New York Post, Tuesday, August 27, 2019nypost.com4
Security cams capture Security cams capture
$4M Midtown stickup
by dapper crook & pals
By TINA MOORE
CRAIG McCARTHY,
and KHRISTINA NARIZYNAYADramatic video released by the
NYPD on Monday shows the mo-
ment a dapper robber pulled out
a pistol during a $4 million heist
in a Diamond District jewelry
store that’s a favorite of rappers
— and gang members, police
sources said.
The bandit, clad in a stylish
blue suit and wearing a gray fe-
dora over long, thick braids, was
seated at a desk in the rear of Avi-
anne & Co. Jewelers when he
reached down between his legs,
surveillance video shows.
He then raised a silver-colored
semiautomatic handgun and
racked the slide, standing as he
pointed the weapon at a worker
on the other side of the desk.
Another video segment shows
the bandit forcing a man to his
knees in the back room, where
bottles of bubbly and booze are
displayed on shelves and a bar
cart is parked in a corner.
Video also shows the robber’s
two accomplices, one of whom
also brandished a pistol and had
long braids under a bandanna —with a police source saying both
men appeared to be wearing wigs
to disguise themselves.
The third man wore a black
bucket hat and carried a large
duffel bag slung over his shoulder
while casing the store ahead of
the caper, video shows.
They were buzzed into the
store at 28 W. 47th St. shortly af-
ter noon on Sunday and claimed
they were there to buy rings,
sources said.
After forcing an employee to
open the store’s safes, the trio
bound the four workers there
with zip ties and duct tape and
made off with a load of bling esti-
mated to be worth $4 million, a
high-ranking NYPD source said.
They fled east on 47th Street,
cops said.
One of the workers said that the
entire robbery took about 15 min-
utes, and that two of the victims
were “16 years old, little cousins.”
“It was a horrific event because
you have no capabilities, you
can’t really do anything and you
have guns pointing at your faces,”
the worker said.
“They weren’t saying much.
They were very sloppy. Sloppy
thieves because they weren’t incoordination. If one guy was say-
ing, ‘Get their phones,’ another
guy was saying, ‘Open the show-
case.’ ”
“They got away with a lot of
merchandise,” the worker added.
“A lot of merchandise, things
that cannot be accounted for. It’s
amazing. It’s really amazing,
shocking,” he said on Monday,
with red marks still on his arms
from his bindings. “I worked in
the jewelry business for eight
years. I’ve never seen anything
like it.”The bound workers used pens
to cut the tape on their limbs af-
ter watching surveillance moni-
tors to make sure the crooks had
left, the victim said.
The first one to free himself
called 911, a police source said.
“The cops took about two min-
utes to get here, but it was too
late,” the worker said.
The worker said the robbers
“threatened our lives.”
“They stole one of our wallets,”
he recalled. “They have one of
our wallets, and they said, ‘If youhappen to do anything, you’ll be
messed up.’ ”
A veteran Diamond District
merchant said it was “really stu-
pid” to do business there on a
Sunday, when the area is rela-
tively deserted.
“Who opens up on a Sunday
where cars can park on the block
and get away?” the merchant said.
“It doesn’t make any sense to
me.”
Avianne & Co. was founded by
Boris Aranbayev, and its name
“stands for God of all Fathers,”