Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Organized Crime- "Conrail Boyz" Goes High Tech With Nextel-

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 20:01:45 -0400

Organized Crime- "Conrail Boyz" Goes High Tech With Nextel-
July 20, 2003

The 21st century Jesse James is hiding out in New Jersey.
Authorities allege Edward Mongon was the ringleader of a
band of thieves that combined decades of train-robbing
know-how with cutting-edge technology. Adopting the name
of the shipping company they robbed for nearly 11 years, the
so-called Conrail Boyz operated for so long and with such
success that they even had hats emblazoned with their
initials: CRB.

But on July 8, a two-year investigation by the New Jersey
Division of Criminal Justice - Organized Crime &
Racketeering Bureau and Norfolk Southern and CSX Police
culminated in a 38-count State Grand Jury indictment
charging 24 people involved with the Conrail Boyz.

As of late Friday 23 of the 24 defendants - including
Mongon's parents - have been charged.

But Mongon remains on the lam.

Working on a number of leads, officials have said they do
not believe Mongon fled New Jersey, but noted the
28-year-old kingpin is considered dangerous.

The gang members are charged with terrorizing northern
New Jersey freight trains, stealing tens of millions of dollars
worth of electronics, designer clothing, cigarettes and other
merchandise.

"Train companies have been dealing with cargo theft for 160
years now," said Rudy Husband Norfolk Southern's public
relations director. "But in terms of longevity and
sophistication we feel the Conrail Boyz operated at a higher
level than the industry had previously seen."

New Jersey law enforcement officials praised the work done
by the railroad police during the investigation. Norfolk-based Norfolk Southern
and CSX -which had been based in Richmond before moving to Jacksonville, Fla., earlier this
year- split the purchase of Conrail's assets in 1998. Last September the Conrail police were absorbed into both companies - mainly Norfolk Southern - as the sting operation continued.

Gang members attacked rail cars forced to slow to about 20 mph while negotiating a
complex circuit of tracks in northern New Jersey, authorities said. Some of the robbers would jump aboard the trains and use bolt-cutters to break into cargo containers.  As accomplices waited on the ground, the robbers would throw boxes of goods off the still-moving trains to be loaded onto waiting trucks and tractor-trailers.
But these were no low-tech bandits.

The Conrail Boyz used scanners and stolen Conrail radios to monitor police conversations
 and infrared binoculars to avoid roving police patrols, officials said.

Once on the trains, the thieves communicated with walkie-talkies and Nextel phones.
Authorities say the gang used stolen Conrail cargo vans that would not arouse suspicion 
in normally isolated areas. Gang members also stole packed 18-wheelers that they emptied 
of merchandise, used to cart off goods from a few train robberies and then abandoned.

The main members of the gang had previous arrests on lesser charges, such as
trespassing and possession of stolen property, but punishment for these crimes was
little more than a slap on the wrist. So the Division of Criminal Justice shifted gears.
"We developed a strategy to go after them as an organized criminal group," said John R.
Hagerty, a spokesman for the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice in Trenton, N.J.

"That way we could go after them with more sophisticated investigative techniques."
Posing as Korean and Cuban businessmen, state investigators successfully negotiated
the purchase of thousands of dollars worth of stolen clothing, cigarettes and other
merchandise.

Because the charges involve organized crime, the government seized seven luxury 
vehicles from various members of the Conrail Boyz, froze at least 13 bank accounts,
 and confiscated $142,500 in cash.

The gang had a corporation-like structure, a strict hierarchy in which each member
had specific duties on and off the trains, authorities said. Using between five and 15
people for each heist, the gang would occasionally branch out to free-lancers - including
members of the Bloods street gang - for help with the robberies. A raid could net as
much as several hundred thousand dollars, authorities said.

Court papers allege that Mongon developed information about train schedules, found
locations where the trains could be intercepted, picked team members, and controlled
where the goods were stashed and then fenced on the black market.

The group is charged with stealing an array of goods. Among other items, the New 
Jersey indictment listed 17,496 Sony Playstation game consoles valued at more than 
$5 million; Tommy Hilfiger clothing valued at more than $140,000; 1,000 Jones of
New York brand women's blouses valued at $49,000; and 1,800 cartons of
Wave brand cigarettes worth more than $500.

Authorities maintain that the thieves did not pick the goods arbitrarily.
"They knew what they wanted," said Husband. "The seals were broken on some of 
the containers but nothing was taken. Apparently, somebody had decided that that
wasn't what they needed, and they moved on to the next trailer."

The indictment also alleges that on Dec. 6, 2001, one gang member - Keith Montague
intentionally crashed a car into a vehicle driven by a Conrail police sergeant to
keep the officer from pursuing gang members from the scene of a robbery.

Charges against each member include first-degree racketeering, conspiracy, leader
of organized crime, money laundering, assault on a law enforcement officer, burglary,
fencing, receiving stolen property and tax law violations.

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