Brooklyn, NY – The FBI announced that Michael Mazzara, Charles Kerrigan, and Anthony Mascuzzio were arrested this morning for their roles in bank burglaries in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, earlier this year. Mazzara, Kerrigan, and Mascuzzio will be presented later today in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis.
- Between April 2016 and the present, Mazzara, Kerrigan, and Mascuzzio were part of a crew that burglarized banks in Brooklyn and Queens, New York
- The defendants cut into the banks’ vaults, and stealing a total of approximately $5 million in cash, jewelry, diamonds, stock certificates, and other valuables
- Specifically, from about April 8 to April 10, 2016, Mazzara, Kerrigan, and others burglarized an HSBC Bank branch in Brooklyn, and from about May 19 to May 22, 2016, Mazzara, Kerrigan, Mascuzzio, and others burglarized a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens
- On both occasions, the burglars used acetylene blowtorches to cut into the top of the banks’ vaults from the roof of the building
NYPD Commissioner William J. Bratton said: “These heists resembled scenes from the movie Heat– the work of a crew that was well organized, meticulous, and elusive to law enforcement. This investigation was conducted with painstaking persistence. Left with few clues after the heists, our crime scene teams hunted for every shred of evidence. From the plywood purchased at a nearby Home Depot, to the torches from a Brooklyn welder used to muscle into the vault, the picture slowly came into focus, resulting in today’s arrests and charges.”
- At the Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch, they shielded their activities from view by constructing a plywood shed on the roof of the bank
- The burglars then entered the vaults from above, broke open safe deposit boxes, and took both cash belonging to the bank and customers’ valuables from the safe deposit boxes
- The crew obtained approximately $330,000 in cash and an unknown amount in valuables from the HSBC branch, and approximately $296,000 in cash and $4.3 million in valuables from the Maspeth bank
Photo: NBC - Surveillance footage captured some of Mazzara, Kerrigan, and Mascuzzio’s activities as they prepared for and executed the burglaries. Financial records and video surveillance also showed Mazzara and Mascuzzio purchasing some of the supplies that appear to have been used in the Maspeth burglary
- Mazzara, 44, Kerrigan, 40, and Mascuzzio, 36, all of Brooklyn, New York, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank burglary, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of bank burglary, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison
- Mazzara and Kerrigan have also been charged with a second count of bank burglary, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison
- This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Benet J. Kearney and David W. Denton, Jr., are in charge of the prosecution
- The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty
