NYC Deli Owner on Stolen ATM: ‘Looting Is in Style,’ Nothing We Can Do

Two men were caught on camera allegedly yanking an ATM out of a New York City deli, a crime convenience store owners say is on the rise in the city.

“We get robbed, we get killed, we are assaulted, but this is a new thing,” Jose Dario Collado told the New York Post. Collado is the owner of Yankee Deli & Grocery in the East Village, targeted by looters early Friday morning.

“Looting is in style and there is nothing we can do about it,” he added, saying the duo caught on camera “assaulted” his store and “left damages totaling thousands of dollars.”

The men allegedly used a large piece of equipment to cut the roll down gate and loaded the stolen ATM into a white van before fleeing the scene, WABC reported.

Collado’s shop suffered structural damage, with its gate and wall coming down. He was fuming when he found out what happened to his store a short time later.

“Who will pay me? The City? The Mayor? The Small Business Administration?” Collado asked. “I want answers.”

No arrests have been made yet, but the investigation is ongoing.

Radames Rodriguez, president of the United Bodegas of America (UBA), said these ATM looting sprees are part of a crime wave that is “devastating” to shop owners.

“We work 15 hours a day and to wake up and find your bodegas in shambles is not acceptable,” he said, calling for “law and order” and those responsible for the looting to be arrested.

“Our streets are not safe anymore,” added Rodriguez, calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) to respond to the growing number of cases in the city.

ATM thefts have been going on for a while. As far back in December 2019, a group of Manhattan thieves allegedly struck twice in New York City’s Little Italy.