Manhattan's posh and tourist packed neighborhoods have increasingly become hotbeds for crime - where brazen thieves are leaving shopkeepers feeling powerless. 

Grand larceny, or thefts of $1,000 or more, have spiked soaring to over
60 percent in the past year according to the latest crime statistics.


The grand larceny crisis has become so bad that Mayor Eric Adams held a
summit with business leaders at Gracie Mansion earlier this month with the
spike in retail thefts.

Statistics show that grand larcenies increased by 27.6 percent citywide over the same period in 2021
with the largest increase in Midtown South, which borders the iconic Times Square and Chrysler
building.






The grand larceny crisis has become so bad that Mayor Eric Adams
held a summit with business leaders at Gracie Mansion earlier this month







Manhattan's posh and tourist packed neighborhoods have increasingly become hotbeds for crime - where
brazen thieves are leaving shopkeepers feeling powerless


Known as the garment district, Midtown South saw the highest increase at 63.4
percent in grand larceny equating to 2,287 incidents this year
compared to 1,387 in 2021.

The upmarket neighborhood which has a home sale value of $1,3888,991
according to









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Jim Giddon, whose Rothmans men's clothing store in Gramercy was once
robbed twice in about a week by the same gang, told The New York Post thieves aren't
worried about consequences.

'There's a true belief out there among criminals that they're going
to get away with it,' he said.

Gary Karry, the manager at Gem Pawnbrokers on Eighth Avenue
between West 39th and 40th streets, told the outlet about a time a crook snatched a ring and glasses worth more than $1,000 from his store over the summer.


'He said, 'Oh, let me see that ring, I used to have something like
this,' said store sales manager Ligia Kourany.

'I showed him the ring. Then he said 'Oh, you have Cartier
glasses, let me see them.' He liked nice things. I gave him the glasses.








In this surveillance footage a thief, believed to be responsible for a
burglary spree at at least seven high-end stores in Manhattan, was captured on camera in July 







Here police were asking for assistance to identify this man regarding
a grand larceny that occurred within the confines of the 112 Precinct/Transit District 20 in October







Meanwhile, NYC's Soho and West Village were overrun with gangs of looters - with a group of seven calmly walking out with
$30,000 worth of goods from Lululemon


'He saw an opportunity to run because we buzzed the door open for someone else,
and he ran.'

But Karry said he'll be ready if anyone tries to pull the same stunt again.

'I have a big machete if I need it,' he said.


Last week, Adams said, 'grand larcenies are killing our [crime] stats in the city' and it's not just
businesses that are getting targeted.

'Tourists are often getting robbed on our block,' said Shahid Munir, manager
of Antiques on 5th in the precinct.

'The cops have come to our store at least five times this year to get our surveillance
footage of robberies outside our store.'

Ava Homsey, 22, of Yonkers, who moved to New York from Boston earlier this year,
said, 'Things are just getting worse.

'People are getting more desperate. We're in tough times.

I heard that it's so much different than last year,' she said.


Gerard Pozo, 40, an accountant from Harlem, called the perception of
rampant crime 'crazy.'

'Crime comes and goes, but it's 100% worse right now.
I hope the city gets safer,' he said.

In the Sixth Precinct, which includes Greenwich Village, grand larcenies
jumped to 57.3 percent, from 853 incidents to 1,340, the data shows.


Framing consultant Rachel Lipscomb, 25, was
working by herself at NuFrame gallery on 10th Street on Sept 13 around 6 pm when a thief swiped a framed photograph worth an estimated $2,500.



'I heard yelling down the street. These two men came rushing into the store and were like 'Call the
police!' Lipscomb said.






Midtown South, which borders Times Square and is home to the famed Chrysler building saw the
highest increase at 63.4 percent in grand larceny






She said a third man ran into the store chasing them.
They were all yelling at each other.

'The guy who ran in last just grabbed one
[piece of art] and left,' the worker said.

'So I chased him. He was just really pissed. We tug-of-warred with it until he acted like he was going to hit me with it.'

Lipscomb recalled saying, 'Dude, you can't take that.

Hey, you can't steal that.'

'Yes, I can,' the thief replied.

'What the f*** dude. You can't take that!' the clerk said.

Finally, she let go of the frame, and the thief took off.

The NYPD said the same thief who took the art also pulled off a robbery in the nearby First Precinct two days earlier, on Sept 11, at Prince Street
and Thompson Street.

The suspect approached an 82-year-old man who was sitting on a stoop and snatched his cellphone from
his hand before disappearing southbound on West Broadway on his bicycle, cops said to the New York Post.


In the First Precinct, grand larcenies rose from 819 to 1,184 incidents, at a 44.6 percent increase.
The precinct is home to the World Trade Center, SoHo, Tribeca and Wall Street.



