Eight Bronx men are facing federal charges for an alleged theft ring that stole cases of beer from railroad cars and warehouses throughout the Northeast, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The “Beer Theft Enterprise,” as federal investigators dubbed the scheme, boosted pallets of beer — mostly Corona and Modelo shipped from Mexico — over the last two years from sites in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The group, allegedly led by Jose Cesari, operated between July 2022 and March 2024, hitting dozens of railyards and beer distributors. They often struck at night after cutting locks off train cars or cutting through fences to gain access to the hooch. In at least one incident, Cesari “robbed at gunpoint a railroad car stationed in Fresh Pond Yard in Queens.”
Other railyards in Queens and Brooklyn, and a beverage distribution center in Suffern, were also among their targets.
The beer would then be taken to the Bronx, inspected and sold to unidentified buyers.
The enterprise “operated brazenly,” with the suspects “filling U-Haul box trucks to the brim with cases of beer,” Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement announcing the charges.
Cesari, aka “Cry,” was charged with conspiracy to steal from interstate or foreign shipments by carrier, and faces other theft and firearm charges.
The other seven — Miguel Cintron, Luis Izquierdo, Wakiem Johnson, Kemar Bonitto, Deylin Martinez-Guerrero, Antonio Gonzalez, and Justin Bruno — are charged with conspiracy, with some of them also facing other charges. If convicted, they face sentences of up to 10 years, while Cesari could face life in prison on the firearm charge.
Cesari, 27, recruited the other suspects using Instagram and offered a “guarantee” that members would make thousands of dollars a month by following the “beer train method.” He remains at large.
Bonitto, 38, is in custody in Connecticut. The other six, between the ages of 23 and 40, were arrested on Wednesday.
Rail transportation company CSX assisted the FBI and Port Authority Police in the investigation, the Justice Department said.
