Fourteen people charged with operating a criminal ring that stole luxury vehicles at area airports and off city streets and stashed them in a Mott Haven lot before shipping them to West Africa, were indicted on Wednesday after a long-term investigation led by the attorney general’s and NYPD’s organized crime units.
According to an indictment issued by Attorney General Eric Scheiderman, the gang drove Mercedes, BMWs, Infinitis and other high-end cars and SUVs right off rental car lots at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, loaded them into 17 40-foot shipping containers on the industrially-zoned lot at 380 Bruckner Boulevard between 142 and 143 Street in Mott Haven, then sent them to buyers in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone and other countries in the region.
The investigation, labelled “Operation Cruise Control,” used wiretaps and other surveillance methods to take down the Bronx-based ring.
The thieves allegedly created phony documents to hoodwink customs officials, often using titles from junked or salvaged cars. Then a team located at the Bruckner Boulevard lot loaded the containers and arranged for the vehicles to be shipped.
“This was no fly-by-night operation. For more than a year, investigators with my office and the NYPD tracked this crew using wiretaps and surveillance video,” said New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, calling the ring a “sophisticated network of international thieves.”
Two Bronx residents, Allen Robinson, 38, and Derek Edwards, 32, were charged with fraudulently renting s0me of the vehicles from Avis, Hertz and National and selling them to “brokers” who then transported the vehicles to Mott Haven for stashing. The indictment lists three Bronx residents among a half-dozen American-based middle men: Cheik Diallo, 52, Adama Fofana, 53 and Lamine Bah, 41. These brokers would then arrange the delivery of the vehicles to 380 Bruckner Boulevard after securing buyers in Africa.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy, possession of stolen property and grand larceny. The charges carry a penalty of up to 5 to 15 years behind bars.
The defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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