Robbers Target UES, Midtown In $15K Newsstand Spree: Police

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side food truck was one of the many street-based businesses targeted in a robbery spree that netted over $15,000 in stolen cash for a group of violent, knife-wielding crooks, police said.

The robberies, who mostly targeted New York City's iconic newstands in Midtown, started on New Years Day, according to officials, where a group of three attacked a 70-year-old worker at a newsstand on Broadway and West 54th Street to the ground, pushing him to the ground and stealing $750 from the man, who was reportedly not injured.

After stealing $250 in a knifepoint robbery from another Midtown newsstand and stealing a cell phone from a woman shoved to the ground on Third Avenue and East 57th Street, the crooks went after a food truck on Second Avenue and East 79th Street, police said.

Just steps from a pair of nursery schools and a swim school for toddlers and children, three crooks approached a 40-year-old woman working inside the food truck on Jan. 5 at about 8:30 p.m. when they shoved her to the ground, officials said.

The three people ran off with $200, headphones, a debit card and a purse, according to police, who added that the woman was uninjured in the attack.

A few days later, on Jan. 7 at about 6:30 p.m., the gang netted their biggest payout when they returned to Broadway and West 54th Street, where a 53-year-old man was restrained by a pair of thieves who stole $5,000 from a newsstand, police said.

The two ran off while the victim was brought to Mount Sinai West for minor injuries, officials said.

According to police, the crooks continued to rob three additional newsstands in Midtown and in the Financial District — one at knife point and two which resulted in injuries — gaining an additional $6,300 in stolen cash.

Police released images of four individuals they claim are connected to the incidents and as that anyone with information in regard to these incidents is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).