Fed-up city bodega owners are offering a $5,000 reward for the capture of the brazen bandits dubbed the “Midnight Smashers” who snatched ATMs in 49 daring robberies across Big Apple stores.
The United Bodegas of America said the three-man crew has wreaked havoc across dozens of delis — ripping out ATMs and fleeing with tens of thousands of dollars within a three-month period, while leaving “hardworking owners reeling from the financial and emotional toll.”
“These attacks are unlike anything we’ve seen before,” said Fernado Mateo, a spokesperson for the UBA.
“It’s unacceptable that small business owners, the backbone of our city, are being targeted like this. They deserve better protection, and it’s time for city officials to step up,” he said.
“We’re offering a reward because it’s our last resort.”
The trio stole cars and used them as getaway vehicles in the heists across upper Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens between Sept. 19 and Dec. 26, according to the NYPD.
Once inside the bodegas, they looted ATMs and other goods before fleeing, police said.
Wild video captured two of them removing wires from an ATM and carrying the money machine out of the American Desi Bazaar and Deli in East Elmhurst on Dec. 2.
Two months earlier, the crew took off with $40,000 in cash from ATMs during two robberies, according to the NYPD.
Police said the suspects have yet to be caught.
The outraged UBA called for Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the NYPD to “prioritize the safety of bodegas and small businesses,” while saying more police presence, heightened security measures involving panic buttons and support for armed protection among bodega workers will deter future attacks.
Mateo called for more cops to patrol the streets, saying the NYPD had to do more to stop robberies — and even dared Mayor Eric Adams to work inside a bodega.
“We’re inviting him to come out and work in a bodega for one day or a few hours, so he sees the challenges that we face,” he said of the mayor at a Thursday press conference.
“We get robbed, we get looted, we get assaulted, we get shot, we get stabbed,” he railed.
“We go to jail when we defend ourselves.”
Radhames Rodriguez, president of UBA, questioned why the thieving crew hadn’t been caught.
“We are tired of being victimized over and over again,” Rodgriguez said in a statement. “Bodegas are lifelines for many communities, and these criminals are tearing apart our livelihoods and threatening our safety.”
