NEW YORK (PIX11) — A burglary crew is accused of plotting nearly two dozen citywide ATM heists and leading cops on a half-hour high-speed chase before they were nabbed at New York City airport earlier this year, authorities said.
Alex Torres, aka “Chacho,” 50, Francisco Torres, aka “Fusion,” 51, Jesus Cedeno, aka “Capone,” 52, Angel Barbosa, aka “Pucci,” 44, Chris Moustakos, aka “Chris the Greek,” 52, and Luis Villanueva, aka “Cholo,” 52, were indicted Tuesday on a slew of charges, including burglary, grand larceny, and conspiracy, prosecutors said.
The ring allegedly stole 19 ATMs and other merchandise from delis and bodegas in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx from June 2022 to January 2023, officials said. The defendants allegedly planned the heists from two Brooklyn apartments, where they left a crew member to monitor a police scanner during the heists so they knew when to escape, prosecutors said.
The crew’s biggest haul was over $60,000 in cash and goods from a wireless store in Ridgewood and $20,000 from an ATM in a Bushwick deli, according to authorities. The total amount of money stolen for all the incidents is unknown.
In January, prosecutors said Alex Torres, Francisco Torres, Cedeno, and Moustakos allegedly burglarized a bodega in Queens and led cops on a high-speed chase past John F. Kennedy Airport before crashing their van into a barrier near LaGuardia Airport.
“These charges put an end to the multi-borough burglary-and-theft spree that potentially netted the defendants tens of thousands of dollars. This lucrative scheme undermined public safety in New York City,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.