While in the Fifth Precinct, which covers Chinatown and the Bowery,
crime has risen from 408 to 613 incidents, or 50.2 percent.


In the 13th Precinct, where the store Giddon owns
was robbed, grand larceny jumped 25.4 percent, or to 998 incidents from 796 at the same
time last year.

In two heists which took place just days apart, the same robbery crew 'mostly grabbed outerwear, [and] more expensive winter coats,' he said.







Jim Giddon, whose Rothmans men's clothing store in Gramercy was once robbed twice in about
a week by the same gang







Gary Karry, the manager at Gem Pawnbrokers,
now carries a machete to deal with crooks







Framing consultant Rachel Lipscomb was working
by herself at NuFrame gallery on 10th Street when it was robbed by a brazen thief who
when told wasn't allowed to steal said 'yes, I can'


'One of my employees got punched in the face, and our employees are scared, as they should be,
' Giddon said.

He said he decided to begin locking the 18th Street entrance
to the store and put security at the front entrance during
business hours, which he believes has cost him business as customers tug on the
door handle and walk away.

'It's sad for the city that businesses like us have to lock
our doors and you have to ring to enter.' the shop owner said.
'It's a sad state of affairs.'

Giddon serves on a task force that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg created to examine the problem of retail
thefts.

Bragg has been a major proponent of the state's bail reform laws, which bar judges from setting bail for
most crimes, a situation that critics have said leads to criminals returned to the streets to commit more illegal acts.


'The recidivists are making it difficult for everybody,' Giddon said.



'The politicians who hurried and created a bail law, which was
well-intentioned, need to really go back to school and figure out how to make it more reasonable.'

On January 1 2020, New York State introduced sweeping criminal justice legislation, meaning that cash bail is no longer permitted for
most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, including robbery.


Judges are now required to release individuals charged with such crimes with no cash bail.


The controversial new New York 'no-bail law' is expected to curtail the use
of cash bail and pretrial detention in an estimated 90 per cent of arrests
and strengthen measures intended to ensure a defendant's right to a speedy trial.


New York's decision to reform its law saw
the state join ranks with California and New Jersey
- which already prohibit cash bails for most misdemeanors
and nonviolent felonies.

The 'no-bail' law has been mired in controversy since it was enshrined into
state legislation.







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Read more:



City Wide Crime Stats - NYPD

Male

Manhattan's posh and tourist packed neighborhoods have increasingly become hotbeds for crime - where brazen thieves are leaving shopkeepers feeling powerless. 

Grand larceny, or thefts of $1,000 or more, have spiked soaring to over
60 percent in the past year according to the latest crime statistics.


The grand larceny crisis has become so bad that Mayor Eric Adams held a
summit with business leaders at Gracie Mansion earlier this month with the
spike in retail thefts.

Statistics show that grand larcenies increased by 27.6 percent citywide over the same period in 2021
with the largest increase in Midtown South, which borders the iconic Times Square and Chrysler
building.






The grand larceny crisis has become so bad that Mayor Eric Adams
held a summit with business leaders at Gracie Mansion earlier this month







Manhattan's posh and tourist packed neighborhoods have increasingly become hotbeds for crime - where
brazen thieves are leaving shopkeepers feeling powerless


Known as the garment district, Midtown South saw the highest increase at 63.4
percent in grand larceny equating to 2,287 incidents this year
compared to 1,387 in 2021.

The upmarket neighborhood which has a home sale value of $1,3888,991
according to









Previous

1

Next




Major crime soars by 22% in New York City as police blame...
Wanted: Police issue appeal in hunt for murder
suspect, 25,...








Share this article


Share






Jim Giddon, whose Rothmans men's clothing store in Gramercy was once
robbed twice in about a week by the same gang, told The New York Post thieves aren't
worried about consequences.

'There's a true belief out there among criminals that they're going
to get away with it,' he said.

Gary Karry, the manager at Gem Pawnbrokers on Eighth Avenue
between West 39th and 40th streets, told the outlet about a time a crook snatched a ring and glasses worth more than $1,000 from his store over the summer.


'He said, 'Oh, let me see that ring, I used to have something like
this,' said store sales manager Ligia Kourany.

'I showed him the ring. Then he said 'Oh, you have Cartier
glasses, let me see them.' He liked nice things. I gave him the glasses.








In this surveillance footage a thief, believed to be responsible for a
burglary spree at at least seven high-end stores in Manhattan, was captured on camera in July 







Here police were asking for assistance to identify this man regarding
a grand larceny that occurred within the confines of the 112 Precinct/Transit District 20 in October







Meanwhile, NYC's Soho and West Village were overrun with gangs of looters - with a group of seven calmly walking out with
$30,000 worth of goods from Lululemon


'He saw an opportunity to run because we buzzed the door open for someone else,
and he ran.'

