Eight members of a Bronx crime syndicate, dubbed the “Shiesty 66,” were sentenced after pleading guilty to a bank fraud scheme that netted the thieves more than $10 million, Bronx prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The gang members, who spent their ill-gotten gains on flashy cars, expensive jewelry, designer clothes, and lavish international vacations, were sentenced to between 1 and 6 years in prison and ordered to pay up to $50,000 in restitution, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said.
The scheme saw the defendants employ a variety of nefarious schemes throughout the tri-state area and the West Coast between April 28, 2022, and September 11, 2023. According to the investigation, which included the US Postal Inspection Service, the US Secret Service, NYPD and the Bronx DA’s office, the defendants exploited loopholes in the banking system to commit fraud.
In one of the fraud schemes, the defendants recruited social media users willing to share their debit card information with phony checks then deposited into the willing accomplices’ debit accounts and funds withdrawn from an ATM, according to prosecutors. The debit card holder was later sent a kickback with instructions to report the card stolen.
The Shiesty 66ers also roped homeless people and drug addicts into their scheme. In one case, defendant Moussa Cisse recruited a woman off the street to open an account using a fraudulent check, only for Cisse to flee in a car — the woman’s children seated in the back — after a teller became suspicious and alerted authorities, prosecutors said.
Cisse, who pleaded guilty to enterprise corruption on April 21, was sentenced to 2 to 6 years and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution.
In another case, defendant Souleman Traore presented a forged passport, paperwork and check to a bank teller under the assumed identity of a deceased victim. He fled after a teller became suspicious, and investigators later tied both him and his twin brother, Lahaji Traore, to the crime, according to prosecutors.
Souleman Traore was sentenced to between 2 and 6 years in prison and was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to enterprise corruption.
Lahaji Traore was sentenced to 1 year in prison and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution on after pleading guilty to criminal possession of stolen property, forgery and attempted forgery.
The defendants shared images on social media showing the spoils of their fraud scheme, which included designed duds from Luis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier and Burberry, in addition to designer Rolex watches and vacations to Miami, Kuwait and Paris, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that the defendants stole checks from hundreds of people, and investigators were only able to return funds to some of the victims.
“Over the course of 16 months, these defendants stole millions of dollars from hard working people,” Clark said in a statement. “They recruited vulnerable individuals with no prior involvement in gang activity to assist them in their fraudulent scheme, exploiting them for financial gain. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies, their financial crime spree has ended.”