Mob Men Nabbed In $2M UES, Chinatown Jewelry Heists: Feds, Report

May 21, 2023

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A group of mobbed-up robbers stand accused of stealing $2 million in jewelry from an exclusive Upper East Side shop and another in Chinatown, according to federal prosecutors and reports.

Legal officials announced Wednesday the arrests of Frank DiPietro, 65, Vincent Cerchio, 69, Vincent Spagnuolo, 65 and Michael Sellick, 67, and Samuel Sorce, 25, reported associates of the Lucchese and Genevese crime families, according to the New York Post.

The four sexagenarians stand accused of donning construction worker garb when they hit an unnamed Madison Avenue jewelry store, near East 60th Street, on Jan. 3 about 10:20 a.m., federal prosecutors said.

DiPietro —who reportedly pleaded guilty to a 1990 assassination — and Sellick were armed, proscutors said.

"Give it to me," DiPietro said as he pointed a gun at an employee, prosecutors claim.

The four men made off with numerous high-carat diamond pieces, including a 73-carat necklace, officials said.

On May 20, the jewelry thieves went to Chinatown, officials said.

DiPietro and Sellick went by the same playbook, targeting an Elizabeth Street jewelry store and ordering workers to hand over pricy items at gunpoint, prosecutors said.

Sorce, also dressed as a construction worker, joined as a youthful getaway driver until the robbers swapped cars to one driven by Spagnuolo, officials said.

Sorce abandoned his car and ran away when police caught up with him on Montgomery Street, according to court documents.

Investigators later identified Spagnuolo by the distinctive red track jacket he'd worn during the Upper East Side heist and 13 months earlier in a recorded traffic stop in the same Ford pickup truck, prosecutors said.

The men are now charged with Hobbs Act conspiracy and robbery, plus brandishing a firearm in connection with a violent crime, and could face up to 20 years in prison, court records show.

Many of those involved have criminal histories, according to reports.

DiPietro, also known by "Skip," was part of the "Port Richmond Crew" who were indicted in 1998 on nearly 50 counts under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to the Staten Island Advance.

Two years later, DiPietro pleaded guilty to assassinating former associate George (Booty) Van Name for his grand jury testimony against a Lucchese crime family crew, the Advance reported.

According to a 1979 New York Times article, Sellick, then 23, broke out of Orange County Jail in Goshen, NY, where he was serving time for first-degree robbery.