One-armed Gambino mobster behind $1.7 million Chanel heist: DA

Thomas “Tommy” Dono, a little-known, one-armed Gambino soldier who cut his mob teeth as a bank burglar and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 1990s, still has the Midas touch, prosecutors say.The gangster has been credited with pulling off a spectacular $1.7 million burglary of the Chanel boutique in Manhattan, the company’s largest and most significant in the country, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.The blockbuster ripoff took place nearly two years ago.That’s when Dono and a crew of 10 stole hundreds of items worth $1,776,7000 from Chanel’s flagship store at 15 East 57th Street during a well-planned, three-hour caper that began Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 10:14 p.m., according to the court records.Dono, 52, is alleged to have supervised the scheme from a white minivan parked at the store until 1:25 a.m.

Sunday, July 14.That’s when he drove away from the scene of the crime followed by a white Sprinter van filled with 10 large laundry and trash bags containing 300 Chanel items lifted out of a stockroom ceiling hatch, the prosecutors say.According to surveillance video obtained by the NYPD, the bags of loot were carried down a rear fire escape exit by five crew members into an alleyway behind the store.Then they took them into an East 58th Street building that was under construction at the time, lugged them onto the street and into the van.Several of the burglars were dressed “as construction workers,” the records say, and they gained access to the Chanel store by breaking through a stockroom ceiling hatch.None of the stolen merchandise has been recovered, the records state. Only Dono, who pleaded not guilty to grand larceny on May 19, has been arrested in the case.

He was released on $300,000 bond by Judge Felicia Mennin, half of what the DA’s office sought.The investigation is still continuing, and more arrests are expected.Based on information in the court records and sources in the NYPD and DA’s office...