Climb on Olive lawyer s meal interrupted by international car thieves, Observer-Tribune News
Climb on Olive lawyer’s meal interrupted by international car thieves
Climb on OLIVE TWP. – Climb on Olive attorney Robert Scirocco was loving dinner at the popular Italian restaurant, Il Capriccio on Route ten in Whippany, when the Tuesday, Oct. 6, evening became anything but quiet.
Scirocco had stepped outside of the elegant restaurant when he witnessed a vehicle flying out of the parking lot and speeding away along Route Ten. He went back inwards and soon the restaurant was packed with law enforcement authorities asking questions of Scirocco and other diners.
Scirocco and others at the restaurant soon learned that all the commotion involved the latest theft by a ring of international car thieves.
Authorities said that shortly after eight p.m., three carjackers in a black BMW drove into the restaurant parking. One of the fellows pointed a gun at a valet outside of the restaurant and demanded the keys to a two thousand fifteen Mercedes S550 and a two thousand fifteen Bentley Continental GT, which were parked in front of the restaurant. The Bentley is worth about $204,000.
The valet turned over the keys and the carjackers fled in the vehicles, according to a statement from Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.
Authorities subsequently arrested and charged Derrick Moore, 36, of Keansburg, with first-degree conspiracy to commit carjacking in connection with the incident. Moore was among twenty one dudes who were charged in the takedown of a major international carjacking and stolen car trafficking ring that stole luxury cars from suburbs along the Route seventeen corridor in Fresh Jersey and neighboring Fresh York, as well as other suburban communities in northern and central Fresh Jersey.
The ring allegedly shipped the stolen cars to West Africa where they directive premium prices, Hoffman said. The ring operated in Rockland County, N.Y., and numerous counties in Fresh Jersey, including Morris, Bergen, Essex, Union, Hudson, Monmouth, Middlesex, Hunterdon and Somerset counties.
Eighteen boys were arrested on Oct. Twenty seven on charges including first-degree racketeering, carjacking and money laundering as a multi-agency team fanned out to execute arrest warrants. Three studs are being sought as fugitives on arrest warrants.
The brazen car thefts from Il Capriccio were among the latest to periodically plague affluent areas of Morris County. The most latest reported incident involved the theft of a silver two thousand thirteen Audi Q5 SUV from the driveway of a home on Mountainside Road in Mendham Township, police said.
Lt. Ross Johnson said the keys were in the car when it was taken sometime inbetween the hours of nine p.m. Tuesday, Oct. Twenty seven and 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28. ,
Anyone with information is asked to call (973) 543-2584. Residents are also urged to keep vehicles locked with keys in a secure area.
It was not known if the latest car theft was related to the group who were arrested on Oct. 27. Authorities said that about ninety stolen cars worth more than $Four million were recovered in “Operation seventeen Corridor,” a 16-month investigation by state and federal agencies.
“The criminals in this ring scouted golf courses, pricey restaurants, malls and suburban driveways to find the specific luxury cars they coveted, working in teams to commit armed carjackings and other thefts,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “While fortunately we have not had anyone shot or murdered during a carjacking in this case, we’ve seen in other cases how quickly things can turn deadly when carjackers carry out the type of armed ambush this ring committed. We’ve entirely dismantled this dangerous network and charged its members with first-degree crimes.”
The ring operated based on request for specific vehicles. The types of vehicles frequently sought included various models of Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Maserati, Porsche, Jaguar and Bentley. Some cars were taken through carjackings, while others were stolen from locations where the thieves were able to steal them with one or more of their electronic keys or key fobs, which are critical to the resale value of the cars, authorities said.
Within the ring, individuals packed various roles, including carjacker, car thief, wheel man, fence, shipper and buyer. Shippers would geyser the cars into shipping containers, which were taken to ports for transport by ship to West Africa.
Domestically, the stolen vehicles have been found in Arizona, Maryland, North Carolina, Fresh York, Georgia, Texas, and Fresh Jersey. Internationally, the vehicles were most frequently exported to West Africa, including the countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, and Gambia. Luxury vehicles can sell in West Africa for prices in excess of fresh market value in the United States, the statement said.
