MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — Prison food might be on the menu for these guys.
A large criminal network of identity thieves used waiters at high-end Manhattan steakhouses, including Smith and Wollensky's and the Capital Grille, to score at least $600,000 in cash by stealing American Express information from customers, prosecutors say.
Some 28 people were charged in connection to the ID theft ring, which used the loot to buy designer watches and handbags for resale between April 2010 and November 2011, the Manhattan DA's office said Friday.
The ringleader, Luis Damian Jacas, allegedly cooked up a scheme in which "shoppers" bought luxury retail items for later resale at stores like Chanel, Nieman Marcus, Cartier, Hermes and Bloomingdales using about 50 stolen credit card accounts.
The waiters, or "skimmers," intercepted the information with card reading devices at their restaurants, including Jojo on the Upper East Side, Wolfgang's Steakhouse and eateries in Connecticut and New Jersey, prosecutors said.
There were even "complicit customers" who placed orders for the merchandise, which was kept at a Manhattan Mini Storage on East 62nd Street, knowing that it would be purchased with stolen information, the DA's office said.
“The high-end targets of this case make it notable, but disturbingly this case is far from unique,” said District Attorney Vance. “Every day, hardworking New Yorkers find themselves the victims of identity theft.
Search warrants conducted Thursday resulted in the seizure of $1 million in luxury watches and wine as well as more than $1.2 million in cash, skimming devices and equipment used to make fake credit cards and driver's licenses, prosecutors said.
The indictment against the group, the result of an 18-month investigation, included 172 counts of enterprise corruption, conspiracy, grand larceny and other related charges.
Lucas was ordered held on $1 million bail on Friday. More than 20 others have already been arraigned and were ordered held on bail amounts ranging from $25,000 to $250,000.
Many of them are due back in court Dec. 14.
