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New York tycoon offers $5000 reward to catch ice cream thieves
NEW YORK: Ice cream thieves are on the rampage in New York and one billionaire has had enough. A supermarket tycoon on Friday offered a $5,000 reward leading to
NEW YORK: Ice cream thieves are on the rampage in New York and one billionaire has had enough. A supermarket tycoon on Friday offered a $5,000 reward leading to the arrest and prosecution of the miscreants.
John Catsimatidis, who owns the Gristedes chain of grocery stores, tweeted out the reward, saying “ice cream bandits are wreaking havoc on NYC supermarkets” — quoting a headline in the New York Post.
The reward comes at a time New York is in the grip of a heatwave, expected to last through August 14 with heat index values expected to reach 43 degrees Celsius.
Police confirmed 250 complaints of ice cream theft and 130 arrests so far in 2016. “We are working closely with the retailers to combat the thefts of ice cream,” a spokesman said. According to the Post, a Bonnie-and-Clyde styled duo raided a Gristedes store in Chelsea, making away with 80 cartons of Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in four bags.
“They keep stealing it because it’s an easy item to sell.. . The bodegas buy it, they encourage it,” the Greek tycoon told the publication.
Catsimatidis, a self-made businessman who migrated from Greece to New York with his family as a baby, is valued at $3.4 billion by Forbes.
The 67-year-old philanthropist is also a Republican donor who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York in 2013.
Gristedes operates more than 30 stores throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn and the Westchester suburb.
