{"id":91366,"date":"2026-01-06T19:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T19:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/91366\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T19:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T19:06:10","slug":"staten-island-man-28-reportedly-detained-by-venezuelan-counterintelligence-family-urging-officials-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/91366\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island man, 28, reportedly detained by Venezuelan counterintelligence; family urging officials for help"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 28-year-old Staten Island man is being held in a detention center run by Venezuela\u2019s military counterintelligence in the capital city of Caracas.<\/p>\n

James Luckey-Lange was detained by security forces while meeting local musicians shortly after crossing into southern Venezuela from Brazil, a source familiar with the matter told The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The news of Luckey-Lange\u2019s whereabouts came just two days after U.S. armed forces seized and extracted Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on federal drug trafficking charges.<\/p>\n

Maduro, who calls himself the president of Venezuela, is not recognized by the U.S. as the country\u2019s legitimate head of state.<\/p>\n

According to The Associated Press<\/a>, the indictment accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. If convicted, Maduro could face life in prison.<\/p>\n

Prior to the operation, Luckey-Lange was reportedly among a handful of Americans recently detained<\/a> by Venezuelan forces.<\/p>\n

Although some of the detainees face legitimate criminal charges, Luckey-Lange is one of two detainees that the U.S. government was considering designating as wrongfully detained, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told the Times.<\/p>\n

Among the arrested are three Venezuelan American dual passport holders and two American citizens with no known ties to the country.<\/p>\n

Years of travel<\/p>\n

Luckey-Lange is the son of musician Diane Luckey, who went by the stage name Q Lazzarus. Luckey was particularly known for her 1988 hit song \u201cGoodbye Horses,\u201d an iconic tune featured in the Oscar-winning film \u201cThe Silence of the Lambs.\u201d Later in life, she worked as a Staten Island bus driver. Luckey died in 2022<\/a> at the age of 60.<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Luckey-Lange, 28, a Staten Island resident, was last heard from in December 2025.(Photo courtesy of Eva Aridjis-Fuentes)<\/p>\n

It was in the wake of his mother\u2019s death that Luckey-Lange traveled down to South America out of interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to see the countryside and explore,\u201d Abbie Luckey, Diane\u2019s sister, told the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201cHis mother, when he was a kid, had told him stories of how she loved Honduras when she went and so he decided to go and see what she was actually talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckey-Lange is not a citizen of any country in South America and the family does not have roots in Honduras, according to his 74-year-old aunt.<\/p>\n

Last year, during Luckey-Lange\u2019s trip, his father died.<\/p>\n

Last communication<\/p>\n

While on this multi-year journey, Luckey-Lange hopped between several countries but still continued to keep in contact with his aunt. Every Sunday he would make sure to give her a call.<\/p>\n

Abbie, a New Jersey resident, last spoke to her nephew on Dec. 8, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he had told me that he was preparing to come home,\u201d said Abbie. \u201cHe was going into Caracas to get a flight out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Luckey-Lange, 28, a Staten Island resident is reportedly being detained in Venezuela.(Photo courtesy of Eva Aridjis-Fuentes)<\/p>\n

As reported by the New York Times, it is unclear if Luckey-Lange had a visa to enter Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The plan was for Luckey-Lange to join the remainder of the family for a cruise right before Christmas. The trip is an annual tradition for the family and a way for them to honor Abbie\u2019s mother, as well as Diane, whose birthday is in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we returned from the cruise we were all in shock because we knew something had happened to James,\u201d Abbie explained. \u201cEither he had injured himself while he was in the Amazon [jungle] or he was detained, so we started really getting worried.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, U.S. officials have yet to contact Abbie on the status of Luckey-Lange\u2019s detainment.<\/p>\n

It was actually a New York Times reporter who informed Abbie of the possibility that her nephew was being held in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very concerning to me because we don\u2019t know who is going to take over the regime or take over the power there and what his thoughts are on American citizens,\u201d Abbie told the Advance\/SILive.com following the capture of Maduro. \u201cSo it\u2019s very concerning, it\u2019s really up in the air, we don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them [U.S. officials] to at least acknowledge that he\u2019s there, let us know that they know that he is there and how are they proceeding in getting him home. And also, if he\u2019s safe, where he is,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The Advance\/SILive.com reached out to Rep. Nicole Malliotakis\u2019s office and the congresswoman explained that she has contacted the U.S. Department of State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we have not been contacted by the family of James Luckey-Lange we learned about the situation from the media on Friday and immediately contacted the U.S. Department of State,\u201d Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, said. \u201cFor months, the State Department has advised American citizens not to travel to Venezuela, determining a very high risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals in the country. While we have not yet been able to confirm he has been detained, we are engaged, actively monitoring the situation, and have elevated our concern to the White House. It is our hope that our constituent will soon safely return to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 28-year-old Staten Island man is being held in a detention center run by Venezuela\u2019s military counterintelligence in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-91366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}