(The Jersey Journal published the following article by Michaelangelo Conte on July 11.)
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A sophisticated and organized ring of train thieves led by a 28-year-old Union City man was derailed yesterday, officials said, after a decade-long crime spree that netted them hauls that would have been the envy of Jesse James.
The man investigators believe was the gang’s ringleader – Edward Mongon of Palisade Avenue – is still at large, but investigators arrested 13 alleged members of the “Conrail Boyz” yesterday and are hunting for at least 10 more as investigators seek to put an end to the exploits of the gang which is said to be responsible for the theft of tens of millions of dollars in merchandise from train cars and tractor trailers in Hudson, Bergen, Essex and Union counties.
The gang pulled in everything from cigarettes to clothing to electronic devices, including one heist that netted them 17,500 Sony Playstations worth about $5 million, Norfolk Southern Railroad Police Director Steve Hanes said yesterday.
“The James brothers and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were legendary figures, but this is organized crime at its most productive level,” Hanes said at a railyard press conference on County Road in Jersey City yesterday morning.
State Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said the indictments were particularly significant because the Division of Criminal Justice has charged the defendants under New Jersey’s racketeering and organized crime statues.
“As importantly, we will use the criminal forfeiture laws to seize the proceeds of the alleged illegal activities, including bank accounts, homes and automobiles,” Harvey said. “There will be others who will try the same thing, and we will be waiting.”
The Conrail Boyz are accused of boarding stopped or slow-moving trains, using bolt cutters to enter the cars and unloading their cargo to the railside.
“In most cases, they’d mount the train, open the doors and see what was inside,” Hanes said. Often the trains were moving at 5 mph to 10 mph when the “train jumpers” slipped aboard.
Engineers often did not notice, because trains can be 150 cars long, he said. But gang members were caught and arrested, some repeatedly, over the years, and convicted of minor theft charges. They intentionally did not carry weapons, helping them avoid long jail terms, investigators said.
If the jumpers found a valuable shipment, they would radio cohorts with the train number. Others, posing as rail workers, would call dispatchers to determine where the train would be stopping, and then unload the cargo at a siding, Hanes said.
Accomplices would gather the stolen items, move them to a secret location using stolen trucks and later sell the merchandise to local fences, officials said.
Gang members would use police scanners and infrared binoculars to locate and monitor police patrols during the thefts, and used cellular phones and walkie-talkies to communicate while aboard trains, officials said.
The gang would use five to 15 members for a given train theft and sometimes hired members of street gangs for additional manpower on large jobs, investigators said.
They also used a stolen railroad communications device that enabled gang members to know what merchandise was aboard a given train and when the train would be stopped or moving slowly, Hanes said.
The 38-count indictment also charges that Mongon and the Conrail Boyz planned and executed threats of violence against investigators, and in December 2001, a member crashed a car into the vehicle of a Norfolk Southern police officer during a chase, according to the indictment.
All 24 people indicted are charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering, but they also face other charges based on their alleged roles in the gang. The charges range from racketeering, money laundering, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, burglary, fencing, theft, receiving stolen property, weapons charges and tax law violations, officials said.
Some of the gang’s larger hauls included $140,000 of Tommy Hilfiger clothing, 1,000 Jones of New York blouses valued at $49,000, and about $7,000 in cash, Division of Criminal Justice spokesman John Hagerty said. The average take on a given heist was about $20,000 in merchandise, he said.
The indictments were opened Wednesday after a two-year investigation and the arrests began at 5 a.m. yesterday, with police from Jersey City, Hoboken, Union City and Norfolk Southern fanning out and arresting 11 of the 24 suspected members of the gang, Hanes said.
Mongon is charged with racketeering, leading organized crime, fencing, theft, receiving stolen property, weapons charges, money laundering and tax violations, Hagerty said. Convictions on the racketeering charges alone could send Mongon to jail for 10 to 20 years, he said.
His parents, Martin and Ersilia Mongon, of Hoboken, were arrested at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania. They face a money laundering charge, which carries up to 20 years in prison.
Authorities are seeking to seize a home the parents own in Saddle Brook, as well as bank accounts and luxury cars owned by various defendants.
In addition to Mongon, police are looking for five other Union City residents accused of being members of the gang: Stewart Walker, of Palisade Avenue; Eric Aiken, 36, of 28th Street; Jose E. Maldonado, 35, of 37th Street; Liz Isla, 21, of Palisade Avenue; and Miriam Acosta, 49, of Palisade Avenue, Hagerty said.
Hoboken residents indicted were Larry L. Miller, 23, of Jackson Street; Melvin Leak, 24, of Marshall Drive; Anthony Dickerson, 31, of Marshall Drive; Edward Troisi, 26, of Jackson Street; Punardai Centeno of Marshall Drive; and Sharmella Centeno, 27, of Marshall Drive, Hagerty said.
Jersey City residents arrested are Mikhael Centeno, 22, of Central Avenue; William Castillo, 23, of Sherman Avenue; George Borowski, 33, of Ocean Avenue; Miguel Borrero, 31, of Jersey Avenue; William Alvarado, 32, of Kennedy Boulevard; and Patricia Patton, 25, and Patricia Abreu-Patton, 51, both of Congress Street, Hagerty said.