Three Brooklyn men busted for bank heists
Three Brooklyn men were charged on Tuesday with carrying out a pair of
meticulously planned bank heists that authorities likened to a Hollywood
script, complete with one suspect who is the son of a slain Gambino
crime-family associate.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara accused the men, Michael Mazzara, Charles Kerrigan and Anthony Mascuzzio, of scouting out the banks, then returning in the dead of night, disabling alarms and using acetylene blowtorches to tunnel through their roofs to gain access to the vaults.
They made off with more than $5 million in cash and valuables from safe-deposit boxes, including jewelry, diamonds, coins, stock certificates and rare sports trading cards, officials said.
“The thieves stole not just people’s money but their memories, too,” Mr. Bharara said.
The charges the men face include conspiracy to commit bank burglary. They were awaiting court appearances Tuesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Authorities confirmed that Mr. Mascuzzio is the son of Anthony Mascuzzio, who was fatally shot in a Manhattan discothèque in 1988. The elder Mascuzzio was a friend and associate of John Gotti, former leader of the Gambino family.
The first robbery took place on Friday, April 8, at a south Brooklyn HSBC branch, when the men climbed onto the roof, cut alarm wires and spent the weekend using blowtorches to get inside, authorities said.
“By the time the bank reopened on Monday, the men were long gone,” Mr. Bharara said.
On May 20, the crew carried out a similar scheme at Maspeth Federal Savings Bank in Queens, this time building a plywood structure on the roof that hid their activities and was painted black as camouflage.
Investigators from the New York Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were able to track the men down by combing through surveillance videos, cellphone records and credit-card statements, officials said.
Authorities determined the men used money to buy Jet Skis, boats and cars, along with vacations in Miami and Las Vegas, said Diego Rodriguez, head of the FBI’s New York City field office.
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton compared the robberies to one of his favorite movies, “Heat,” in which Al Pacino plays a lieutenant chasing a crew led by Robert De Niro that was “organized, meticulous and elusive to law enforcement.”
Like the three men charged Tuesday, Mr. Bratton said, Mr. De Niro wasn’t “meticulous enough and, quite obviously, not elusive enough.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/3-brooklyn-men-charged-in-bank-robberies-1469564114
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara accused the men, Michael Mazzara, Charles Kerrigan and Anthony Mascuzzio, of scouting out the banks, then returning in the dead of night, disabling alarms and using acetylene blowtorches to tunnel through their roofs to gain access to the vaults.
They made off with more than $5 million in cash and valuables from safe-deposit boxes, including jewelry, diamonds, coins, stock certificates and rare sports trading cards, officials said.
“The thieves stole not just people’s money but their memories, too,” Mr. Bharara said.
The charges the men face include conspiracy to commit bank burglary. They were awaiting court appearances Tuesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Authorities confirmed that Mr. Mascuzzio is the son of Anthony Mascuzzio, who was fatally shot in a Manhattan discothèque in 1988. The elder Mascuzzio was a friend and associate of John Gotti, former leader of the Gambino family.
The first robbery took place on Friday, April 8, at a south Brooklyn HSBC branch, when the men climbed onto the roof, cut alarm wires and spent the weekend using blowtorches to get inside, authorities said.
“By the time the bank reopened on Monday, the men were long gone,” Mr. Bharara said.
On May 20, the crew carried out a similar scheme at Maspeth Federal Savings Bank in Queens, this time building a plywood structure on the roof that hid their activities and was painted black as camouflage.
Investigators from the New York Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were able to track the men down by combing through surveillance videos, cellphone records and credit-card statements, officials said.
Authorities determined the men used money to buy Jet Skis, boats and cars, along with vacations in Miami and Las Vegas, said Diego Rodriguez, head of the FBI’s New York City field office.
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton compared the robberies to one of his favorite movies, “Heat,” in which Al Pacino plays a lieutenant chasing a crew led by Robert De Niro that was “organized, meticulous and elusive to law enforcement.”
Like the three men charged Tuesday, Mr. Bratton said, Mr. De Niro wasn’t “meticulous enough and, quite obviously, not elusive enough.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/3-brooklyn-men-charged-in-bank-robberies-1469564114
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