Shmary Baumgarten is a National Hero – But Very Few of Us Know His Name
By: Eli Nash
In March of 2024, when then-Senator Marco Rubio warned the Biden administration that gangs spreading “brutality and chaos” in U.S. cities should be designated as criminal organizations before they did to the U.S. what they had done throughout Central and South America, few paid attention.
But a mere seven months later, when Americans went to the polls, immigration and the threat of transnational criminal organizations were top concerns.
What changed? How did an issue long ignored by politicians and media figures suddenly break through?
Even more, in the final two months before the election, one word and one city became synonymous with the Biden administration’s failed immigration policies: Aurora.
From Scapegoat to GOAT
How did a little-known city outside Denver become a national symbol when gangs had also taken hold in New York, Chicago, San Antonio, and Los Angeles?
Enter Shmary Baumgarten.
Shmary Baumgarten is a real estate investor managing a handful of properties in Colorado who refused to back down against politicians desperate to keep this story quiet.
All they needed was a scapegoat.
But Shmary Baumgarten refused to play the part.
This is the story of one man who, out of loyalty to his brother and a steadfast commitment to the truth, refused to surrender. And in the political firestorm that followed, after the shocking video of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, few images defined the 2024 election more than the footage from that stairwell in Aurora—armed men breaking into an apartment, exposing the terrifying reality of gang rule in American cities.
Colorado Or Bust
In 2016, Shmary made a bet. A savvy investor, he saw the warning signs in New York’s real estate industry. Once a crown jewel of the market, it was beginning to crack.
Deal after deal in New York didn’t add up. The trends he noticed—ignored by others—were not favorable.
Rather than force a losing hand, Shmary looked elsewhere.
His thesis was simple: find an emerging area, acquire properties, invest heavily in them, and time those investments with market shifts to attract higher-paying tenants. The result? A win for the neighborhood, the tenants, and investors.
After studying markets across the U.S., he chose Colorado in 2017. It had everything he wanted: population growth, wage growth, a business-friendly climate, and a diversified economy.
In 2019, he found a property in Aurora. Just blocks from Lowry—a high-end neighborhood with multimillion-dollar homes—stood a building on Dallas Street known as the Edge of Lowry. The area had remained largely unchanged for 30 years, with rents starting at just $700. Others overlooked it. Shmary saw potential.
He raised capital to acquire and renovate the building, aiming to attract better tenants.
For a city eager for revitalization but reliant on private investors, he should have been welcomed.
For a time, he was.
It Worked – Until It Didn’t
On the business front, Shmary’s strategy worked. Six months after acquiring the Dallas Street property, he purchased another on Nome Street, near a major hospital. Two more in Aurora soon followed.
In total, Shmary owned four buildings in Aurora, totaling 225 units. He invested millions in renovations, improving the properties and attracting better tenants.
In 2019, his brother Zev, looking to build a property management consulting firm, moved to Colorado. While developing his business, he helped with the properties.
Everything was on track—until Denver, a sanctuary city, became a primary destination for the surge of illegal immigrants crossing the border.
Unable to handle the influx, Denver worked with nonprofits like HAND and Papagayo to place immigrants in surrounding areas, including Aurora.
The impact was swift. Large numbers of Venezuelan illegal immigrants arrived—along with a criminal element.
Longtime residents grew frustrated as conditions deteriorated. Instead of addressing public safety failures, the city blamed others.
Then came a turning point. A local gang member was shot outside one of Shmary’s buildings, drawing media scrutiny and community panic.
By late 2023, Aurora faced a crisis. Internal emails – that were exposed later – revealed that police were scrambling to contain gangs that had taken root. Intelligence indicated gang leaders had authorized attacks on law enforcement, leaving the city unprepared.
When residents complained about violence, the authorities blamed Zev Baumgarten. Though he neither owned the buildings nor had the power to combat organized crime, by late 2023, he was under investigation for operating a “criminal nuisance.”
Code enforcement followed. If a gang member smashed a window, Zev was cited. If a door was kicked in, another violation. Abandoned cars—common throughout Aurora—became his responsibility. As an openly Orthodox Jew, he was an easy target – or so they thought.
A building that had received a clean bill of health from the city in May 2023 suddenly amassed dozens of violations in the following months.
The same city that had certified the property as compliant was now citing it for numerous infractions, many of which were either minor or directly caused by the gang activity that had taken hold.
The Letter
In September 2023, Aurora’s Police Chief, Art Acevedo, sent Zev a letter threatening civil penalties and the building’s closure. It stated that “property owners are expected to be vigilant in preventing or deterring crime…and will be held responsible” for criminal activity on their premises.
