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Prison guard arrested for smuggling contraband into NYC jail

The Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Federal correctional officer Victor Casado, 35, of the Bronx, New York, was arrested on April 5, 2018, and charged with taking bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol, over-the-counter medications, and food into the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), a federal jail in lower Manhattan.

The alleged smuggling scheme 

According to the complaint, sometime in the second half of 2016, an inmate at the MCC named Reza Zarrab was approached by another inmate who told him that Casado wanted to give him his phone number. The inmate suggested that Zarrab should payoff Casado. Zarrab agreed and directed one of his attorneys to pay Casado $5,000. Zarrab’s attorney arranged for a car service driver who worked for her to deliver the cash.

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Michael Mazzara sentenced to 11 years in prison

On Friday, April 13, 2018, Michael Mazzara, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, appeared before U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest for sentencing in Manhattan federal court. 

Michael Mazzara’s December 2017 guilty plea

Mazzara had pled guilty to two counts of bank theft before Judge Forrest exactly four months earlier on December 13. The  charges related to the theft of cash and property from an HSBC Bank branch in Brooklyn in April 2016, and a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens in May 2016. The deposits of both banks were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

According to court records, Mazzara had signed a plea agreement with the government where he admitted he was the was the leader of the HSBC heist, and agreed to return items stolen from the banks and to make restitution to the victims. Both parties also agreed to a sentencing range of 97 to 121 months in prison.

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Charles Kerrigan sentenced to 16 years in prison

Updated: November 20, 2019

On April 11, 2018 in Manhattan federal court, Charles “Duke” Kerrigan, 42, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison for his role in two 2016 bank burglaries.

The Mazzara burglary crew

Kerrigan was part of a burglary crew that targeted banks in and around New York City. They typically broke into bank vaults and safe deposit boxes by cutting through a roof or a wall. The crew included Michael Mazzara, Anthony Mascuzzio, and Kerrigan’s younger brother Christopher Kerrigan.

The crew burglarized an HSBC bank branch in Brooklyn in April 2016, and a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens in May 2016. They stole approximately $331,000 in cash and $103,000 in property from the HSBC bank, and approximately $297,000 in cash and $20,157,000 in property from the Maspeth bank.

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Christian Toro jailed pending trial

On February 15, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at the Bronx apartment of twin brothers Christian and Tyler Toro, both 27. Agents found more than 30 pounds of explosive precursor chemicals and a handwritten note stating “under the full moon the small ones will know terror” among other items. The brothers were arrested and hit with explosives charges. Both defendants have been detained since their arrests.

According to the criminal complaint, Christian Toro came under suspicion in January after a bomb threat was called in to the Harlem high school where he worked as a teacher. A 15-year old student was arrested, and Toro abruptly resigned. Shortly after he resigned, his brother returned a work laptop to the school, and a school employee found a copy of a bomb-making book on the laptop. When law enforcement agents interviewed Toro, he claimed that he had not meant to download the book, and that he had only looked at the table of contents.

Toro was arrested and charged with statutory rape in an unrelated case around this time.

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Staten Island man sentenced to prison for bank burglaries

Excerpt from FBI surveillance video.

On Friday morning in Manhattan federal court, Christopher Kerrigan, 41, of Staten Island, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for his role in two 2016 bank burglaries in Brooklyn and Queens, New York.

Kerrigan was part of a burglary crew that targeted banks in the New York City area, and usually broke into bank vaults and safe deposit boxes by cutting through a roof or a wall. The crew included Michael Mazzara, Anthony Mascuzzio, and Kerrigan’s older brother Charles Kerrigan. All of the defendants have already pled guilty. Christopher Kerrigan was the first to be sentenced.

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