We all know how much thieves love iPhones—but it seems we may have encountered the king of all iPhone thieves on the Upper East Side. Police are searching for a bike-riding thief who they believe has stolen 18 iPhones this year on the UES—and all but one of the victims were women. Below, check out video of him moments before his latest robbery on March 20th. more ›

A timely reminder to tourists and travelers not to be distracted at JFK airport, or else you might end up being a robbery victim: Port Authority police arrested a serial airport robber who has been connected to at least six robberies at JFK over the last three months. Frederick McDonald, 46, was arrested after stealing a backpack containing a laptop and $4,000 cash from an unsuspecting tourist: “He just flew in,” said Al Della Fave, a Port Authority spokesman. “He’s excited to be in the big city. He was taking pictures. [McDonald], the ultimate opportunist, grabs the bag and walks away.” more ›

Police are seeking two suspects who allegedly shot a man who refused to give them his iPhone in the Bronx. The incident occurred last week, on January 18 around 6:30 p.m. when a 23-year-old man was walking on West 190th Street near Grand Avenue. more ›

A man who was arrested for attempted larceny in Washington Heights died in police custody after suffering an apparent asthma attack last night. The 52-year-old suspect, whose name hasn't been released yet, was allegedly caught breaking into a car; he fled into Tommy’s Grill, near the corner of West 158th and Broadway where police caught up with him. As he was being arrested, he told officers he was having difficulty breathing and said he had an asthma inhaler in his pocket. more ›

Is Mayor Bloomberg having a multiple personality crisis? Just a week ago, Bloomberg was railing against Occupy Wall Street, saying the continued protesters were "really hurting small businesses and families," and calling reports of vigilante justice "disturbing." But this morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Bloomberg praised law-abiding protesters; and while he was reluctant to call OWS "a movement," he did say that OWS "is part of a much bigger thing we should be focusing on." Watch the segment (the OWS stuff starts at 13:15) below: more ›

The 20-year-old who is accused of brutally beating up an 81-year-old grandfather last week confessed to cops that he did it—all for the old man's gold chain. Cameron "BillyBam" Roebuck gave the police a nonchalant rundown of his crime just after he was arrested: "I was following [the victim for a few blocks]. I saw the gold chain on his neck. I followed him to the building. I remember choking him and I took his chain and wallet," he said, according to police records (which seem to suggest he's the Hemingway of hoodlums). more ›

Over the weekend, New Yorkers watched in horror as surveillance footage surfaced showing a young man brutally beating an 81-year-old Bronx grandfather last Thursday. On Sunday the NYPD arrested 20-year-old Cameron "BillyBam" Roebuck in relation to the attack (a tipster helped them out) and today we now know who is really to blame: Facebook. When Roebuck isn't busy with alleged criminal activities (he's been arrested six times since 2008 on charges ranging from assault to burglary) he is apparently an avid Facebook gamer. But unlike some state assemblymen, Roebuck's game of choice is Zygna's Cafe World. more ›

An 81-year-old Bronx grandfather was attacked and beaten by a thief, and the whole altercation was caught on video. Octogenarian Jose Rodriguez described the attack to the News, recounting that he was jumped by the assailant and put in a chokehold in the lobby of his Parkchester apartment building Thursday afternoon: "I was going to give him what he wanted. I wasn't going to put up a fight, but he punched me in my face. I don't know why he did that." Watch below: more ›

A bank robber was caught by police yesterday after he allegedly tried to hold up the same Manhattan bank for the third day in a row. “Maybe a handful of times I’ve heard of a guy come back a few weeks later. I’ve never heard of a guy come back two days in a row, let alone three,” said a law-enforcement source. Maybe he just wanted to ask for a job? more ›

A carjacker successfully spotted and stole an idling car this morning in the Bronx—but his plans were momentarily inconvenienced when he discovered a two-year-old strapped into the backseat. The tyke was waiting in the double-parked car outside a grocery store on Unionport Road near Starling Avenue in Parkchester around 10 a.m.; while the mother was loading groceries, the father went to get some coffee, leaving the keys in the ignition. The thief jumped behind the wheel, but thankfully human kidnapping wasn't in the books for today—he left the kid on the side of the road a few blocks later unharmed, where his parents soon found him. more ›

An Upper East Side man who suffers from priapism—which gives you painful, uncontrollable erections for hours at a time—was arrested yesterday after allegedly trying to steal cash from his father to buy painkillers for his condition. "My son has a very rare disease, he has a priapism, which means he gets an erection that lasts five or six hours, and it’s very painful. They gave him oxycodone. That’s his problem. He’s addicted to drugs now,” Tommy Miller said of his 30-year-old son David. more ›

Can a thief also be a good Samaritan? A Queens carjacker got more then he bargained for when he stole an idling car on Tuesday—he discovered two young kids and a poodle in the van. And after being inundated with cuteness, and scolded by the kids for trying to steal their change, he decided to drop them—and the car—off at their home. more ›

The NYPD released surveillance footage of a man who grabbed a purse out of the lap of a wheelchair-bound woman last month in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. more ›

Yesterday, John Boehner revealed that the fate of the global economy now rests on the broad-but-somewhat-bland shoulders of the Ben Affleck-helmed movie The Town. And today, police are searching for a thief who stole nearly $15K with a ploy straight out of that movie. Why does the universe want Ben Affleck, and Ben Affleck aficionados, to succeed so badly? more ›

Police are on the hunt for a reportedly friendly robber who has chatted up at least two victims in lower Manhattan before choking and robbing them. Does anyone know the whereabouts of the Scranton Strangler? more ›

