Crews of thieves riding motorized bikes have carried out more than 20 chain snatchings across New York City since September, according to the NYPD. At least 10 attacks became violent, with victims punched, stabbed or thrown to the ground.

A law enforcement officer said there have been hundreds of chain-snatching incidents around the city. The officer linked many of the robberies to the Trinitarios, a violent street gang founded by Dominican inmates at Rikers Island during the early 1990s.

The attacks typically involve two people on a bike, the officer said. The most prominent case involved an NYPD detective who was stabbed 10 times while resisting two illegal migrants earlier this month.

Thieves on mopeds are ripping gold chains off people’s necks in New York City, and one stabbed a police detective 10 times. Police sources blame the Trinitarios gang.

The NYPD counts 20+ moped chain snatchings since September, at least 10 of them violent. Detective Jose Mercedes was stabbed Oct. 2 in the Bronx. His two suspects, caught near Boston, face attempted murder charges. ICE says they’re here illegally. — NewsForce (@Newsforce) October 18, 2026

Nine other victims reported being knifed, punched, or thrown down during the rapid robberies. The thieves have targeted civilians and police officers while pursuing jewelry worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

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Two reputed Trinitario members riding scooters also shot an off-duty federal border patrol agent at Fort Washington Park in Washington Heights on July 9, 2025, federal officials said. Operation Salvo later removed 54 crew members from the streets in January.

Police sources said offenders who are caught can quickly return to the streets, while New York City’s sanctuary policies block officers from turning suspects over to ICE when their immigration status is questioned.

“We’re not allowed to confer with ICE, so we just arrest them,” an anonymous NYPD officer said. “They get released on their own recognizance [by a judge], and they go back and do it again.”

Jorge Beltre, a 30-year-old Bronx bodega worker and Uber driver, was attacked by two scooter-riding robbers while walking his 5-year-old son home from school on Oct. 8. The attack occurred near Mount Eden Parkway and Sheridan Avenue in Claremont.

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Beltre resisted when the attackers tried to steal his 14-karat gold Cuban link chain. One robber stabbed him in the leg, but Beltre and eight bystanders restrained a 17-year-old suspect until police arrived.

The teenager was charged with robbery and weapon possession, according to police. Beltre said the Bronx District Attorney’s Office told him the suspect was released on $900 bail, leaving the wounded father furious with the revolving door system.

“Why did they let him go? He didn’t say where the other guy is. He didn’t say who the other guy was. I feel outraged. Why do they grant him release?” Beltre told The Post in Spanish.

Beltre needed five stitches, while his son was physically unharmed. The experience unsettled the boy so badly that he asked his mother to send him back to school with a baseball bat so he could confront the criminals if he saw them.

On Sept. 13, a 54-year-old man tried to hold onto a motorbike rider who tore a chain from his neck on Grand Avenue near West 180th Street. The thief accelerated and dragged him, causing minor injuries and the loss of a $2,700 chain.

Two robbers on electric bikes approached a 60-year-old man near Duncan Street and Laconia Avenue on Sept. 28. They displayed a firearm, punched him in the face, and stole $8,000 in jewelry, leaving him with minor injuries.

An off-duty female officer lost an $800 gold necklace reading “Angie” to a scooter rider in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on Oct. 10. Eight days earlier, Detective Jose Mercedes, 33, was stabbed near East 206th Street and Rochambeau Avenue in the Bronx.

Mercedes repeatedly told the attackers in English and Spanish that he was a detective, but he said, “they didn’t care.” Police identified the accused robbers as D’Angelo Caraballo, 25, and Sneider Mejia, 24.

The suspects fled on an electric bike, while Mercedes collapsed during his pursuit because of blood loss. Police captured them outside Boston and returned them to New York to face attempted murder charges.

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE said both suspects have prior criminal records and are Dominican Republic natives living illegally in the United States. An NYPD spokesperson said chain snatchings recently decreased in the Bronx following the attack on Mercedes.

Major crime declined 7% across all five boroughs so far this year, the spokesperson said. The Bronx recorded a 12% reduction, with 20,751 major crimes compared with 23,545 during the same period last year.

Critics have blamed Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for less enforcement against electric bike riders, purportedly to support the food delivery application industry. Former NYPD detective Michael Alcazar said offenders are taking advantage of weaker enforcement.

Alcazar called for broken windows policing and the return of plainclothes anti-crime units, which were disbanded in 2020 under self-described Marxist Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Nobody wants to talk about bringing back anti-crime, but it’s an effective tool,” he said.

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