Lottery Ticket Bandits Who Hit Village Shop Strike Again

You have to be in it to win it! This is the iconic slogan of the New York State lottery and taking this government-sanctioned counsel a few steps further, a pair of masked bandits recently embarked on a two-borough crime spree stealing—what else?—lottery tickets. The first incident occurred on December 26. In England this is Boxing Day; in Ireland and elsewhere, it’s Saint Stephens Day. In the West Village of Manhattan, at approximately 8:30 p.m., it was Armed Robbery Day for the duo of masked larcenists who entered the West Village Grocery & Smoke Shop at 46 8th Avenue, near Jane Street. Claiming to have a gun, the two men alighted with approximately $2,100 worth of lottery tickets. The exact disposition of the stolen tickets wasn’t made clear but likely included a cross-section of New York state’s lottery games: Powerball, Mega Millions, Quick Draw, etc. The location of the crime also calls to mind the terrific debut novel, Cut Numbers, of the late journalist and writer Nick Tosches. Published in 1988 and set in the then still heavily Italian West Village and Little Italy, the story concerns a mafia scheme to fix New York state’s newly legal lottery—an enterprise that would greatly impact the mob’s historic control of the illegal numbers racket. Would two masked bandits have dared even think about robbing an old mafia numbers spot? The question is so absurd it doesn’t merit an answer but these are different times and, having gotten away clean once in the Village, it appears the same bandits struck again two weeks later in Queens. Their target this time was in Astoria, where on January 9 at approximately 8:20 p.m., they held up a newsstand at 31-02 Broadway, on the corner of 31st St. Entering the store, the bandits threatened the worker with a gun and grabbed approximately $4,800 worth of lottery tickets many or perhaps all of them still in their plastic dispensers. Not having a car or other vehicle to flee on, the thieves ran to the adjacent elevated subway station at 31st Street, hopped the turnstile and vanished—at least for the time being. While their bodies are in the wind, their images remain. A dark-skinned male in a light blue COVID mask, black puffer jacket, and grey hoodie carrying a grey bag or knapsack went over the turnstile first. Following him, and carrying the tickets, was a male in full black “shiesty” mask, a black hoodie and blue surgical gloves. Remarkably, the latter suspect stepped over the turnstile without dropping his ill-gotten booty. Such agility and balance might do him well on the prison football team, a la The Longest Yard, but only time will tell.