#Thieves in the night book how to

Maldonado and his crew, for all their purportedly pilfered millions, turn out to be little more than bit players in a global explosion of a very particular sort of crime. Until now, that bigger picture has not been laid out in full. More importantly, his story, and those of other alleged thieves I tracked, gave me a handle on the operations of a network of gangsters who have been systematically plundering wealthy citizens worldwide. He turns out to have been an unusually adroit burglar and one with a prototypical life story of a very particular type of globe-trotting break-in artist. That led me to spend months reporting on Maldonado after he became the focus of police scrutiny in the New York City region, and I learned he was imprisoned, serendipitously, several miles from where I live.

#Thieves in the night book how to

Yet unlike people in legitimate businesses, thieves have to figure out where the best pickings are, how to deal with local cops, and, once they steal something, how to transfer the proceeds home without getting caught. It became quickly apparent that many successful criminals-no different than their counterparts in aboveboard enterprises-can now move almost seamlessly between countries. But more than a year ago, I got interested in how our globalized economy affects property crime. Lately, violent crime has been surging in cities around the U.S. “And then,” Bonilla says, “everything went to shit.” When Bonilla saw Maldonado, he and a scrum of cops descended on the pair-shouting, guns drawn.

“His cell stole $5 million, easy,” Bonilla contends.Īrriving at the College Point house, Maldonado went inside before returning to open the door for an accomplice. Bonilla explains that private investigators had traced Maldonado’s alleged path to the New York City area. and in various countries around the world.įor Bonilla, grabbing Maldonado that night would be the big prize. But that was just a fraction of the haul Maldonado was alleged to have swiped on a “theft tour” across the U.S. They allegedly stole cash, jewelry, electronics, watches, and designer clothes and handbags-loot Bonilla believes amounted to millions-from mansions in towns like Bronxville, Greenwich, Hewlett Harbor, Old Westbury, and Sands Point. Bonilla estimates that Maldonado’s gang broke into at least 100 private homes across the country.

Though only 24, he was said to be among the most wanted burglars in the New York City area. For months he had been pursuing a four-member crew that included its reputed leader, Bryan Herrera Maldonado. The detective recalls the tension he felt as he waited with other officers on a residential street in College Point, Queens. That’s Jesus Bonilla, of the Nassau County Police. “We had everything planned out,” says the lead detective on the case. On an icy evening-January 21, 2020-the four suspects were about to step right into it.