3 Blacks on trial for Valentine's Day Robbery in Queens

[BvBPL]

Akeem Monsalvatge, Derrick Dunkley, and Edward Byam are on trial in federal court for a 2012 Valentine's Day daring daylight robbery at Queen's check cashing facility.

The robbers apparently impersonated NY's Finest, showed the cashier a picture of her house to the tune of "we know where you live," and made off with $200,000.

Security cam footage of robbers:



Akeem Mosalvatge:



The police were lead to the suspects through two key pieces of evidence.

The first was the picture of the cashier's house. It was left behind, and the police were apparently able to trace it to the pharmacy where it had been printed. From that, the police obtained a receipt for the pictures with Byam's phone number on it.

The second key piece of info was that Byam had apparently emailed Composite Effects with a customer testimonial for a product the police said was essential to the heist.

The alleged robbers had also garnered attention because the large number of recent luxury purchases, such as an eleven-grand watch.

Story.

New York exceptionalism at its finest.

 

[Formaldehyde]

They should have watched Goodfellas.

But what does the color of their skin have anything to do with it, other than the $2000 masks they wore which you didn't mention?

 

[Berzerker]

baldy looks whiter than george zimmerman

oh no you didn't go there

 

[Formaldehyde]

And so realistic too with that huge hole for a mouth that stayed open and the fold at the back of the neck. I'm sure people were really fooled.

 

[caketastydelish]

... Forgive me for missing the main point here, but two of those guys are obviously white, so why are three blacks on trial?

 

[Formaldehyde]

Confusing OP. They wore expensive masks to look white. Read the article but keep in mind that it is a NYC tabloid.

EDIT: Here is a better account from a reputable news organization:

New York Robbers Unmasked by Grateful Note for Their Disguise

What could have been the perfect crime was undone when the identity of the alleged robbers was unmasked by a grateful note thanking a company for the disguise.

Police arrested Edward Byam, 24, and Akeem Monsalvatge, 37, on Monday and charged them with wearing realistic Hollywood-style masks and dressed as New York City detectives to knock over a Pay-O-Matic check cashing facility on Valentine's Day in Queens, N.Y.

The suspects, wearing NYPD badges and jackets, baseball caps, and dark sunglasses threatened a clerk by showing her photographs of her home and made off with nearly $200,000, police said.

For months cops thought they were looking for two white suspects, when the investigation received an important tip.

One suspect bore a striking similarity to "Mac the Guy," a silicon mask manufactured by movie-makeup company CFX Composite Effects.

When investigators contacted the company, they were told Byam had recently emailed the firm in thanks for the mask.

"I'm sending this message to say I'm extremely pleased by CFX work on the mask," Byam allegedly wrote the company, as first reported by the New York Post and confirmed by the NYPD and the company. "The realism of the mask is unbelievable."

Byam and Monsalvatge are black.

According to the company's website "Mac is designed for ultimate human realism." The company sells the silicon mask starting at $569, but it can be customized with fake hair, including the goatee the thieves allegedly used.

Byam had made another critical blunder, police said.

Cops traced the photo of the clerk's home, which was left at the scene of the crime, to a Walgreen's pharmacy where the print was made. The store was able to link a receipt for the prints to Byam's phone number, cops confirmed.

The two men were charged Wednesday with robbery and impersonating an officer and were ordered held without bond. It was unclear whether they had obtained attorneys.

Criminals have increasingly turned to realistic masks in committing crimes.

In 2010, Canadian officials called the use of a mask an "unbelievable case of concealment" when a young Asian man tried entering the country illegally disguised as an elderly white man.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Some very fine police work.

 

[Berzerker]

hmm...smart enough to fool cameras and cops but dumb enough to get caught over some really stupid stuff

I wonder if the people being robbed could tell they were wearing masks

 

[Formaldehyde]

Some very fine police work.

The more you find out about the police, the more sense it makes that so many criminals get away.

hmm...smart enough to fool cameras and cops but dumb enough to get caught over some really stupid stuff

I wonder if the people being robbed could tell they were wearing masks

Does this look that realistic?


Link to video.

The eyes and the folds at the base and back of the neck pretty well give it away. But I was wrong about the lips. They actually don't look that bad and move quite well with the mouth of the wearer.

 

[Kyriakos]

Akeem Mosalvatge:

I guess there is a meme for that already?

Cool sounding name though. Like some sort of voodoo priest or something of that nature.

 

[warpus]

Sounds like an Indian porn name to me.

But.. They nab $200,000 and one of the first things on their shopping list is an $11,000 watch? What dumbasses

 

[Kyriakos]

^They should have been more inconspicuous and bid for a Van Gogh painting instead. Probably still wearing the masks

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

Why does it matter exactly that it's 3 black people?

 

[Kyriakos]

Why does it matter exactly that it's 3 black people?

For equally serious reasons that it matters to others that it was mentioned they are black.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Don't they know whiteface is racist?

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

For equally serious reasons that it matters to others that it was mentioned they are black.

So complete frivolity then?

 

[Berzerker]

Does this look that realistic?

I'll quote your article:

For months cops thought they were looking for two white suspects

 

[Formaldehyde]

And I'll quote me:

The more you find out about the police, the more sense it makes that so many criminals get away.

 

[JollyRoger]

Free Bernie Madoff. He was framed.

 

[warpus]

Don't they know whiteface is racist?

Yeah, how dare they forget the minstrel shows of the 19th century, where black men mocked their white counterparts by painting their faces white?

Some people just don't care to remember history I guess