Exclusive | Migrant moped robbery crews in search of jewelry wreak havoc in NYC: cops

Crews of motorized bike-riding thieves — some of them illegal migrant gang-bangers — are terrorizing New York City, viciously snatching thousands of dollars in jewlery from the the necks of unsuspecting cops and civilians alike, The Post has learned.There have been more than 20 motorized bike chain-snatchings since September, with at least 10 of them turning violent, according to the NYPD — and police sources say that’s just a drop in the bucket.“There are hundreds of chain snatchings around the city,” said a law enforcement officer, who asked to remain anonymous because he’s not cleared to talk to the news media. “A lot of it has to do with the Trinitarios,” said the officer, referring to the violent street gang founded by Dominican inmates at Rikers Island in the early 1990s that has since grown into a crime empire plaguing the Bronx and upper Manhattan for decades.“That’s one of their big things, chain snatchings, and two people on a bike doing robberies.”The most notable mobile mugging happened when an NYPD detective was stabbed 10 times after he tried to fight back against two illegal migrants earlier this month.Nine other chain-snatching victims reported being punched, knifed or thrown to the ground during the terrifying, lightning-fast robberies.Two reputed Trinitario gang members on scooters were also responsible for shooting an off-duty federal border patrol agent at a Manhattan park on July 9, 2025, sparking a massive roundup of Big Apple gangbangers in January, federal officials said.“Operation Salvo” took 54 members of the crew off the streets after the 42-year-old law enforcement officer was shot and wounded at Fort Washington Park in Washington Heights at West 155th Street, the officials said.In Gotham, the thieves often have the advantage.If they are caught, lefty judges often spring the crooks just as fast.And they are never handed over to ICE if their immigration status is in question because NYC is a sanctuary city, an ...