Share and Follow
In a series of audacious heists, a group of thieves executed a swift and precise operation, likened to the efficiency of a racetrack pit crew, to steal over 250 car parts and vehicles across the Bronx and other areas of New York City, prosecutors revealed on Thursday.
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office has charged at least 16 individuals, aged between 18 and 36, with a staggering 971 criminal counts. These charges stem from a crime spree that spanned from August 2024 to June 2025, during which they allegedly stole and sold auto parts valued at over $1 million.
According to prosecutors, surveillance footage captured 14 of the suspects, operating in masked teams of three, as they repeatedly exited a stolen vehicle armed with car jacks and milk crates.
These individuals, purportedly linked to the notorious Trinitarios street gang, allegedly employed power tools to swiftly remove tires, rims, and catalytic converters from targeted vehicles, often within minutes, under the cover of darkness between midnight and 5 a.m.
“These defendants allegedly operated with the speed of a racetrack pit crew in the dead of night, pilfering cars, tires, rims, and catalytic converters worth more than $1 million on the black market,” stated District Attorney Darcel Clark in an official announcement.
“All across the Bronx, people heading to work or school in the morning found their cars propped on crates, or an empty parking space, leaving them stranded and financially strained.”
Overall, 11 cars, 172 tires and rims and 69 catalytic converters were heisted from nearly every corner of the Bronx — and also slices of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, according to Clark.
The stolen cars were then used when the alleged perps dismantled other cars. A grand total of 252 cars were caught up in the massive theft ring.
Two of the defendants were alleged buyers of the stolen catalytic converters, which then were peddled on the black market, according to the district attorney’s office.
One of the buyers had $116,000 in cash stashed in a suitcase when authorities raided his home, prosecutors claimed.
Overall, $1.2 million worth of stolen property was involved in the heists.
“The theft ring was as brazen as it was effective,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Thursday press conference.
Tisch said the department was logging more than 200 complaints tied to stolen car parts each month.
“And it wasn’t random,” she said, noting mostly Hondas and Toyotas were targeted.
“It was methodical.”
Alleged members of the ring have criminal histories tied to the Big Apple with most also having connections to the Dominican Republic, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, who did not reveal their immigration statuses.
The accused thieves were facing a slew of charges for criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny, auto stripping, criminal mischief and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
So far, eight alleged robbers have been arraigned – while another eight are either still on the lam or awaiting arraignment, the district attorney’s office said.
Most who have appeared in court were granted supervised release.
“This was a large, well organized, gang affiliated crew of people who made it their job literally every night to go out and steal cars and car parts,” Tisch said.
“My hope and expectation is that there will be consequences for this type of behavior in the criminal justice system because frankly, if there are not, we have all just wasted a hell of a lot of time.”