A small group of just 10 career criminals was allowed to run amok across the Big Apple and rack up nearly 500 arrests after New York enacted its controversial bail reform law — and most of them are still out on the streets, The Post has learned.
Stunning statistics compiled by the NYPD show that the city’s alleged “worst of the worst” repeat offenders have been busted a total of 485 times since bail reform went into effect in 2020.
Two of the unidentified defendants are actually accused of embarking on lives of crime in the wake of bail reform, with one busted 33 times since 2020 and the other busted 22 times, all this year, the data shows.
Mayor Eric Adams — who’s been demanding that state legislators roll back the bail-reform law to crack down on repeat offenders — expressed outrage Wednesday while discussing the findings during an afternoon news conference at One Police Plaza.
“Our criminal justice system is insane,” he said.
“It is dangerous, it is harmful and it’s destroying the fabric of our city.”
Adams added: “Time and time again, our police officers make an arrest, and then the person who is arrested for assault, felonious assaults, robberies and gun possessions, they’re finding themselves back on the street within days– if not hours — after the arrest.”
“And they go on to commit more crimes within weeks, if not days,” Hizzoner fumed.
The NYPD’s list of “notable” career criminals is topped by an unnamed “Recidivist No. 1” who’s been busted a total of 101 times, with 88 coming since bail reform was enacted.
Larceny charges account for 74 of the recent arrests, all of which took place in Manhattan, where District Attorney Alvin Bragg has come under fire for the soft-on-crime policies he imposed after taking office on Jan. 1.
The career crook has 15 convictions, including three for felonies, and failed to appear in court at least 14 times, leading to the issuance of a “significant” number of bench warrants, according to the NYPD.
“Recidivist No. 1” has also violated parole and probation and has two pending prosecutions for thefts from various Target stores on five separate occasions.
“He’s considered a chronic petty larceny, grand larceny recidivist,” NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri said during Wednesday’s news conference.
“He’s hit one location 20 times. The same location, 20 times.”
Lipetri added, “And again, we’re talking about arrests here. We’ve arrested that individual 100 times. How many crimes do you think he really committed? Two hundred? Three hundred? A thousand?”
“And guess what? He’s walking around the streets of New York City today, probably committing another crime as we speak,” Lipetri said.
Others on the list include a felon whose rap sheet includes convictions for an attempted drug sale and 41 unspecified misdemeanors.
Out of 67 arrests since bail reform began, 49 involve thefts in Manhattan.
Another accused “high volume offender” has been busted 55 times since 2020, with 47 alleged incidents taking place in Manhattan and 18 pending prosecutions involving commercial retail burglaries and thefts.
The defendant with 33 arrests since bail reform began racked up 17 of them in Brooklyn and is now free without bail pending sentencing for “multiple violent felony pleas,” according to the NYPD’s disturbing data.
Another alleged recidivist has 87 total arrests and 25 since bail reform, including 21 in Brooklyn.
That crook, who has convictions for two felonies and 18 misdemeanors, is free pending sentencing in three burglary and robbery cases.
At least six of the 10 accused “worst of the worst” are roaming the streets, even though eight have had bench warrants issued for failing to appear in court — and one has 10 open warrants, according to the NYPD.
The Post has not been able to independently verify that NYPD data.
When asked why neither City Hall nor the NYPD would publicly release the 10 defendants’ names, Adams blamed city lawyers who cited legal concerns.
“I have to abide by the rules … But the people in public need to see the names and faces of these individuals who are repeatedly creating violence in our communities. But I am restricted by the rules of my council,” he said Wednesday.
Other figures compiled by the NYPD show that people with three or more arrests for robbery, burglary or larceny in a single year jumped a total of 25.9% from 2019, before bail reform, to this year as of June 30.
For alleged serial shoplifters, the increase was an even greater 36.8%.
The NYPD also updated information exclusively revealed by The Post last week that showed the re-arrest rates of alleged burglars and thieves last year were as high as three times what they were in 2017.
As of July 5, 25.1% of burglary defendants were arrested again within 60 days and charged with a felony this year, up from 23.7% in 2021.
Suspects charged with petit larceny, a misdemeanor, were re-arrested on a more serious felony charge this year at a rate of 21.2%, virtually unchanged from 21.6% last year.
Among alleged auto thieves, this year’s rate is 20%, compared to 21% in 2021, while alleged recidivism by grand larceny defendants dipped slightly, from 19.7% to 16.8%.
By Bernadette Hogan, Bruce Golding [NY Post]
