A retired Vietnamese-American restaurateur living in Florida was indicted in Manhattan yesterday on charges of grand larceny, bribery, and "jostling," which is the legal term for pickpocketing. 67-year-old Ha Vasko, who is reportedly well-off and owns a $400,000 home in Melbourne, Florida, enjoys taking trips to NYC and robbing Chinese people in Chinatown because she can't stand the Chinese, court papers allege. "I hate Chinese people," Vasko explained to the police after her fourth arrest in March. And she doesn't hate them because she's jealous they have a "town" in NYC and Vietnam doesn't. No, she hates them because of their knock-offs. more ›

In a victory for late night subway riders citywide, the NYPD has busted three pickpockets known for targeting intoxicated riders. Often waiting for riders to fall asleep, Victor Vataj, Darrell Wilson and Christopher Harris would steal wallets and other property before victims inevitably woke up at the last stop, wondering where on earth they were. Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, "Their apprehension makes the riding public that much safer." Let's celebrate with a drink! more ›

The 78-year-old ex-con who's been arrested some 37 times over the past three decades is in trouble again, this time for missing her final court date two weeks ago. You may recall that Katherine Kelly was famously busted in October 2008, after a pickpocket sting at the Upper West Side Fairway turned up a wallet in her bra. (An NYPD source called her a "pickpocket terrorist.") Earlier this month, Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel signed an arrest warrant for Kelly, despite being informed she was stuck in a car outside court. more ›

A woman whose wallet was stolen from her purse in Central Park in 1982 finally had it returned to her last week after a worker found it stuffed inside the hollow of a dying cherry tree near Rumsey Playfield at East 72nd Street. The cash was gone (except for a single penny) but the discovery was essentially a time capsule for Upper East Side resident Ruth Bendik, a 69-year-old health care professional. She vividly recalls realizing her Reagan-era wallet was lifted one day while in she stood in a crowd watching the New York City Marathon. Fast-forward to last Tuesday, when a tree-care supervisor for the Central Park Conservancy found it after he took down the tree, cut it into large pieces, and began to root around inside a hollow to finish the job. The blue leather wallet was encrusted in dirt but still contained retro credit cards from Bell Telephone and Manufacturers Hanover Trust Bank, as well as Bendik's employee ID from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (right). Bendik's $20, however, was nowhere to be found. The wallet was turned over to the police, who returned it to Bendik the next day, according to the Post. The thief remains at large, but the trees are obviously mixed up in this somehow. more ›

According to her driver's license, the 76-year-old woman who was recently busted for stealing a wallet from a Fairway shopping cart is named Charlotte Petrovas. She's been arrested 73 times over the years under dozens of different aliases, and the assistant DA says they've had trouble verifying her identity because she "virtually burned off the fingers on both hands, which makes fingerprinting virtually impossible." In an interview with the Post, she explained that "my father died when I was young, so I had to go to work. I was a model in the Fashion District. I did that for years, but then I had an accident and broke three bones in my back and went on disability." She says she's not a "career criminal" but stole "just to get the things I need." more ›

It turns out that senior citizen who was deemed a "pickpocket terrorist" by an unidentified cop after her wallet-snatching arrest at Fairway is pretty hardcore. The Post reports that the 76-year-old ex-con cannot be fingerprinted because she burned all her fingertips. Experts (or anyone who's seen Se7en) say that to permanently remove fingerprints one would have to use corrosive acid, burn them, or get plastic surgery. It's not known how the woman got rid of hers, and because of her penchant for aliases, even her lawyer can't figure out her real identity: "She keeps bouncing addresses. She moves here and there every few months. To be honest, I don't even know her real name." This is getting creepy! Maybe tomorrow we'll find out she has no DNA? more ›

A 76-year-old ex-con who's been arrested some 37 times over the past three decades is behind bars again after being caught in a sting operation at the Upper West Side Fairway on Broadway. Responding to complaints about pickpockets working the aisles, undercover cops left a wallet in a shopping cart and arrested the woman after she allegedly stuffed it into her bra, sources tell the Post. The suspect, who goes by many aliases—the most current being Katherine Kelly—most recently did a year at Rikers after being caught thieving while on parole. more ›