Look, we’ve all seen “Ocean’s Eleven,” but we should leave the thievery to George Clooney‘s character, a Hollywood budget and a green screen. New York prosecutors say a 21-year-old fashion model decided the cobblestone streets of SoHo were his personal movie set, allegedly orchestrating a million-dollar designer heist so brazen it makes the 2001 crime thriller look like a rehearsal.
It was Dec. 1 when cops said four masked thieves broke into 4Gseller on Spring Street — a ritzy men’s boutique to the stars in New York’s SoHo neighborhood that sells luxury one-of-a-kind apparel, NBC News reported at the time.
The appointment-only showroom was robbed of at least $1 million worth of merchandise, according to CBS News, including 20 St. Laurent designer jackets, 30 handbags and 20 belts. Other stolen items included attire worn by Cardi B, Kim Kardashian and Lenny Kravitz.
How did the assailants manage to pull off a Hollywood-like heist? The fire escape and a rock chucked through the shop’s second-story window. The 4:00 a.m. robbery was caught on camera showing the crooks “in and out of the store in four and a half minutes,” 4Gseller owner Tommy Macari said, the New York Post reported. “Kind of like the movies, to be honest. They took a lot of one of one, high-end merchandise” and custom pieces from “certain racks where the most expensive clothing was.”
Macari described a scene of tactical precision: Suspects clad in all-black gear, construction vests and headlamps tossed designer goods over a balcony to a waiting accomplice. From there, the loot was hustled into a getaway sedan lying in wait.
“People wear these clothes to be seen in it,” Macari told the Independent. “And, you know, if you’re seen in a one-of-one piece, we’re going to figure it out.” He may have been right. Just over two months later, New York police nabbed a suspect.
Abdallah Diaby, a fashion model represented by the Big Apple Agency TWO MGMT— “the go-to model agency for advertising, editorial and catalog”— was arrested Thursday for the high-end designer heist. He was charged with grand larceny, burglary and criminal possession of stolen property.
According to a criminal complaint, Diaby was linked to the robbery through camera footage.
The following day, he was released without bail thanks to New York’s 2020 bail reform law that eliminated cash bail for most non-violent felonies, making a suspect’s release the default.
Diaby’s alleged accomplices remain at large.
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