganda del Rey, Alejandro Martínez Vélez (Europa Press)

Santiago Pedraz, magistrate of the National High Court, is studying whether to take on an investigation into the Dominican Don't Play (DDP), one of the so-called "Latin gangs" that operate in Spain.

According to legal sources, this Friday afternoon, the judge had not yet decided whether to accept the case, which he received from the Court of Instruction 7 of Illescas (Toledo), where a case was opened against 14 people for homicide, drug trafficking , currency counterfeiting and belonging to a criminal organization, among other crimes.

Before issuing an opinion, the same sources specify, Pedraz has asked the Prosecutor's Office for his opinion.

According to police sources, if they finally keep the summary, it would be the first time that the National Court would lead an investigation into these youth gangs.

The Illescas judge, Ángela Vieitez, began her investigations on October 28, 2021, after receiving a report from the Toledo Civil Guard about an assassination attempt in Seseña on April 20 of that same year.

As the instructor explains in a letter, a young man (JCLG) was getting off a bus when he was approached by five people, who approached him using the expression "low country."

Hearing this slogan, the victim fled in a hurry, but the assailants managed to catch up with him, at which point they beat him —with kicks and punches—, in addition to stabbing him in the “groin area” and a “machete blow to the head. seriously compromising his life.

The progress of the case, which included telephone interventions and the analysis of the mobile phones of two of the alleged aggressors, led to the Dominican Don't Play.

Specifically, even the choir of Seseña, which "would constitute a split from the choir of Villaverde (Madrid)", underlines Judge Vieitez —"choir" is the term used by the gangs to refer to each small group settled in a territory—.

According to the investigation, at that time, two of those already arrested for the attempted murder were even still giving orders from prison.

So on February 7, the Civil Guard activated a new police operation, dubbed Operation Bacano, which ended with the arrest of another 11 gang members.

Among them were three allegedly linked to another murder perpetrated in a park in Usera (Madrid) in February 2022,

when Diego FL, a 25-year-old Colombian, was killed with machetes.

The National Police, meanwhile, arrested two other individuals allegedly involved in this latest crime.

In the records of Operation Bacano, the agents found clothes, necklaces, rings, bracelets and flags related to "the symbols of the DDP."

Utensils for counterfeiting currency —such as printers, paper or counterfeit bills—, as well as white weapons, drugs and tools used in drug trafficking, were also seized.

The Civil Guard had spent months investigating the comings and goings of the new choir of the Dominican Don't Play based in Seseña (Toledo) and, in addition, all the alarms intensified in February, when five brawls were recorded in Madrid between members of rival gangs in a single night, they left two dead (one aged 15) and three seriously injured.

The "criminal spiral"

Given the scope of the investigation, the Illescas judge finally decided to withdraw in favor of the National High Court.

The instructor explains in a car, dated March 1 and to which EL PAÍS had access, that the "criminal activity" under suspicion "transcends the borders of the province of Toledo."

In addition, she adds, they would be "crimes committed within a criminal organization, which would be obtaining financing through the counterfeiting of currency and distribution of false currency, drug trafficking and arms trafficking."

“Understanding that the criminal network of the DDP organization of the Seseña choir (Toledo) is closely linked to the Villaverde choir (Madrid), committing increasingly serious crimes.

Last February, the 53rd Investigating Court of Madrid also opened a case focused on the murder of Usera, where the two arrested by the National Police are being investigated, for whom a reported provisional prison sentence was ordered without bail.

According to police sources, these two detainees are the twentysomethings Jonathan Daniel Toasa and Sandy Antonio Campusano, alias

.

His criminal records include a police record for robbery with violence, injuries and drug trafficking, among others.

Chucky, who was released a few weeks ago, had already been arrested for prostituting and abusing minors in the framework of the operation that dismantled a network in Madrid at the end of November that exploited girls, some of them under guardianship;

according to police sources.