Overview
- The 971-count indictment, which prosecutors announced Thursday, charges 16 people in a coordinated ring that stripped cars across New York City.
- Surveillance shows three-person crews using jacks, power tools and milk crates to remove wheels, rims and catalytic converters within minutes overnight.
- Authorities link the operation to about 252 victims and roughly $1.2 million in stolen parts and vehicles across the Bronx, with cases also in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.
- Investigators say the thieves targeted common Hondas and Toyotas because parts move quickly on online marketplaces and are hard to trace, often using stolen cars and parking garages to stage jobs.
- Several defendants have been arrested and arraigned with supervised release, police are still seeking others, and searches turned up guns, ammunition and $116,000 in cash.