Business at one of Norwood’s key shopping strips has returned to normal following a string of rare robberies and burglaries that shook up several establishments since January.

Seven stores were randomly hit with cash stolen. In every incident, the suspects fled, leaving the question over whether the thieves are gone for good or plan to strike again. Troubling shopkeepers more is the rarity of these crimes in Norwood, a largely calmer community within the 52nd Precinct, whose jurisdiction falls within this neighborhood. Since then, patrols have been stepped up around the East Gun Hill Road area.

“[W]e are proactively seeking the individual(s) responsible for these crimes,” said Inspector Nilda Hofmann, commanding officer of the 52nd Precinct, in a statement. “I’m confident that with our efforts, combined with the assistance that we are asking from the public, the people responsible for these crimes will be apprehended.”

The crime pattern became neighborhood gossip for the dozens of merchants established within the Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District, where the incidents occurred. Officers rank a robbery as the forcible removal of goods from an establishment or person, while burglaries constitute the unwanted entry into a home or business that results in the removal of goods.

The Crimes
In late January, a man armed with a hammer casually walked to the Marconi’s Pizzeria and Restaurant, and with a swift blow shattered the glass door. He did not go inside the store instantly, but instead waited long enough to know whether the burglar alarms, silent or not, would trip. They didn’t. The suspect went for the cash register, making off with several hundred dollars, before fleeing. Marconi’s Pizzeria was the first pizza shop to have been targeted. Just up the road, Mario’s Pizza was burglarized Feb. 9.

The Marconi’s incident bore the hallmarks of a burglary that happened at VIP Café during the overnight hours of Feb. 19. There, a thief kicked out the glass door window, waited before entering, and soon ransacked the eatery. The thief, captured on surveillance video, rummaged through a hidden compartment where cash was kept. He also made off with a handful of coins, and several top shelf bottles of alcohol before fleeing.

“One pizzeria after another pizzeria, and now us,” said Thomas Larous, co-owner of VIP Café. The eatery, a popular spot for the neighborhood, had been hit in 2003. Since then, things have died down, said Larous, who has no plans on closing.

The similarities to the two robberies were undeniably striking, according to Marconi’s Pizzeria & Restaurant owner, who only went by Adnan.

“VIP [Café] looked the same as mine, so I know for a fact it was the same person,” said Adnan.

A block up, El Caribe, a corner eatery serving as the nexus between the Jerome Avenue and East Gun Hill Road sides of the BID, was robbed. There, a stickup man approached the express window of the Spanish food restaurant on Jan. 26, brandished a gun and demanded money. The cashier, a woman, immediately closed the sliding windows, leading the suspect to rush inside and rob the restaurant. Police said the same thief is responsible for knocking over a DSS Wireless cell phone store on Jan. 10, and the 99 Cent Store on Feb. 2. The clerk manning the 99 Cent Store has not returned to work since.

For Jasmine Familia, El Caribe Restaurant owner, recouping the money is meaningless when compared to the peace of mind that’s been compromised within the commercial spine of the BID. “Things have changed,” said Familia, in a phone interview. “The area is not the same. Business used to be better before.”

Robberies were not just confined to East Gun Hill Road. A pair of thieves struck the 24-hour Rite Aid on Jerome Avenue on Feb. 20, swiping a pair of shaving razors, and catching the attention of the on-duty clerk. One of the suspects asked the store employee, “Do you want to get shot?” before both darted out.

Staying Safe
The Jerome-Gun Hill BID, an L-shaped commercial corridor home to 200 small businesses, is heavily trafficked. BIDs work as ad hoc city agencies, where an agreed upon special property tax billed to landlords goes to extra sanitation services and promotion in an attempt to raise foot traffic. The BID’s day-to-day is managed by Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC), a nonprofit whose goal is to stabilize neighborhoods (The Norwood News is published by MPC).

“MPC is under new leadership and is aggressively addressing input from merchants on security and quality of life along the BID corridor,” said Melissa Cebollero, doubling as MPC’s executive director and senior director for community and government relations for Montefiore Health System.

A long held argument among business owners is that the East Gun Hill Road side of the BID is mostly neglected, with officers routinely patrolling the BID’s Jerome Avenue side more so than East Gun Hill Road. But both sides are equipped with NYPD surveillance, which were funded by the BID.

The 52nd Precinct boasts two dedicated officers who walk about the BID, targeting unlicensed vendors or simply maintaining a presence to keep the peace. It’s worked in the category of robbery, which dipped 25 percent when compared to the same time a year ago.

Burglaries, however, increased significantly, with 50 percent more reported cases than the same time last year. Overall crime within the 52nd Precinct ticked up 8.92 percent from the same time last year, reaffirming the precinct’s status as one of the busier ones in the Bronx. Its heavier crime load rests at the southern end of Bedford Park, according to the NYPD Online Crime Map.

Though Familia of El Caribe saw the recent incidents as damaging to the business character of Norwood, she was in the minority when compared to other shop owners, shrugging over their losses.

“You hear it all the time. Someday it’s going to happen to you to. What am I going to do?” said Larous of VIP Café, though he admitted feeling angry over not one eyewitness stopping the thief. “We know already that people saw this before I got here. So they should say something.”

That went ditto for Adnan, offering a blasé response in the form of “What are you going to do?” and “It is what it is.”

But Familia hasn’t taken the spate of incidents lightly. Every time the robbery pops into her mind, she can’t help but think of the fear imposed on her employees and any potential revenue loss from customers unwilling to frequent the BID. “We want our neighborhood safe,” said Familia, adding she’ll keep her business open.

Larous, on the other hand, prided himself on the BID’s strength in numbers, which could be used to prevent another outbreak. “People should watch for the stores, keep an extra eye,” he said. “Since they broke into already two to three stores in the same neighborhood, probably someone around here is going to be next.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.