A secretive group of thieves is robbing small business owners in the New York City – pulling ATMs out of the ground with vans and drag chains or taking them out of stores by hand, the video shows.
At least 49 businesses have been robbed so far in the spree, according to trade group United Bodegas of America (UBA), which is offering a $5,000 reward for the bandits. Bodega is often used as a term for a grocery store or small grocery store in a city.
The NYPD said investigators believe the thieves are a three-person group using stolen cars to carry out the crimes, which have been reported in at least 25 of the city’s 78 boroughs.
POSTMAN’S FAMILY BREAKS SILENCE AFTER FATHER OF 2 KILLED ON LUNCH BREAK
Two thieves steal an ATM from a small business in New York. The NYPD is searching for three suspects in connection with at least 49 similar burglaries. (NYPD)
Radhames Rodriguez, the group’s president, told Fox News Digital that authorities must return to fully prosecuting low-level crimes and criticized the NYPD’s newly announced manhunt policy, which prohibits police from hunting suspects in non-violent and lesser crimes.
“While we understand the need for balance in law enforcement, limiting pursuits to only suspects involved in violent felonies and misdemeanors sends a dangerous message to criminals who commit low-level crimes,” he told Fox News Digital. “These so-called ‘minor offences’ are often fertile ground for more serious crimes, creating a sense of lawlessness and impunity.”
While the city has taken steps to combat rising crime, business owners see the new pursuit policy as a step backwards.
AN ILLEGAL ACCUSED OF BURNING A SLEEPING WOMAN PLEDGED NOT GUILTY
Thieves rip out the side wall of a store in New York to steal an ATM from inside. The NYPD is looking for three suspects in 49 similar crimes, which also involved stolen vehicles. (UBA)
“There must be accountability at every level of criminal activity,” Fernando Mateo, a UBA spokesman, told Fox News Digital. “Low-level crimes should not be dismissed as trivial because they escalate. Today it’s shoplifting, tomorrow it’s armed robbery.”
New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday that new guidelines for vehicle pursuits will reduce the risk of collateral damage.
According to the NYPD, 25% of car chases in 2024 will result in a crash, property damage or injury. Two thirds of them started with a traffic stop where the suspect fled. Officers are no longer allowed to pursue under such circumstances.
The new rules limit police officers to car chases only for serious crimes – felonies and violent misdemeanors.
“The NYPD’s law enforcement efforts must never put the public or law enforcement at undue risk, and prosecutions for misdemeanors and low-level crimes can be both potentially dangerous and unnecessary,” Tisch said in a statement. “The advanced tools of modern law enforcement make it possible to catch criminals more safely and efficiently than ever before, making many pursuits unnecessary.”
NYC GROUP ROBBED 49 STORES CITYWIDE, STOLE ATMS, CASH: POLICE
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch hold a press conference on December 19, 2024 in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
The ATM thieves are still at large.
Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the new guidelines don’t really represent a big change.
“The policy has always been – it’s up to the patrol supervisor to call off any pursuit of a vehicle based on certain factors [as] written in the patrolman’s guide,” he told Fox News Digital. “She’s putting it out there so everyone knows — it’s already been there, but to eventually reinforce it, the New York City Council is going to fill Chicago and ban all pursuits, including foot quests. It’s just a matter of time.”
While the pendulum appears to have begun to swing back toward a tough-on-crime approach across the U.S., he cautioned that some blue-city leaders still disagree.
An NYPD vehicle is seen in Times Square in New York on October 24, 2022. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“The messages may have changed with the vote in terms of how people feel about what they want the police to do in the United States, but the cities are in the firm hands of the pro-police, abolitionist crowd,” he said.
While the announcement of the pursuit policy has been criticized, the NYPD made another big change this week — stepping up patrols on nighttime subway cars days after the city’s Transportation Authority chairman told residents that transit crime is only in their heads.
“The NYPD will launch an ambitious plan to put two officers on every night train in phases,” the department announced Thursday. “Phase 1 will officially begin on Monday and will involve the first 100 officers. Additional phases will be launched over the coming weeks with the expectation that the full operation will be completed by the end of the month.”
Police released surveillance footage showing the two suspects removing the ATM from the store. UBA also shared a video showing them tearing down a wall with a chain attached to the back of a van before the theft another.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The police are asking citizens for help in identifying the thief.
“Between Thursday, September 19, 2024 and Thursday, December 26, 2024, there were a total of 49 incidents reported to police involving three unidentified individuals removing vehicles and license plates,” an NYPD spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The individuals then used these stolen vehicles to travel to commercial establishments where they forcibly entered and removed ATMs and other property. The individuals fled the locations in various vehicles.”
