Reputed NYC gangster out on sweetheart deal from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg arrested again after allegedly mugging teen
https://nypost.com/2023/02/17/reputed-nyc-gangster-arrested-again-after-mugging-teen/
A reputed gang member who was let off the hook for multiple felonies by the Manhattan DA’s Office used his second chance to allegedly mug a 14-year-old boy and pack a pistol on a playground, The Post has learned. Accused gun-toting robber Charles Lindsay is finally behind bars on the new charges, although no thanks to the woke Manhattan office — which even refused to say Friday whether it will try to nix the previous sweetheart deal it made with the suspect. Lindsay, 22 — an alleged member of the “Rich Fam” gang connected to several high-end heists — was facing four felony counts of grand larceny in December for allegedly helping to snatch a total of $25,000 in handbags and other luxury items from Madison Avenue boutiques in a string of robberies. But instead of prosecuting the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed to let the suspect go if he went to five sessions with Manhattan Justice Opportunities, a diversion program for offenders. The DA’s office told cops it came up with the mind-boggling proposition because it needed to clear its packed calendar, a law-enforcement source had said. Lindsay had at least eight other prior arrests at the time, including for robbery. Yet instead of paying back the slide by staying out of trouble, a little over a month later, Lindsay and three others walked up to a 14-year-old boy on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Jan. 24, punched him in the face and snatched his cash and iPhone, according to a criminal complaint. Lindsay was identified as a suspect in the mugging, and eagle-eyed cops recognized him from a photo that the department had put out of him in the case when they spotted him in St. Andrew’s Park on Feb. 15, according to law-enforcement sources and the complaint. The officers tried to stop him, but Lindsay fled — dropping a loaded firearm as he jumped the park’s fence, according to police and the complaint. The suspect ran into the Kingston and Fulton subway station and then hopped onto the tracks and fled on foot into the tunnel. Police were waiting for him at the next stop at the Utica and Fulton, and he was cuffed, police sources said. Lindsay was arraigned Thursday night on weapons charges and held on $100,000 bail as requested by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
A rep for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg refused to answer questions about Lindsay’s earlier plea deal and whether the new charges would revive the grand-larceny cases against him. Law-enforcement sources said Lindsay has yet to attend a single session for his diversion program. “We cannot comment given that it is an open and pending matter,” said the spokesman for the Manhattan DA’s office. Jake Salinas, 27, a store employee at Zadig & Voltaire, which was one of Lindsay’s alleged grand-larceny targets, was shocked to hear of the suspect’s no-jail plea deal. “He’s not really paying for what he did, and that’s a lot of money. … It’s just a slap on the wrist,” Salinas said of the plea agreement. “It sets a precedent for anyone else who hears his story that nothing is to be done.” Salinas, who was working at the time of the heist, told The Post that two people scoped out the place wearing ski masks as the others waited outside. “When they got to the back of the store, four more guys came to the front. One guy stayed outside. There was like seven of them,” the worker said. The thieves made off with high-end items at the front of the store and ran off, according to Salinas, who added that one of them yelled, “Don’t touch me!” before fleeing.
Criminal lawyer and former Bronx Assistant District Attorney Michael Discioarro ripped Bragg’s office to The Post, asking, “What exactly is he working on? “When will he enforce the laws of New York? Who is worthy of prosecution at this point?” the ex-prosecutor said. “The office of the Manhattan DA is not a social worker. He has 300 prosecutors who are there to uphold the law, and he has failed.”