Jury convicts head of Diamond District hijack ring-Industry News-Magazine-IRISPANCY FASHION ACCESSORIES & JEWELRY

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Magazine > Industry News > News Content

Jury convicts head of Diamond District hijack ring

12/15/2009 8:30:01 PM

New York--The man who authorities say was the leader of a crew that spent years looting New York City's Diamond District by hijacking delivery trucks at gunpoint was found guilty on all counts in federal court on Monday.

After a one-week trial, a jury convicted 57-year-old Hector Rivera, of Hollis, Queens, on a slew of federal charges stemming from incidents that occurred between 2002 and December 2008, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The charges include three counts of robbery or attempted robbery that involves interstate or foreign commerce--a violation of the Hobbs Act--one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, and two counts of using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.

The conviction means Rivera will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Each of the robbery charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and, on top of that, Rivera would have to serve additional time for each of the firearms charges: the first carries a sentence of seven years to life, and the second has a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison. Together, the six charges also carry a maximum fine of either $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is higher.

Rivera is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. on April 8, 2010, at 11:00 a.m.

Considered the ringleader of a robbery and extortion crew that often used firearms and targeted companies in the Diamond District over a six-year period, Rivera was one of a dozen men arrested last year in connection with the December 2007 hijacking of a Federal Express truck full of diamonds.

On the evening of the arrest, prosecutors say, the group was poised to pull off a second robbery on Dec. 4., 2008. Among the 12 taken into custody along with Rivera that night was diamond dealer Brian Greenwald, identified as president of Doppelt and Greenwald Diamonds. According to court records and the U.S. Attorney's office, Greenwald pleaded guilty in the case, but details on his sentencing were not available.

According to the release, Rivera was also convicted of the Nov. 29, 2005 robbery, at gunpoint, of a wholesale diamond business located at 580 Fifth Ave., the building that is the main hub of diamond district activity. In addition, he was found guilty of the Dec. 20, 2007 robbery of a FedEx truck and possessing and brandishing a gun during that robbery, as well as the attempted hijacking and robbery of a second FedEx tractor-trailer truck on Dec. 4, 2008, the night the crew was arrested.

The bungled robbery in December 2007 seemed to be the beginning of the end for Rivera and his crew. According to the release, on the night of Dec. 20, 2007, near 48th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan, two men displaying firearms and police badges approached the driver of a FedEx truck believed to contain several million dollars worth of diamonds.

The driver was removed from the truck at gunpoint, then handcuffed and kidnapped, as the two men drove the truck to a loading dock in Brooklyn, N.Y. The defendants, however, were unable to unload the contents of the truck and later abandoned the vehicle, releasing the driver after holding him for four hours, the release states.

According to the release, authorities learned of the second hijacking, for Dec. 4, 2008, that was being planned by Rivera and others through the use of surveillance, consensually recorded phone conversations and in-person meetings between Rivera and a cooperating witness, as well as court-authorized taps on two cell phones.

Prior to Dec. 4, 2008, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents observed, among other things, Rivera and another defendant driving past a warehouse on New York's Long Island, a warehouse which the witness previously had pointed out to Rivera as being a good place to off-load the contents of a hijacked truck, the release states.

Intercepted wire and electronic communications between Rivera and others revealed, among other things, that Rivera was involved in recruiting people to participate in the planned robbery, according to the release.

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