A group of migrants has been working as a ‘ghost’ criminal enterprise in New York City – led by a Venezuelan ringleader who was let free by authorities in December.
At least five migrants were arrested Monday morning in a sting operation by the NYPD looking into a gang of criminals who use stolen mopeds and scooters to violently snatch phones and wallets from pedestrians, mainly women.
Police are still on the hunt for the ringleader – Venezuelan national Victor Parra, 30, who was not home when police served a search warrant in his alleged lair in the Bronx. Officials believe he entered the country sometime in 2023 and was freed on bail in December after being charged with grand larceny.
Parra led an elaborate scheme where he would put out calls for stolen phones using a group on the messaging platform What’s App, police said on Monday.
Once migrants brought the iPhones to the home in the Bronx, a suspect would hack into them to access the victim’s Apple Pay feature. Once they emptied out the accounts, the phones were shipped to Miami or Colombia to be reprogrammed, per the NYPD.
A group of migrants has been working as a ‘ghost’ criminal enterprise in New York City
Police are still on the hunt for the ringleader – Venezuelan national Victor Parra, 30, who was not home when police served a search warrant in his home in the Bronx
NYPD Inspector Nicholas Fiore said Parra had convinced others to ‘go do his dirty work.’
‘He’s caused a lot of problems in New York City. And hopefully we’ll grab him, we get some headway on this,’ Fiore added.
One of the phone snatchings was caught in a horrifying video shared by police on Monday.
NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said: ‘Most migrants come to NYC in search of a better life. Sadly, some come to commit crime. Today we made tremendous progress in the largest robbery pattern plaguing our city.
‘Our message is simple – commit a crime in our city and we will find you and bring you to justice!’
Mayor Eric Adams went along for the sting operation and later appeared at a press conference with police, explaining that he went along because he is a ‘general who leads from the front.’
The moment a migrant on a moped dragged a woman along a New York City street to steal her phone was caught in horrifying footage shared by police
The suspects were allegedly stealing the iPhones to use the Apple Pay feature and use the owners’ credit cards to buy items
‘This isn’t about the migrants and asylum seekers, this is about those who break the law. It doesn’t matter where you’re from and where you came from,’ the Democrat said.
Police have so far named a total of nine suspects, from Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia, in the case – Cleyber Andrade, 19, and Juan Uzcatgui, 23, Yan Jimenez, 25, Anthony Ramos, 21, Richard Saledo, 21, Beike Jimenez, 21, Maria Manaura, 32, and Samuel Castro, 27.
They all have previous theft records and listed their residences as migrant shelters around the city.
Police said catching these criminals is particularly hard because they often change their aliases and swap identities and birthdays, making them ‘ghost criminals.’
Monday’s arrests come after another video showed about a dozen migrants assaulting two police officers in Times Square late last month.
A Manhattan judge let at least five asylum seekers go free without bail after they were charged with the assault. Only one of the suspects remains in jail.
Four of the suspects are believed to have fled the city after being charged and released after giving fake names to a charity that helps migrants get bus tickets.
Many of the migrants were already known to police over charges of petty larceny and shoplifting.
According to the New York Post, the migrants charged in the assault are also part of a phone-snatching scheme.
‘They’re buying cars back in Ecuador and Venezuela’ a police source told the Post. ‘They’re putting pools in their homes there. All this money is going back and forth. That’s why the larcenies are going out of control. It’s unbelievable what they’re doing.’
Mayor Eric Adams went along for the sting operation and later appeared at a press conference with police
Officer Nicholas Fiore said police are still looking for the leader of the crime ring, which has allegedly been looking for migrants to do ‘his dirty work’
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs has defended the decision to release the suspects, but on Saturday claimed he will present evidence against them to a grand jury.
New York City is buckling under the weight of a massive influx of asylum seekers, with over 170,000 arriving since the spring of 2022.
Adams was welcoming of the migrants at first, but has since warned the situation will ‘destroy’ the city as we know it. Meanwhile his requests for aid from the federal government have been ignored.
In the city’s latest controversial move to deal with the migrants, Adams announced a $53million program to give pre-paid credit cards to migrant families with children.
It was revealed yesterday that migrants housed in one of the city’s hotels will receive pre-paid cards to buy food and baby supplies, instead of the city providing meals the migrants often did not want.
Adams estimated the $53 million scheme will save the city $600,000 a month, or $7.2 million annually, drawing outrage from many across the country, including native New Yorkers like rapper 50 Cent.
Migrants must sign an affidavit promising to only use the cards for food and baby supplies, or else have them cut off.
Cops are still on the lookout for at least eight other men involved in the Times Square melee
It is unclear how the City of New York will know if they’re just being used in bodegas as intended.
The amount on each card will depend on individual circumstances. It is unclear how city officials will check if cards are being abused – and if the scheme will worsen the crisis by encouraging other migrants to head to the Big Apple in the hopes of receiving free money.
A family of four could be provided nearly $1,000 each month, which is $35 per day for food for the four.
At present, each migrant meal costs $11, so feeding a family of four for a day could cost up to $132.
Cards will get refilled every 28 days.
