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Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said, "The outstandingwork on this case is one of the reasons why the number of stolencars in New York continues to plummet year after year. In 1990there were 147,000 motor vehicles stolen in New York City and bylast year the total had fallen to 9,334. That is a drop of about95% over the last twenty years. The investigation utilized wiretaps and other surveillance togather evidence against a Queens-based criminal ring that allegedlystole a large volume of vehicles from public streets, and in theTri-State area. They specialized in stealing Toyota and Lexusautomobiles and SUVs, including Toyota Venzas, Highlanders,Sequoias and Lexus RX350s, GX460s and GX470s, as well as other highend makes such as Acuras. Once in possession of the stolenvehicles, they allegedly created fraudulent documentation for thevehicles, and either shipped them from ports in New Jersey orMaryland in containers to Africa – Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria– disguising the containers contents by documenting falseVIN numbers on the shipping manifests, or sold them on the blackmarket in Chicago, Illinois. In total, 14 individuals – including the internationalbroker, steal crew boss, locksmith, key men, vehicle thieves, andother members of an alleged illicit crew – were arrested onfelony charges filed in Queens County Supreme Court Part K-18.Twelve of them were charged in a 58-count indictment with, amongother crimes, Enterprise Corruption, Criminal Possession of StolenProperty, Forgery, Grand Larceny and Conspiracy. EnterpriseCorruption alone carries a maximum penalty of up to 25 years inprison. Two other defendants were separately indicted for CriminalPossession of Stolen Property and Grand Larceny for theirparticipation in this illicit ring. According to the indictment, the operation s international brokerwould place an order with the local broker, who would relay theorder to the steal crew boss, specifying what was to be stolen bymodel, year, color and accessory package. Members of the steal crewwould then fill the order by locating the specified car on thestreets of New York City. The steal team entered targeted carsusing keys obtained from a locksmith by the steal crew boss. Onceinside the targeted car, the steal man would use a portablecomputer to program the key to sync to the vehicle s unique code,enabling him to cleanly steal the vehicle without causing anydamage. Forged document specialists created the paperwork used todisguise the stolen vehicles, including VIN plates and titles, forthe vehicle. The stolen vehicles would then be stored, or laid up, atlocations in Queens (33-24 69thStreet & 22-12 27thStreet) andthe Bronx (300 Jackson Avenue) until they were loaded, oftenmultiple vehicles at a time, into containers to be transported fromports in either New Jersey or Maryland to ports in Africa. In orderto facilitate the movement of the containers containing the stolenvehicles, the ring provided false VINs to shipping companies,thereby disguising the containers true contents. Those vehiclesthat were not shipped to Africa were sold to buyers in Chicago. According to the indictment, Isaac Akoukoh was theenterprise's international broker and primary exporter. Hewas responsible for selecting the cars to be stolen, coordinatingwith his local broker, Fofana Makan (a.k.a. "Foll"),and arranging for the stolen vehicles to be shipped and sold abroadfor as much as $40,000 in cash for one car. Eddie Ledesma (a.k.a. "Mike" and "CarlosSanchez"), with the assistance of Daisy Diaz, headed up thesteal crew, which consisted ofAlfranci Reyes (a.k.a."Frankfurter"), Rony Ramos, and Junior Aybar("Alberto") who, together with Ledesma and Diaz, stoleand transported the vehicles. Franklin Rodriguez, Maximo Mendez,and Avery Springette, an employee of Central Florida Toyota,provided key codes to the ring, which made it possible forlocksmith Carlos Lopez to create aftermarket keys that the stealcrew used to steal the cars. Gustavo Valerio created forgedCertificates of Title and VIN sticker that the ring used to givethe stolen vehicles the appearance of legitimacy during transport. The separate indictment alleges that Franklin Rodriguez and EddieLedesma obtained key codes, which he provided to locksmith RomanDashevsky, who, in turn, created aftermarket keys used to stealcars that were transported to Chicago by steal crew member JosephTavares. Those charged in the first indictment with Enterprise Corruption(class B felony) and other charges are: Isaac Akuokoh, 52, Frederick, MD Fofana Makan,57, Newark, NJ Eddie Ledesma (Carlos Sanchez and Mike), 36, Brooklyn, NY Daisy Diaz, 29, Brooklyn, NY Rony Ramos, 25, Brooklyn, NY Alfranci Reyes(Frankfurter), 38, Brooklyn, NY Junior Aybar(Alberto), 32, Brooklyn, NY Gustavo Valerio, (Tavi), 30, South Ozone Park, NY Carlos Lopez, 34, Flushing, NY Franklin Rodriguez (Sanders Smith), 31, Brooklyn, NY Maximo Mendez (Cucho), 49, Kissimmee, FL Avery Springette, 25, Orlando, FL Those charged in the second indictment with Grand Larceny in theThird Degree (class D felony), and related charges are: Eddie Ledesma (Carlos Sanchez and Mike), 36, Brooklyn, NY Franklin Rodriguez (Sanders Smith), 31, Brooklyn, NY Joseph Tavares(Gante), 26, Brooklyn, NY Roman Dashevsky, 53, Brooklyn, NY The charges are the result of a 12-month joint investigation by theNew York State Attorney General s Organized Crime Task Force andthe New York City Police Department s Organized Crime ControlBureau Auto Crime Division, with the assistance of the New YorkCity Police Department's Border Enforcement Security TaskForce, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, the U.S.Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and CustomsEnforcement, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, New York CityDepartment of Consumer Affairs, Illinois State Police and City ofFrederick, Maryland Police Department. Attorney General Schneiderman thanked these agencies for theirpartnership in the investigation. The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumedinnocent until and unless proven guilty. The investigation was conducted by New York City Police DepartmentDetectives Keith Mushorn and Guido Trivino of the NYPD Auto CrimeDivision, under the supervision of Sergeant Sam Melisi andLieutenant Christopher Willis and the overall supervision ofInspector Joseph Kenney and Organized Crime Control Chief AnthonyIzzo, and OCTF Investigator Jose Rojas under the supervision ofOCTF Deputy Chief Eugene Black. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Deputy Attorney GeneralTarek Rahman, under the supervision of Deputy Attorney General PeriAlyse Kadanoff and Executive Deputy Attorney General for CriminalJustice Nancy Hoppock. ( YWN Desk – NYC ) Add your comment Subscribe to RSS Feed For This Article. 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