According to federal prosecutors, five individuals with apparent ties to the mob were detained on Tuesday for stealing $2 million worth of jewels during two daylight robberies at Manhattan diamond stores.
According to NYPD sources, the Lucchese and Genovese crime families' affiliates Frank DiPietro, Vincent Cerchio, Vincent Spagnuolo, Michael Sellick, and Samuel Sore were accused in connection with the two robberies, one of which happened in Midtown in January and the other in lower Manhattan last month.
Prosecutors claim that during the Jan. 3 heist at a jewelry store on Madison Avenue, four defendants—DiPietro, Cerchio, Spagnuolo, and Sellick—made off with at least three diamond pieces, including a 73-carat necklace, a six-carat ring, and a 17-carat set of earrings.
Prosecutors asserted that DiPietro, 65, of Red Bank, New Jersey, and Sellick, 67, of Franklin Square, Long Island, entered the facility undetected by donning luminous yellow and orange work attire.
When Thieves Enter The Building Employees Were Placing Jewelry To The Display
The criminal complaint against them claims that they entered through a deli door in the same building as the jewelry store, which is situated on the rooftop and only open by appointment.
When DiPietro and Sellick allegedly entered, employees were getting ready to place jewelry in the first-floor display window case. The lawsuit claims that one of the two getaway cars the men utilized was stolen the morning of the crime and had its license plate changed by the defendants.
Prosecutors claimed that the men had cased out the place the day before the crime. Then, on May 20, DiPietro and Sellick seized a jewelry store on Elizabeth Street while once more wearing construction attire. Prosecutors allege that Sellick ordered the workers to lie down while DiPietro collected the jewels and then pointed a revolver at them.
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