Armed bandits zip-tied six people Tuesday at what is believed to be an illegal gaming joint in Queens, NY. They then snatched $7,000 in cash and another $13,000 worth of items, the New York Post reported.
The six claimed to have been playing video games when the three masked robbers stormed into the business midday, the Post said. The victims were forced to get onto the floor.
Each of the trio displayed either pistols or a shotgun during the holdup. Then, the victims’ hands were restrained with the zip ties.
The trio scooped up $7,000 from a secure drawer. They also stole a surveillance system, cell phones, and other booty.
The robbers then fled the business, located in the Flushing section of the borough. There were no reports of injuries.
The age range of the six was between 23 and 34, police told the Post.
Unnamed police sources further told the Post that the business was an illegal gambling operation. An official spokesman for the New York Police City Department did not confirm the exact kind of business it was, the Post said.
“They took all their s–t,” an unnamed NYPD source added in comments made to the newspaper about the bandits.
Robbery Spree at Queens Gambling Sites
In earlier incidents, several unrelated holdups have taken place at Queens gaming operations.
In September 2019, four men broke into a Queens apartment — also located in Flushing — and stole seven slot machines from a suspected illegal gambling joint, the Post reported.
Two of the robbers displayed a firearm. Each was wearing a hoodie. A woman inside the apartment was thrown onto the floor, but was not seriously injured.
In March, Aqueduct Racetrack, also located in Queens, was the site of another robbery. More than $250,000 was stolen by two bandits wearing protective surgical masks, the Post said.
The robbers, both armed with pistols, approached three employees who were taking money through a corridor in the racetrack, AM New York Metro reported, based on police statements.
The bandits forced the employees to a vacant room where the cash and workers’ cellphones were stolen, the report added.
In nearby Brooklyn, an assailant opened fire earlier this month on four players at an alleged illegal gambling den. One victim died and three others were wounded.
The shooting took place in the back of Brooklyn’s G Spot thrift shop following a fight there. It is located in the Brownsville neighborhood of the borough.
Last October, four victims were discovered dead in Triple A Aces Club in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood.
Two men and a woman were wounded, and a fourth person had other injuries. Each survived, the New York Daily News said.
An argument over a dice game led to another man shooting into the crowd, the Daily News said. The gunman was shot dead by a bouncer at the club, police said.
In still another incident, in April, two bandits, both wearing masks, fatally shot a man in an illegal gambling den in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the Post reported. Money bet on dice games was robbed by the duo.
California Raid Leads to Numerous Arrests
Across the country, some 70 people at a suspected gambling operation were detained last week in Anaheim, California, after police raided a storefront and seized over two dozen video gaming machines and electronic gambling tables.
Out of the 70 detained, 25 were given citations for such offenses as drug possession. Thirteen were booked at the Anaheim Detention Facility for more serious offenses, including warrants, parole/probation violations, and gambling violations, police said.
Three handguns were found at the suspected gambling site, as well as a “variety of drugs and drug paraphernalia.”
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