By Jesse Leavenworth and Ethan Fry
The Middletown Press, Conn.
WEST HAVEN, Conn. — A Bronx-based beer theft ring, the focus of a recent federal indictment, stole a staggering amount of Mexican beer from a West Haven distributor late last year, according to an arrest warrant for one of the suspects.
The heist on Nov. 18 and 19 at Star Distributors offers an inside look at a group that federal authorities blame for thefts of Corona and Modelo beer from rail yards and warehouses throughout the region. The crooks cut fencing, smashed freight car locks and loaded pallets of the popular beers onto trucks for resale in their New York City borough, according to the warrant. A recipient of the West Haven haul was identified in the warrant only as “the Russian guy.”
Led by 27-year-old Jose “Cry” Cesari, the “Beer Theft Enterprise” also hit sites in Massachusetts , New Jersey, and New York state, according to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams. Thefts were reported from July 2022 to March of this year, and the ring reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars, authorities said.
West Haven police were alerted to a burglary at Star Distributors on Nov. 19, a Sunday, by an assistant operations manager who said his brother-in-law visited him at the business that morning and noticed “how messy the shipping and receiving area was,” the warrant says. The manager found that a garage door to a storage building skirting railroad tracks had been cut open.
Three weeks earlier, Star had received a rail shipment from Mexico of Modelo and Corona beer that was to be distributed to area stores, the manager told police. The manager told police that about 1,800 cases valued at $30 each, a total value of $54,000, had been stolen, the warrant says.
Video surveillance footage showed two men arriving at the business late on Nov. 16, likely scouting for the best place to break in, the warrant says. Early on Nov. 18, the cameras captured sparks flying from the building near the railroad track as the thieves cut an opening in a metal door. Two U-Haul trucks, a Honda Odyssey and a silver Honda SUV were shown entering the building. A thief could be seen operating a company forklift carrying pallets of beer, the warrant says.
The arrest warrant affidavit by Det. Scott Vitelli does not include information about any burglar alarm activation. Representatives of the West Haven police and Star Distributors could not be reached for comment.
On Dec. 2, police said they responded to a burglary in progress at Star Distributors and chased down several young men and juveniles who were wearing dark clothing and ski masks. At least one suspect was arrested at gunpoint while others tried to hide by lying on top of beer pallets, police said.
Among those arrested was Kemar Bonitto, 38, of the Bronx. Bonitto confessed to involvement in both the December and November burglaries, police said. He told detectives that Cesari, a friend who lived in the same apartment building, called him early on Dec. 2 about “a job,” the warrant says. He and Cesari and another man traveled to Connecticut in a black Lexus, parked near Star Distributors and walked on train tracks to the rear of the business, where they were engaged in stealing beer until police arrived, the warrant says.
Identified by federal authorities as the ringleader of the beer theft enterprise, Cesari had bragged about the money he was making, Bonitto told police, according to the warrant. Bonitto, who faces larceny, burglary and conspiracy charges in state Superior Court in Milford , admitted to completing four or five other burglaries with Cesari, West Haven police said.
Bonitto said the ring would unload stolen beer at a garage in the Bronx next to a bodega, where the receiver was “a Russian guy and a young girl,” according to the warrant. Bonitto said “the Russian guy” paid Cesari, and Cesari paid Bonitto in cash, the warrant says. West Haven police also found links between the local break-ins and the theft of 1,000 cases of Corona from a beer storage facility in Ramopo, N.Y., on Nov. 11, the warrant says.
Federal authorities say Cesari used Instagram to recruit helpers for the heists. In one post with railroad tracks in the background, he wrote, “Need workers who want to make (money bag emoji)” and included a “Yes” or “No” vote button. In another post, Cesari guaranteed recruits would make “100K in a month by following the ‘beer train method,’ ” the indictment says.
Federal authorities have charged Cesari, Bonitto and six other Bronx men with theft from interstate or foreign shipments and conspiracy. Cesari also is charged with robbery and using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to, or possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Others charged are Miguel Cintron, 32; Luis Izquierdo, 40; Wakiem “Waka” Johnson, 31; Deylin Martinez-Guerrero, 28; Antonio Gonzalez, 33; and Justin Bruno, 23.”
Martinez - Guerrero appeared briefly Monday in state Superior Court in Milford, where Assistant State’s Attorney Allison Kaas dropped larceny, burglary, and conspiracy charges there in light of his federal indictment. Martinez - Guerrero’s lawyer, Michael Boynton, declined to comment on the case.
A co-defendant of Bonitto’s and Martinez - Guerrero’s in state court, Wilbin David-Garcia, is scheduled to appear in Milford court May 10. His lawyer declined to comment on the matter Monday.
An attorney representing another co-defendant charged in state court, 25-year-old Marvin Alvarez-Guity, described Alvarez-Guity as a victim of circumstance Monday.
“Basically my client, in an attempt to get a day job, was roped into something much bigger,” Senior Assistant Public Defender Jeffrey LaPierre said after Alvarez-Guity appeared before Judge Auden Grogins. “I don’t think he has any prior record, and we’re hoping for the best.”
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