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NYPD Arrests Member of Gang Wanted for 3-Borough Crime Spree

 Police are looking for a group of men who have robbed at least seven businesses in The Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan in April. Two of the men were caught on security footage robbing East 87 Wine Traders on Second Avenue on April 24, 2015.
Police are looking for a group of men who have robbed at least seven businesses in The Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan in April. Two of the men were caught on security footage robbing East 87 Wine Traders on Second Avenue on April 24, 2015.
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NYPD

MANHATTAN — Police have arrested a Brooklyn man suspected of being part of a violent group of armed gunmen involved in as many as a dozen robberies of pharmacies, liquor stores and cellphone shops in Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx, DNAinfo New York has learned.

The suspect was picked up Tuesday night, just a few hours after he and several members of his crew robbed workers inside a cellphone store on Third Avenue near East 92nd Street of cash and computer equipment, sources said.

The suspect's name was not released. Detectives are still hunting his accomplices.

Tuesday's heist was the latest in a spree of gunpoint holdups that began a month ago when three thugs made off with Oxycodone, Percocet and $400 in cash after threatening workers with a gun inside the Fordham Family Pharmacy at 202 West Fordham Rd.

The gang struck again on April 14, first pulling a gun on a 29-year-old worker at Cohen’s Fashion Optical on Seventh Avenue in Chelsea, police said. They took $1,500 in cash and 15 pairs of designer glasses worth roughly $6,000.

Hours later, they made their way to Brooklyn, where they pulled a gun on a worker at Windsor Wine Merchants on Prospect Park West and made off with $1,450 in cash, police said.

On April 16, two of the men, who were both wearing masks, held up the MBA wireless store in Manhattan on Second Avenue near East 62nd Street and took $250.

Then several hours later at roughly 7:45 p.m. the same two men pulled a gun on a worker at the Cure Pharmacy on Third Avenue near 61st Street, police said.

While one robber demanded money from the worker, another thief went to the rear of the store, pulled out a gun and demanded all the “oxy” from workers in the pharmacy.

“Do you think I’m playing?” he said as workers tried to get him the prescription medication before he fired a round into the rear wall, sources aid.

None of the workers were hit, officials said. The thieves fled with Oxycodone pills and $300 in cash, according to police.

On April 24, two of the men again robbed a pharmacy, this time in Brooklyn at Broadway and Willoughby Avenue, according to the NYPD. They unsuccessfully tried to get into the store’s safe and left with $100 from the register.

Later in the day, they made their way back to Manhattan and pulled a gun on a 26-year-old worker at East 87 Wine Traders on Second Avenue and East 88th Street, police said. They made off with $549 from the register, sources said.