But Karry said he'll be ready if anyone tries to pull the same stunt again.

'I have a big machete if I need it,' he said.


Last week, Adams said, 'grand larcenies are killing our [crime] stats in the city' and it's not just
businesses that are getting targeted.

'Tourists are often getting robbed on our block,' said Shahid Munir, manager
of Antiques on 5th in the precinct.

'The cops have come to our store at least five times this year to get our surveillance
footage of robberies outside our store.'

Ava Homsey, 22, of Yonkers, who moved to New York from Boston earlier this year,
said, 'Things are just getting worse.

'People are getting more desperate. We're in tough times.

I heard that it's so much different than last year,' she said.


Gerard Pozo, 40, an accountant from Harlem, called the perception of
rampant crime 'crazy.'

'Crime comes and goes, but it's 100% worse right now.
I hope the city gets safer,' he said.

In the Sixth Precinct, which includes Greenwich Village, grand larcenies
jumped to 57.3 percent, from 853 incidents to 1,340, the data shows.


Framing consultant Rachel Lipscomb, 25, was
working by herself at NuFrame gallery on 10th Street on Sept 13 around 6 pm when a thief swiped a framed photograph worth an estimated $2,500.



'I heard yelling down the street. These two men came rushing into the store and were like 'Call the
police!' Lipscomb said.






Midtown South, which borders Times Square and is home to the famed Chrysler building saw the
highest increase at 63.4 percent in grand larceny






She said a third man ran into the store chasing them.
They were all yelling at each other.

'The guy who ran in last just grabbed one
[piece of art] and left,' the worker said.

'So I chased him. He was just really pissed. We tug-of-warred with it until he acted like he was going to hit me with it.'

Lipscomb recalled saying, 'Dude, you can't take that.

Hey, you can't steal that.'

'Yes, I can,' the thief replied.

'What the f*** dude. You can't take that!' the clerk said.

Finally, she let go of the frame, and the thief took off.

The NYPD said the same thief who took the art also pulled off a robbery in the nearby First Precinct two days earlier, on Sept 11, at Prince Street
and Thompson Street.

The suspect approached an 82-year-old man who was sitting on a stoop and snatched his cellphone from
his hand before disappearing southbound on West Broadway on his bicycle, cops said to the New York Post.


In the First Precinct, grand larcenies rose from 819 to 1,184 incidents, at a 44.6 percent increase.
The precinct is home to the World Trade Center, SoHo, Tribeca and Wall Street.



While in the Fifth Precinct, which covers Chinatown and the Bowery,
crime has risen from 408 to 613 incidents, or 50.2 percent.


In the 13th Precinct, where the store Giddon owns
was robbed, grand larceny jumped 25.4 percent, or to 998 incidents from 796 at the same
time last year.

In two heists which took place just days apart, the same robbery crew 'mostly grabbed outerwear, [and] more expensive winter coats,' he said.







Jim Giddon, whose Rothmans men's clothing store in Gramercy was once robbed twice in about
a week by the same gang







Gary Karry, the manager at Gem Pawnbrokers,
now carries a machete to deal with crooks







Framing consultant Rachel Lipscomb was working
by herself at NuFrame gallery on 10th Street when it was robbed by a brazen thief who
when told wasn't allowed to steal said 'yes, I can'


'One of my employees got punched in the face, and our employees are scared, as they should be,
' Giddon said.

He said he decided to begin locking the 18th Street entrance
to the store and put security at the front entrance during
business hours, which he believes has cost him business as customers tug on the
door handle and walk away.

'It's sad for the city that businesses like us have to lock
our doors and you have to ring to enter.' the shop owner said.
'It's a sad state of affairs.'

Giddon serves on a task force that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg created to examine the problem of retail
thefts.

Bragg has been a major proponent of the state's bail reform laws, which bar judges from setting bail for
most crimes, a situation that critics have said leads to criminals returned to the streets to commit more illegal acts.


'The recidivists are making it difficult for everybody,' Giddon said.



'The politicians who hurried and created a bail law, which was
well-intentioned, need to really go back to school and figure out how to make it more reasonable.'

On January 1 2020, New York State introduced sweeping criminal justice legislation, meaning that cash bail is no longer permitted for
most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, including robbery.


Judges are now required to release individuals charged with such crimes with no cash bail.


The controversial new New York 'no-bail law' is expected to curtail the use
of cash bail and pretrial detention in an estimated 90 per cent of arrests
and strengthen measures intended to ensure a defendant's right to a speedy trial.


New York's decision to reform its law saw
the state join ranks with California and New Jersey
- which already prohibit cash bails for most misdemeanors
and nonviolent felonies.

The 'no-bail' law has been mired in controversy since it was enshrined into
state legislation.







data-track-module="am-external-links^external-links">
Read more:



City Wide Crime Stats - NYPD

Male