Police from two Queens precincts are on the lookout for two top-shelf booze connoisseurs who broke into two liquor stores in under an hour-and-a-half during the early morning hours of Oct. 3, making off with cases of wine and spirits worth more than $92,000. The high-end crooks first targeted the Franny Lew Wine and Liquor Store, located at 198-29 Horace Harding Expwy. in Fresh Meadows. Police from the 111th Precinct in Bayside reported that the two unidentified men used a crowbar to gain entry to the front door of the business just before 1:00 a.m. and, once inside, they removed merchandise valued at more than $77,000, piled it into the back of a white pickup truck and headed west along the Long Island Expressway.
The two men struck next in the confines of the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst just before 2:20 a.m., breaking into the Liquor Warehouse wine store located at 99-25 Horace Harding Expwy. near LeFrak City in Corona. The two crooks gained entry through the front door of the store and snatched wine and spirits valued at more than $15,000, loaded up their white pickup truck and sped off in an unknown direction.
There were no injuries reported during each heist.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the two suspects and described them as wearing black hooded sweatshirts, black pants, black sneakers and gloves.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Through Oct. 8, the 111th Precinct has reported 50 robberies so far in 2023, 15 fewer than the 65 reported at the same point last year, a decrease of 23.1%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Over in the 110th Precinct, 365 robberies have been reported so far in 2023, 56 more than the 309 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 18.1%, according to CompStat.