A would-be thief who tried to break into a Brooklyn apartment via a tree fell to his death yesterday. The 33-year-old man made his way onto the roof of the three-story Bushwick building, then leaped onto the adjacent tree, but the branch broke and he fell to the ground. more ›

Yesterday, an absent-minded car thief spotted an idling SUV in Queens, jumped in, and sped off gleefully...until he realized there was a nine-year-old in the backseat. Thankfully, the tyke kept his cool, and the thief wasn't interested in any attempted kidnapping charges. So after a five mile joyride, the would-be thief politely dropped the car and kid off unharmed. Maybe the kid was a "Strategically Altered Mutant"? more ›

A Newark man was sentenced to 15 years in prison this week, after he was arrested for a 75th time last month. Eric Warren, 43, has been committing theft-related crimes since 1988; according to police, he has at least 14 aliases, seven criminal convictions, and at least three short stints in jail between 2003 and 2004. But what was lucky crime # 75? What luxury item was too much for him to resist? more ›

Career subway pickpockets may be "retiring" from the game, and most of them are content on taking their secrets to their grave if they can't find a proper apprentice. But one turncoat ex-thief, Sherman "O.T." Powell, is being kind enough to dole out advice on how not to get robbed. The Daily News paraphrases, "Stop being so clueless. Pay more attention to your surroundings. This ain't Disney World." You sure about that? more ›

Earlier this week, it was reported that heartless jerk thieves stole more than $8,000 from a fundraiser for a little boy who was trying to get facial surgery. Aidan Sullivan, 9, was born with Hemifacial microsoma, which left him with an undeveloped face, and he's already gone through 10 previous surgeries to help correct it. The latest fundraiser was to pay for a new right ear, and the family friend who organized the event was devastated about the theft: "Listening to a 47-year-old man cry, and not about his mother dying, was brutal...Pete was so upset. He kept saying, 'I let Aidan down, I let Aidan down,'" Colleen Sullivan told the Post. But Aidan was more defiant in his message to the thief's: "I'm going to kick your butt!" more ›

Between the steampunk Iron Mans and accordion-playing Boba Fetts at New York Comic Con last weekend, there was one supposed criminal mastermind lurking in the crowd. Richard Turner has been charged with grand larceny after attempting to steal a rare $4,000 copy of Action Comics #11 and an $11,000 copy of Whiz Comics #1, featuring the first appearance of Captain Marvel. But comics vendor Matt Nelson swooped into action, getting a chance at crime-fighter glory and the hyperbolic speech that goes along with it. more ›

Puns all around when reporting about a man who chewed through security cables to steal some watches. The Journal News: "A Tarrytown man with strong teeth and an appetite for jewelry was arrested Saturday after police said he bit through security cables to steal four watches from Sears in the Galleria mall. The toothy theft occurred shortly before 2 p.m., when security guards at the store told police a man walked to the fine jewelry department and gnawed through the security cables of four watches, worth a total of $119.96." Gregory Brown, 21, was charged with petty larceny; WCBS 880 can't resist adding, "White Plains police commissioner David Chong says Brown has an appetite for jewelry." more ›

A man who looks to be in his 20s and weighing around 150 pounds is wanted for robbing at least six women, all between the ages of 70 and 84, since July. The first snatching happened on July 23rd has he snatched the bags of an 84-year-old woman as she was walking into her apartment on Mermaid Avenue. more ›

Yesterday, a woman entered a Soho shop on Greene Street "dressed in black, with a black scarf around her face and wearing a cat mask" and used a gun to rob the store. Yes, the cat mask-wearing lady bandit (video), who apparently robbed two other stores while wearing the mask and another store while veiled. more ›

The 68-year-old Florida man whose motorized wheelchair was stolen during a visit to Manhattan, has some new wheels now... but his family is fuming over the theft. The man, Thomas Kessler, was dining at Palm Too in Midtown with his daughters, and left his wheelchair parked outside. Soon after, a man—who was caught on surveillance video, drove off in it (at 4 m.p.h.). Kessler's son-in-law told the Daily News, "The girls said, 'Who would do a thing like that?' You don't know what they went through to make the trip happen." more ›

In the pantheon of petty criminals, there are your granny-attackers, your "pint-sized punks," and of course your classic vampire robbers. But none of them compares to the man who assaulted a three-year old developmentally delayed girl last year—for her necklace. more ›

Not content to get his water from a fountain like the rest of us (but still wanting to get it for free), one man stole bottled water from a 13-year-old on June 30th. The teen had been selling the water on Warren Street between Court and Smith streets in Brooklyn when the thief approached and told him, "Shut up—prepare for me to hit you." The teen suffered a beatdown, and the suspect, described as a black man in his 20s with a shaved head, absconded with the water. Hopefully, water thefts will go down with the introduction of new-fangled water stations around the city. more ›

A thief has struck again at the Court Street Trader Joe's on Friday, nabbing a wallet from a woman's unattended purse that she left in her shopping cart. The woman didn't notice her wallet was missing until she went to check out. Last month, police caught a thief in a sting operation after multiple reports of stolen purses from that location. But the next day a thief stole a man's wallet from atop his stroller in the same store. So, can this finally be the incident that teaches people to keep an eye on their stuff in public, or at least when shopping at the crime-ridden hellhole that is Trader Joe's? more ›

Just one day after a sting operation that nailed a purse thief at the Court Street Trader Joe's, another bandit made off with an unsuspecting man's wallet. The 37-year-old Brit had left his bag, containing his wallet and Green Card, on top of his stroller on April 29th and wandered away. The thief grabbed the bag and bolted to the subway, accruing $90 in credit card charges at a nearby subway station. When asked why they abandoned their lookout at the grocery store, one cop told the Post, “What, do we have to go in every day?” Only if people keep wandering away from their stuff like that. more ›