Zev took their demands seriously. When gang members illegally occupied a unit, he confronted them—just as police instructed. He was mercilessly beaten and nearly killed.
With media assistance, the narrative was set: an “out-of-state slumlord” was destroying Aurora. Every issue—crime, vandalism, chaos—was pinned on Zev.
On its face, the story was absurd. But with politicians, the media, and mounting legal pressure, it became dangerously effective.
All Zev had to do to make it stop?
Accept a civil penalty, serve 60 days in jail, apologize, and validate the city’s false narrative. Had he done so, the truth about Aurora’s gang crisis and government complicity might have remained buried.
Zev was powerless to fight back alone. A young man with limited assets and a young family, he was no match for powerful forces determined to keep the truth buried.
Unwilling to let his brother be sacrificed, Shmary mounted a defense.
The Defense
He hired attorneys to challenge violations in court, keep his brother out of prison and push back forcefully against their narrative. Simultaneously, he engaged city officials, agreeing to continue to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into the properties to repair the damage done by the crime they ignored—directly countering claims of neglect.
At the same time, he pursued the truth.
Then, in June 2024, a breakthrough: Shmary says he was invited to a call with the FBI and Homeland Security. He said Federal officials confirmed what the local government refused to acknowledge—his buildings weren’t just experiencing more crime; they had been infiltrated by a notorious Venezuelan prison gang. While federal agents wanted to act, he was allegedly told they were restrained by higher authorities.
You Go Girl
Enter Danielle Jurinsky, stage right.
Only one local politician stood by Shmary: Danielle Jurinsky. Having heard similar accounts, she recognized that he was telling the truth.
Meanwhile, the gangs became bolder. No longer content with a few units, they sought control of entire buildings. They demanded rent payments directly and threatened property managers. Zev, already assaulted, began receiving anonymous threats. They knew his address, his wife’s name, and details about his children.
When he sought police protection, they refused, he alleged.
Fearing for his life, Zev fled Colorado.
Fredericks Breaks Story Nationally
Shmary, now more determined than before to protect his brother and reveal the truth, launched a media offensive.
He secured an interview on John Fredericks’ live radio and television show, exposing the gang takeover, the city’s cover-up, and what he learned from federal law enforcement.
It was a risk, but silence wasn’t an option.
Politicians and the media struck back. They dredged up old tenant complaints and accused Shmary of blaming his failures on gangs.
Their weaponized violations, meant to bury the story, were now used to discredit him and his narrative.
One Person With Courage Makes A Majority
Danielle Jurinsky confirmed what she had known for months: She alleged Aurora’s attacks on Zev were a cover-up. The real story was that gangs had taken over—just as they were doing across the country.
But her voice alone wasn’t enough.
Enter Cindy Romero
A long time tenant, Cindy knew the truth: the rapid deterioration of her building wasn’t due to its managers but the gangs that moved in alongside the new immigrant population.
The Video That Went Virile
And she had video proof.
The only problem? She still lived there, and releasing the footage could cost her life.
Thanks to Jurinsky’s intervention and Shmary’s assistance, Cindy was relocated to safety. She then released her footage—including the now-infamous video that may have altered the course of the 2024 election. By late August 2024, tens of millions had seen it. From the top story on Fox News to the social media pages of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and others, her video exposed the administration’s failed immigration policies more powerfully than anything before it.
In response, Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts were later dubbed Operation Aurora.
None of this would have happened without Shmary Baumgarten’s tenacity, love, and loyalty to his brother. Committed to both family and truth, he risked everything to bring this story to light.
Fake News Fights The Truth
While the media and politicians fought to suppress the narrative—most notably Governor Jared Polis, who dismissed the gang takeover as “Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination”—subsequent law enforcement raids confirmed Jurinsky’s claims.
But the forces opposing Shmary were not about to leave him be.
Just weeks after the story broke, the State Attorney General launched an investigation into every one of Shmary Baumgarten’s Colorado assets in September 2024.
Retaliation
The City of Aurora continues its persecution of the Baumgartens. In an ongoing lawsuit, the city is attempting to recoup nearly a million dollars from Shmary for the closure of properties that the city itself allowed to be overrun by gangs.
Denver has joined the attack, issuing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, shuttering one of his buildings, and filing legal actions against his entities.
In addition to the relentless actions against Shmary, Colorado is now pushing Senate Bill 25-020, which would make it even easier to target landlords by granting broad enforcement powers to the Attorney General and local governments. Had this law been in place, it’s doubtful Shmary would have been able to fight back at all.
To some, Shmary, even without knowing his name, is a national hero. To others, he is a threat—depending on their vision for the future of this country.
Only one side of Shmary’s story has been told. As a result, he faces relentless punishment.
The Truth, in this case, may have set the whole nation free.