The NYPD is investigating whether the deadly Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was selling women at Queens’ “Valentine’s Market” — where dozens of prostitutes bravely ply their trade this week, defying a law enforcement crackdown.

It was business as usual at the infamous sex corridor along Roosevelt Boulevard in Jackson Heights when The Post visited Tuesday night, less than a week after the NYPD and State Police launched operations to combat the growing scourge of immigrant sex trafficking. flock to the city.

Even as 30 cops patrolled the area, a fiery redhead wearing a sequined blouse brazenly offered “$100 for sex” to a Post reporter on 76th Street, flirting that the good times would last “40 minutes” and include oral sex.

He suddenly groped at the clerk before turning his attention to a scrawny John holding out a wad of money.

Two blocks away, outside a closed medical office, a Spanish-speaking, curvy prostitute wearing a tube top said, “100 dollars, love. The service covers everything.”

When asked if she or three other skimpily dressed girls in the neighborhood knew about Tren de Aragua, she replied: “What? No.” he said and nodded.

But across the street, a pair of men wearing head-to-toe black, red and white Chicago Bulls jerseys and shorts (the trademark colors of the Big Apple-bound immigrant gang) appeared to be keeping tabs on the action. women.

Later, another man was seen near 75th Street wearing a white Michael Jordan jersey bearing the number 23, another gang sign. Police said the gang often wore Chicago Bulls clothing because of the team’s colors.

Investigators identified Tren de Aragua members with suspected prostitutes on Roosevelt Boulevard in videos posted by gang members on social media, Assistant Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said this week.

“How did we define them?” he asked. “They were wearing hats; 23 Bulls caps. He had 23 tattoos. They were wearing red and white clothes. So that’s what our gang experts say. . . “They are either part of the TDA group or work with TDA.”

Acknowledging that the women were “sexually exploited”, Daughtry said the women “did not appear to be being held against their will”.

Lawyers told The Post that gang members targeted women in immigrant shelters in the city.

Taina Bien-Aime, who runs the Coalition Against Sex Trafficking in Women, said Venezuelan gangsters are “very actively recruiting.” His account was sponsored by a nonprofit employee at a shelter in Queens who asked not to be identified or cited out of fear for his safety.

“I heard from New York Homeland Security that a woman on Roosevelt (Avenue) has a $1,000 quota to meet every day,” Bien-Aime said. “If you don’t fill your quota, there is a penalty.”

The longtime activist said pimps “beat them or refuse to give them food.”

That’s why he and other advocates are urging cops to go after sex buyers.

“If you want public safety, focus on the guys,” he said. “No buyers, no market.”

The NYPD said it was focusing on Johns but could provide data on arrests until “the operation is complete.”

A recently retired deputy detective who worked on the strip for years said Roosevelt Boulevard was “out of control.”

“I’ve never seen it like this, and I’m talking a long year. You see children passing by. “This is very bad.”

He said that pimps especially prey on immigrant women, and that many sex workers are deceived and trapped.

“When these girls come here, they are promised jobs at the restaurant, and this is one of the spots where they will be dropped off,” he said. “They call it the centre. These girls are mostly forced into this. So sad.”

MS-13 and Sureños gangs have traditionally “run the show here,” he said, adding that Tren de Aragua is now fighting for “a piece of the pie.”

He said the problem was made worse by soft-on-crime policies instituted under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Things have really changed under De Blasio, and all of that has opened the door for things to get really messy,” he said.

A transgender prostitute who said she has been working on the street for about 15 years said that the number of pimps has increased recently.

“There are a lot of men taking over street corners due to the last wave of immigrants,” said the orange-haired hustler.

On 88th Street, a blonde lady told a reporter it would be “$100 for chica chica” and gave him her number, then led him up the stairs between the dentist’s office and the hair salon to a dimly lit spa on the second floor. .

Moans could be heard from one of the four curtained massage beds.

“No problem baby, come on,” the lady said as she pushed the reporter towards the massage bed and repeated “100 bucks for fucked fucked, everything.”

At this point the reporter began to leave, prompting the lady’s objection.

“What happened?” he asked shouting: “Don’t call me again!”

Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts.