A Night of Burglar Break-Ins for Tribeca and Soho Businesses

Madeline Lanciani holds the cash register drawer that burglars broke to steal some $1,500 from her Duane Park Patisserie in Tribeca. Behind her, cardboard covers the front door where the thieves broke a pane of glass to enter the store. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Update 3/28/19: Police say they arrested three suspects, all juveniles, who were wanted for the burglaries of six Tribeca and Soho businesses as well as two other burglaries that same night in the Sixth Precinct. The three males, whose names are being withheld because of their age, were arrested in Queens, said Capt. Angel Figueroa, the 1st Precinct’s commanding officer. “They were apprehended three days later doing the same exact thing,” Figueroa said. “The cop actually caught them in the act.” One of the suspects, a 15-year-old, had 23 prior arrests, Figueroa said, noting that cops were aided by “great, great video.”

Thieves broke into three storefront businesses in Tribeca and three in Soho during the early morning hours of Monday, March 18, in what police say is a ”pattern” that is under investigation.

The Tribeca businesses, in which the owners all confirmed that the break-ins took place before 3 a.m. that night, were Duane Park Patisserie [1], Greenwich Street Tavern [2] and Terroir [3]. The same night in Soho, burglars broke into Bonpoint [4], a children’s clothing store at 398 West Broadway, the restaurant Ladurée [5], 396 West Broadway, and Felix [6] restaurant, 340 West Broadway, police said.

On Thursday, cardboard still temporarily replaced a glass pane on the front door of Duane Park Patisserie, 179 Duane St., that one or more burglars broke to get into the store. “Because the register was closed, they threw it on the ground and it opened up,” said owner Madeline Lanciani, noting that the thieves got away with about $1,500. Lanciani said police told her they suspect the same burglars carried out all six break-ins.

At Greenwich Street Tavern, 399 Greenwich St., thieves “ripped our doors open and squeezed through to get in here and cut our register out,” said co-owner Robert Sayegh. Police said they got away with $400. Surveillance video, Sayegh said, shows one person in the bar, and later two others with him as they pass by outside. He said it could be difficult to determine the suspects’ features from the video.

Burglars forced open the front door of Terroir, a wine bar at 24 Harrison St., but left empty-handed, police said. The same night, police said, two males forced open the doors of the three Soho locations, taking money from the registers of two of them. At Felix, they removed a safe containing $12,500, police said.

According to police, no surveillance photos or descriptions of suspects are available “at this time.”

“It sucks, but we came out on the other side pretty good in the scheme of things,” said Terroir owner Paul Grieco. “It’s a realization that as safe as Tribeca is, we still live in New York City.”