'Midnight Smashers' seen ripping ATMs out of small businesses in brazen crime spree on video

A shadowy group of thieves has been ripping off small business owners in New York City – yanking ATMs out of the ground with vans and tow chains or carrying them out of stores by hand, video shows.

At least 49 businesses have been robbed so far in the spree, according to the United Bodegas of America (UBA) trade group, which is offering a $5,000 bounty on the bandits. Bodega is often used as the term for a convenience store or small grocery shop in the city.

The NYPD said investigators believe the thieves are a group of three who are using stolen cars to conduct the crimes, which have been reported in at least 25 of the city's 78 precincts. 

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Radhames Rodriguez, the group's president, told Fox News Digital that authorities need to go back to fully prosecuting low-level crimes and criticized the NYPD's newly announced pursuit policy, which bans police from chasing suspects for non-violent and lower tier crimes.

"While we understand the need for balance in law enforcement, limiting pursuits to only suspects involved in violent felonies and misdemeanors sends a dangerous message to criminals who commit low-level crimes," he told Fox News Digital. "These so-called 'minor offenses' are often the breeding ground for more serious crimes, creating a sense of lawlessness and impunity."

While the city has taken steps to counter rising crime, business owners see the new chase policy as a step backward.

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"Accountability needs to exist at every level of criminal activity," Fernando Mateo, a UBA spokesman, told Fox News Digital. "Low-level crimes must not be dismissed as insignificant because they escalate. Today it’s shoplifting, tomorrow it’s armed robbery."

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Wednesday that new vehicular pursuit guidelines would minimize the risk of collateral damage.

According to the NYPD, 25% of car chases in 2024 led to a collision, property damage or injury. Two-thirds of them started with traffic stops where the suspect fled. Officers are no longer allowed to pursue under such circumstances. 

The new rules limit officers to car chases only for serious crimes – felonies and violent misdemeanors.

"The NYPD’s enforcement efforts must never put the public or the police at undue risk, and pursuits for violations and low-level crimes can be both potentially dangerous and unnecessary," Tisch said in a statement. "The advanced tools of modern-day policing make it possible to apprehend criminals more safely and effectively than ever before, making many pursuits unnecessary."

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The ATM thieves remain at large.

Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant and a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the new guidelines do not actually present a major shift, however.

"The policy has always been that way – it's up to the patrol supervisor to cancel any vehicle pursuit based on certain factors [as] written in the patrol guide," he told Fox News Digital. "She's putting it out there to let everybody know – it was already there, but to reinforce it eventually, the New York City Council will go full Chicago and ban all pursuits, including foot pursuits. It's only a matter of time."

Even as the pendulum appears to have begun swinging back toward a tough-on-crime approach across the U.S., he warned that some blue city leaders are not on board yet.

"The messaging may have changed with the voting in regards to how people feel about what they want the police to do in the United States, but the cities are in firm hands with the defend the police, abolitionist crowd," he said.

While the announcement on its pursuit policy has been criticized, the NYPD made another big change this week – upping patrols on overnight subway cars days after the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority told residents that transit crime was just in their heads.

"The NYPD will be rolling out the ambitious plan to put two officers on every overnight train in phases," the department announced Thursday. "Phase 1 will officially begin on Monday and include the first 100 officers. Additional phases will be rolled out over the coming weeks with the expectation that the full operation will be complete by the end of the month."

Police have released surveillance video showing two of the suspects hauling an ATM out of a store. The UBA also shared video showing them ripping a wall down with a chain attached to the back of a van before stealing another one.

Police are asking for the public's help identifying the thieves.

"It was reported to the police that between Thursday, September 19, 2024, and Thursday, December 26, 2024, there have been a total of 49 incidents involving three unidentified individuals who removed vehicles and license plates," an NYPD spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "The individuals then used these stolen vehicles to travel to commercial establishments where they forcibly entered and removed ATMs and other property. The individuals fled the locations in various vehicles."