He’s a choosy criminal!
A knife-wielding menace nicknamed the “Haggler After Midnight” is on the loose after mugging a dozen people in Brooklyn and Queens — and bizarrely negotiating over what to steal, cops said.
“He’s got a strange M.O. He offers to haggle with his victims so we call him the ‘Haggler After Midnight,'” NYPD Deputy Chief John Mastronardi told WNBC.
NYPD searching for a suspect they call the “Haggler After Midnight.” DCPI“If the victim produces property that they are going to give up, he says, ‘No, no, no. I don’t want that. I want that.’
“So he’ll choose.”
Police said the picky prowler struck 11 times in Bushwick, East New York, Cypress Hills and Ridgewood during a two-month spree that began in November.
The robber approaches Hispanic men, between ages 20 and 40, walking home after work and haggles in both Spanish and English — before riding off on a scooter with the unsuspecting victims’ cellphones and cash.
The man is accused of mugging people at knifepoint but making them negotiate what they want to hand over. DCPI
The suspect generally targets Hispanic men between the ages of 20 and 40 during the early morning hours, police said. DCPI“It’s innocent individuals going home from work being targeted,” said Mastronardi.
The chief warned his attacks are getting “more brazen, more bold, more violent.”
During his latest stickup, the brute pressed a knife against an unsuspecting 21-year-old man’s throat on Dec. 10 near Stanhope Street and Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick around 2:30 a.m., according to cops.
He asked for the time and the victim to call him a taxi before whipping out the blade and running off with $45 and a debit card, police said.
The accused mugger has even asked a victim for directions, police said. DCPIThe NYPD has released surveillance footage of the suspected Haggler, hoping for tips that could lead to his capture.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or on X @NYPDTips.
