Fourteen people last week were indicted for their alleged roles in running a sophisticated car theft ring that drove Mercedes, BMWs, Infinitis and other luxury vehicles right off rental lots at John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports, and loaded them into shipping containers in the Bronx, before sending them to buyers in West Africa, according to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and city Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
The indictment, which was unsealed last Wednesday in Bronx County Supreme Court, charges 14 people with conspiracy and criminal possession of stolen property, as well as other crimes including, but not limited to, grand larceny.
The long-term investigation, dubbed “Operation Cruise Control,” utilized wiretaps and other types of surveillance to gather evidence against the Bronx-based criminal organization that allegedly acquired a large volume of stolen vehicles from public streets and rental car companies Avis, Hertz and National, Schneiderman said. The high-end vehicles included BMW X5s, Mercedes GL450s, Porsche Cayennes, Range Rovers and Lexus vehicles. Once in possession of the stolen vehicles, the suspects allegedly created fraudulent documentation for the vehicles, and loaded them into 17 different shipping containers at a lot on Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx.
The containers were destined for several countries in West Africa, including Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, disguising the containers’ contents by documenting false vehicle identification numbers on the shipping documents, often using titles from junked or salvaged cars, Schneiderman said.
“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,” Schneiderman noted. “As our investigation shows, we recorded the defendants as they brought in stolen cars from our airports, put them into shipping containers, and shipped them out to buyers in West Africa. This was a sophisticated network of international thieves—but as our partnership with the NYPD shows, we will never allow New York to be used as a hub for global theft.”
Bratton added, “Once again, the NYPD has demonstrated its enforcement powers beyond the borders of New York City, thanks to our strong law enforcement partnerships. I applaud the dedication of the investigators and prosecutors involved in this investigation which resulted in holding these individuals responsible for this international vehicle theft ring, as alleged.”
The top charges in the indictment carry with them a penalty of up to 5 to 15 years in prison.
