Members of a migrant crime gang dragged a woman down a New York City street, grabbing her purse and sending her careening into a steel pole before speeding off – on video.
The incident happened in late December, but the video gained widespread attention on Monday, when police announced arrests in connection with an organized crime ring suspected in 62 similar attacks.
Two of the men arrested in the ring are accused of mugging the 62-year-old woman outside a Brooklyn deli on Dec. 28.
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Two of the men police identified Monday as members of the crime ring, Cleyber Andrade, 19, and Juan Uzcatgui, 23, have been charged in the woman's mugging.
The victim, Irina Panteleeza, told the New York Post that she lost her keys, phone, credit cards and glasses when the thieves stole her bag.
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NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said they are part of "a wave of migrant crime" plaguing New York City, and he likened them to ghosts – undocumented illegal immigrants with no phones, no social media and sometimes no known names or dates of birth.
Many of the suspects live in the migrant shelter system and recently arrived in the U.S., according to NYPD leaders.
Victor Parra, the 30-year-old alleged ringleader, remained at large as police and the U.S. Marshals were looking to track him down.
Police accuse Parra of coordinating the thefts over social media and posting what kinds of phones he wanted to be stolen for freelancing thieves to snatch.
Then he had a hacker break into them and drain the victim's banking and financial apps, police alleged. Once the funds dried up, the phones would be sent to Colombia for reprogramming and resale.
