(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Jeffrey Gold on September 19.)
NEWARK — Despite the arrest of 24 suspected members over the summer, a notorious gang of train robbers is still causing trouble on the rails, state authorities said.
Two men were arrested at an Elizabeth rail yard about 4 a.m. yesterday while recovering cartons of Nike “Air Jordan” sneakers valued at more than $113,000 that had been tossed from a freight car about 24 hours earlier. Four others escaped, the Division of Criminal Justice said.
One suspect, Mikhael Centeno, hit a member of the Norfolk Southern railroad police department with a 2-foot bolt cutter in an unsuccessful effort to flee, authorities charged. The officer was treated for minor injuries.
Centeno had been out on bail, having been among the 24 arrested this summer and charged as members of the Conrail Boyz, a group that investigators said has used high-tech gadgets such as night-vision goggles to become the most prolific rail robbers in U.S. history.
Prosecutors say the gang had ski caps monogrammed “CRB,” for Conrail Boyz, and operated with little disruption in northern New Jersey for more than a decade, stealing millions of dollars of cargo.
Centeno, 23, of Jersey City, was ordered held yesterday on $2.5 million bail, with no 10 percent option, by state Superior Court Judge John F. Malone. Centeno had been free after posting 10 percent of his original $750,000 bail.
Also arrested was Ronald Feliciano, of Hoboken, who became the 25th person charged as a Conrail Boyz member. He was being held on $500,000 bail, with no 10 percent option.
The pair were caught attempting to load 157 cartons of sneakers, which had been hidden along the tracks, into a panel truck that had been stolen from a company in Elizabeth, according to the Division of Criminal Justice. They face charges of conspiracy, burglary and receiving stolen property.
Centeno is also charged with aggravated assault on a law officer, as well as charges in this summer’s indictment, which included racketeering, a charge that carries up to 20 years in prison.
It was the ability to bring serious charges such as racketeering that prompted a two-year joint investigation by state and railroad law officers.
Conrail police had made dozens of arrests of gang members since 1992, but the suspects faced little jail time on property crimes, and the thefts continued.
A sweep in July took down what authorities believed was the entire gang, from accused leader Edward Mongon to young men whose roles included leaping onto slowly moving freight cars to find those with valuable and easily fenced merchandise.
Mongon, 28, of Union City, was charged with 17 counts, including racketeering. He was freed after posting 10 percent of $1 million bail. His parents and sister are also charged.
The gang took its name from the railroad whose Northeastern freight routes were divided between Norfolk Southern and CSX in 1999.
It focused on consumer goods, such as designer clothes. In one heist, members drove a container with 17,496 Sony PlayStation units, worth $5 million, out of a Jersey City rail yard in January 2001, according to Norfolk Southern police.