(The following article by Ronald Smothers appeared in the New York Times on July 11.)
ELIZABETH, N.J. — State officials today announced the indictment of 24 people who they say were part of a theft ring that plundered millions of dollars in goods from freight trains over the past decade.
According to the 38-count indictment, members of the group, which called itself the “Conrail Boyz,” would leap onto the slow-moving trains coming into and out of Croxton Terminal in Jersey City and use bolt cutters to break into cargo containers full of electronics, clothing, cigarettes and other items. They would throw boxes of goods off the trains to accomplices, who would load them into trucks and ferry them away, according to investigators.
The indictments grew out of a two-year investigation during which state law enforcement authorities and the Norfolk Southern Railroad police followed the group’s activities from theft to resale of the items.
In the process, investigators developed a picture of a “sophisticated cartel” involved in money laundering. The operation mimicked corporations, the investigators said, and had an international reputation for dealing in a wide variety of black-market items.
John Hagerty, a spokesman for the Division of Criminal Justice in the state attorney general’s office, said that in general, people suspected of stealing items from freight trains were arrested on relatively minor charges — like trespassing on railroad property or possession of burglary tools. They would often be released or not prosecuted, resulting “in a revolving door,” he said. “This time we focused on the racketeering aspect to secure these arrests and end that revolving door.”
Twelve people accused of being ring members were arraigned today in Superior Court in Union County before Judge John F. Malone. They were ordered held in bail ranging from $45,000 for those accused of being functionaries to $750,000 for others considered at the center of planning and executing the thefts.
Additional arrests are expected, Mr. Hagerty said, noting that the man accused of being the ringleader, Edward Mongon, 28, of Union City, was still at large.
Mr. Hagerty said that the indictments represented the first foray by the state attorney general into the problem of railroad cargo theft. Rudy Husband, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said that rail freight operations had been plagued by thefts from rail cars, which must move as slow as 20 miles per hour in the region’s freight yards.