A gutsy 87-year-old man fought off a brazen pair who tried to tear off his $48,000 Rolex outdoors a Gramercy Park senior middle he was attending together with his spouse, based on cops and the victims.
Larry Schwartz, 87, and Joanna Cuccia, 89, had been approaching the Stein Senior Middle on East twenty third Road close to Third Avenue – a brief distance from their condo – round 11 a.m. Wednesday when the male suspect held the door open and requested Cuccia for instructions to a Walmart, he stated.
“I stated, ‘There aren’t any Walmarts in New York Metropolis,’ after which he stated, ‘Oh, inform my spouse, inform my spouse,’” Cuccia stated.
The stranger, believed to be in his 40s, led Cuccia outdoors to the curb the place a lady sat within the again seat of the passenger aspect of a grey SUV.
As soon as Cuccia met the supposed spouse – who gave the impression to be about 35 years previous – on the window, she shortly sensed one thing was off.
“As I’m speaking, what she had in her hand was a variety of chains and bracelets,” she stated.
“They had been making an attempt to indicate that they had been very wealthy, I suppose. However I wasn’t fascinated with that. She prolonged her hand and I believed she needed to shake, however she then grabbed my hand and began kissing my hand and thoroughly trying on the ring and the watch that I had on. I didn’t like the entire thing.”
The difficulty began when Schwartz, who had been within the foyer, got here out to see what was happening.
The feminine passenger shortly fixated on Schwartz’s Presidential Rolex – which he’s owned for greater than 40 years and values at $48,000 – and instantly supplied him a watch of her personal that gave the impression to be an inexpensive knockoff.
“She dangles this faux Rolex,” Schwartz stated.
“She’s providing me what supposedly was a greater one. Earlier than I even held it, I knew it was faux. I knew there was one thing incorrect.”
As Schwartz held the faux, the grasping girl obtained her fingers on his wrist, he stated.
“So she prolonged her arm and grabbed the watch on my wrist, and she or he was adept sufficient to maneuver my thumb down and flip the catch,” Schwartz recalled.
“So the watch slid off my wrist. Immediately the bells went off. What I did was I grabbed her wrist and pulled her entire physique and smashed it towards the aspect of the open window. She’s screaming.
“And only for good measure, I gave her arm a three-quarter twist,” he added.
“Now, she’s nonetheless holding on to my watch. So what I did was slip my hand below her wrist. I grabbed her wrist and banged her entire physique towards the within of the automotive. She’s screaming like loopy.”
Her male confederate, in the meantime, made a last-ditch effort – retrieving a wad of payments from the automotive and fanning them in entrance of Cuccia’s face.
“He made a fan of it and he stated, ‘Come, select no matter payments you need,’” she stated.
“And at that time I actually knew we had been in deep s–t. It was so weird. I stayed put and didn’t go for that. Within the meantime, Larry’s having a tug-of-war with the bitch that’s making an attempt to get his actual Rolex.”
Lastly, the male driver obtained again into the automotive, turned it on and revved up the engine – prompting Schwartz to let go of Cuccia’s wrist – and the pair hit the street of their silver late mannequin Jeep Compass.
Schwartz refused medical consideration for minor bruises and cuts, cops stated.
Regardless of his age, he stated combating off the would-be thief was a pure intuition for him.
“I’m a bodily individual. I’m not bashful,” he stated.
“I’ve been concerned in bodily issues an excellent a part of my life. I work out with weights on daily basis. I run. I do the entire 9 yards.”
However he stated he doubts that “the overall citizenry” can be “in any situation, form or ability to take them on.”
Schwartz stated he additionally has little hope that the devious duo will wind up in cuffs – or at the very least not for lengthy.
“The most important phrase I can placed on the 2 of them is brazenness,” he stated.
“These individuals haven’t any worry. I feel they haven’t any worry that in the event that they do get caught they’re going to get turned free. However I don’t assume they imagine there’s a lot probability they’re going to get nailed.”
And Cuccia, a seasoned New Yorker, described the late-morning theft try as “stunning.”
“I’ve lived in New York all my life, by way of a variety of administrations, a variety of troublesome crime instances,” she stated.
“I’ve by no means been concerned in something like this. I’ve all the time been on the road, however I’ve by no means been gray-haired earlier than and I really feel extra susceptible than ever.”
Robberies and grand larcenies within the confines of the thirteenth Precinct, which covers the world the place the stick-up occurred, are on the rise thus far this 12 months, based on the newest NYPD information.
A complete of 124 robberies have been reported as of Sunday inside the precinct’s boundaries – a couple of 19 p.c leap from the 104 reported inside the similar timeframe in 2024.
And the precinct tallied 192 grand larcenies thus far in 2025, leaping about 21 p.c from the 159 reported throughout the identical interval final 12 months, the statistics present.
