84TH PRECINCT
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS–DUMBO–
BOERUM HILL–DOWNTOWN
Phonejacked
A lout robbed an Uber driver on
June 21 on Willoughby Street, according
to cops.
The victim told police he was
giving the thief a ride near Pearl
Street when he asked for his phone
to change his destination. When he
handed him the phone, the jerk took
it and ran.
Bye-cycle
Some sneak robbed a bike on
Smith Street on June 21, police say.
Cops say the victim left his bike
outside near Pacifi c Street at 8:25
pm to go into a store. When he returned,
it had been swiped, according
to authorities.
Burgled!
A cat burglar robbed a home on
Dean Street on June 27, according
to police.
The homeowner told cops the
sneak thief broke into the house
near Fourth Avenue sometime between
11:30 pm and 12:49 am and
stole two bicycles.
88TH PRECINCT
FORT GREENE-CLINTON HILL
Clawed!
Some maniac assaulted a woman
in an Ashland Place apartment
building on July 1, police say.
The victim told cops she got in
a dispute with her attacker at 12:52
pm over her smoking in a no-smoking
zone in the building mear Fulton
Street, when he scratched her
on her arm.
‘Kill me’
Cops cuffed a guy for assaulting
a police offi cer while resisting arrest
in an apartment building on St.
Edwards Street on July 2.
According to the report, offi cers
tried to arrest the man on robbery
and fraud charges at an apartment
near Navy Street at around 8:45 pm,
when he refused to comply with
their orders, before squaring up
and saying “you’ll have to kill me,
I’m not going back.”
The man was arrested and
charged with assaulting a police offi
cer.
Jewelry pilferer
A thief robbed an apartment on
Waverly Avenue on July 1, according
to police.
The victim told cops he came
home around 7:30 pm to the apartment
near Park Avenue to fi nd his
door slightly ajar. Inside, he found
that $6,900 worth of jewelry had
COURIER L 8 IFE, JULY 9-15, 2021
been swiped.
Gym jerk
Some weasel robbed a women at
a gym on Fulton Street on June 30,
according to cops.
The victim told police she left
he bag in an unlocked locker in the
gym near St. Felix street at around
8:30 pm. When she got home after
working out she found her wallet
had been lifted from the bag.
— Ben Verde
62ND PRECINCT
BENSONHURST—BATH BEACH
Cash grab
A home invader attempted to
steal $50,000 cash at a 73rd Street
home on June 30.
The victim told police he returned
to the home between 14th
and 15th avenues after taking the
cash out of a nearby ATM to fi nd the
freebooter in his home around 2 pm
who pointed a gun at him.
Once the thief left, a friend of
the victim chased him outside and
dropped the bag of cash after he
turn and accidentally ran into the
victim and fell, police said.
Run the jewels
A mugger stole a runner’s necklace
off his neck on 16th Avenu.
The victim told police he was
running when the thief pretending
to be new to neighborhood confront
him at the intersection of Cropsey
Avenue around 4:30 pm and put jewelry
on him and then stole his necklace
while taking it off.
Secret shoppers
Masked malefactors swiped electronics
from a Shore Parkway store
on July 3.
Police said the shoplifters took
the items that were on display at
the store between Bay Parkway and
26th Avenue around 2:15 pm by ripping
their wires out.
Phone, wallet, keys
Two marauders mugged a man
on 86th Street stealing cash, his cell
phone and house keys on June 28.
The victim told police the two
brutes came up behind him between
Bay 10th and Bay 11th streets
around 2:45 am and punched him
multiple times in the face and head.
Where’s my car
A carjacker stole someone’s Gray
Jeep parked on Bay 16th Street on
June 27.
The victim told police he left the
vehicle at the location between 17th
Court and Cropsey Avenue with the
keys in it around 10 pm and found
it around the corner double-parked
the next day.
. — Jessica Parks
Man convicted of extortion
in drivers’ license scam
File photo
BY BEN BRACHFELD
A Brooklyn man has been convicted
of kidnapping and extortion
in relation to a commercial drivers’
license scam he ran with coconspirators.
Akmal Narzikulov, 37, was convicted
on all eight counts he was on
trial for, including kidnapping, extortion,
witness tampering, threatening
a co-conspirator at gunpoint,
and conspiracy. The verdict was
handed down by a jury in Brooklyn
federal court, in a trial presided
over by District Court Judge
Brian Cogan.
“With the defendant’s conviction,
he is held accountable for a
long list of crimes, including conspiring
to engage in a brazen cheating
scheme, kidnapping, extortion,
witness tampering and threatening
a co-conspirator at gunpoint,”
Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn
Kasulis said in a statement. “I commend
our prosecutors for laying
out the detailed road map that led
to today’s verdict and for bringing
justice to the individuals who were
harmed by the defendant’s greed
and senseless violence.”
Narzikulov, along with co-defendant
Sherzod Mukumov and
another conspirator who has not
been apprehended, kidnapped a
man in March 2019 who had been
part of the scheme but wanted out,
and had not completed the work he
was expected to in exchange for an
$800 advance. Surveillance video
showed the brutes tasing their
erstwhile pal and dragging him
into a car. The victim allegedly
woke up in a parking garage, and
the trio stole his green card, watch,
and cell phone. They ordered him
to pay them $5,000 and several unpaid
parking tickets. After driving
him to a bank on Kings Highway
and writing a check to cover part
of the debt, the victim reported the
incident to authorities.
On the same night, Narzikulov
threatened another co-conspirator
with a gun in an extortion effort.
He also attempted to bribe prosecution
witnesses to travel overseas
until his trial was over. He
was arrested by the FBI in April
2019, and was found with a handgun,
$300,000 cash, and numerous
fake IDs.
Narzikulov and his cronies had
devised an elaborate scheme to
help paying clients cheat on commercial
drivers’ license tests administered
by the city’s Taxi and
Limousine Commission. The nogoodniks
would transmit correct
answers to test-takers to earbuds
to cell phones they snuck into the
test. The test-takers were wearing
headphones as they took the test.
In one example, a test-taker was
given a shirt with a small hole in
it, as well as a smartphone with
the camera positioned at the hole
so Narzikulov and co could see the
answers and feed them to applicants.
Several of Narzikulov’s co-conspirators
had already pled guilty
at various points over the past two
years. Mukumov pled guilty to kidnapping
in November 2019, and is
awaiting sentencing.