GRYMES HILL — The many victims of the "Ninja Burglar" gathered together this week, eager to bring closure to the shared experience of being a target of one of the most prolific criminals in New York City's history.
Robert Costanzo, 46, admitted targeting more than 160 homes around Staten Island in a 10 year break-in spree.
On Wednesday night, about 50 of his victims went to St. John University's Kelleher Hall — near many of the homes he broke into — to hear District Attorney Michael McMahon give more information about the case and field questions.
“It’s totally horrible that your house was burglarized and this creep was in your home," McMahon said.
"We want you to know that the person who was in your home, you know what? He's going to be in jail for 25 years. It won’t make it all better, but it should give some feeling of justice.”
Throughout the nearly two-hour presentation, investigators detailed what they learned during 10 hours of interviews since they arrested Costanzo, who has a previous conviction for rape and got the name "Ninja Burglar" after a man reported seeing an intruder with nunchucks.
That break-in was never tied to Costanzo.
They revealed that the burglaries not only supported his five children, but also a gambling addiction. Costanzo lost more than $45,000 at one Atlantic City casino during the spree.
They showed victims security footage of Costanzo leaving his home in 2015 before break-ins, the few videos they recovered of Costanzo breaking into homes in all black with his face covered and clips of his confessions detailing how he broke into some homes.
"If the house looked empty, if nobody was home, I basically figured out the way to get in, got in," Costanzo told investigators.
"Majority of human nature is to lock the first floor, I'd go to the second-floor. I'd open a window or jimmy a window I knew that was unlikely to be alarmed and get in."
Costanzo always worked during the dark and 66 of the Staten Island homes he broke into had people inside during his burglary, Lt. Kevin Gallagher said during the presentation.
"That's an alarming number, we have a few theories behind that," Gallagher said. "People that are home usually have the alarms off."
Investigators also believe that Costanzo — who committed several knifepoint rapes in the '90s — may have gotten sexual gratification from breaking into houses while homeowners were inside.
For Paul Blanchard, who said Costanzo swiped jewelry, family heirlooms, cash and more from his Silver Lake home in 2012, the meeting was a way to thank investigators for their work in catching the burglar and find out more information about the crimes.
"I was very happy with what they did as detectives, as a district attorney, I think they did their due diligence in reaching out to the community," Blanchard said.
"A lot of the questions that we had were answered."
Blanchard and his wife Lynn Blanchard said they never suspected they were part of the "Ninja Burglar" spree when their home was hit, but noticed how thorough and crafty their burglar was.
Lynn Blanchard said he broke in via the chimney and in one pass while they were inside sleeping located a hidden safe in the basement and made off with jewelry collected over 60 years.
"He was in our house for a while, he found a lot of things," Lynn Blanchard said.
However, when it was announced in April that Costanzo was linked to the spree, Blanchard immediately knew it was him. He had played basketball with Costanzo a few years ago, but didn't think the "Ninja Burglar" even knew that because investigators said he picked homes at random.
While Gallagher said Costanzo immediately pawned or melted the jewelry at spots in Chinatown after his spree, Blanchard hoped he would be able to get back a gold, monogrammed pocket watch his deceased parents gave him as a college graduation present.
"That's the only thing I want," Blanchard said. "It's just a real shame."
Eventually, law enforcement in six counties — in Staten Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York and Connecticut — figured out Costanzo was behind the 10-year string of Staten Island burglaries.
However, pinning him to the crimes was tough because Costanzo always covered his face, wore gloves during the break-ins and never left a trace of DNA.
They got a break when they searched his home and found a watch he hadn't pawned with a personalized inscription for "T. Elliott," Gallagher said.
The woman whose home he'd taken it from had passed away, but investigators tracked down the co-worker who gifted the watch and linked Costanzo to the crime.
Surprisingly for investigators, Costanzo was immediately cooperative after his arrest and spent two days going over his burglaries with investigators.
"We thought we were going to be there for hours trying to convince him," Assistant District Attorney David Frey said. "It took about a half-hour, an hour, we presented some of the highlights of what we have and he just gave up."
In April, Costanzo was convicted for three of the Staten Island break-ins — with others being beyond the statute of limitations — and sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
