Brazen thieves who moved with the speed and precision of a “racetrack pit crew” swiped more than 250 car parts and vehicles across the Bronx and other parts of the Big Apple, prosecutors said Thursday.
At least 16 suspects between the ages of 18 and 36 were charged with an eye-popping 971 criminal counts by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for stealing and then selling auto parts worth more than a $1 million during a spree that ran between August 2024 and June 2025.
Fourteen of the alleged lowlifes — in three-person teams and fully masked — were caught numerous times on surveillance cameras exiting a stolen car with a car jack and milk crates, according to prosecutors.
The suspects, alleged affiliates of the repulsive Trinitarios street gang, then allegedly used power tools to strip the tires and rims off the victimized vehicles in mere minutes between midnight and 5 a.m.
“These defendants allegedly worked as fast as a racetrack pit crew in the dead of night, stealing cars, tires and rims, and catalytic converters worth more than $1 million on the black market,” District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
“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.
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.”
