New Video: Millions In Fur Coats Stolen From Dennis Basso's On Upper East Side
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are searching for three suspects after at least 20 furs worth millions were stolen from a store on the Upper East Side on Christmas Eve.
Surveillance video shows the bandits using a concrete block to smash through the front door of Dennis Basso's high-end fur store at around 5 a.m. Saturday.
"He went in right behind the rock that he threw, and then right behind him, the second try -- runs through," the store's manager, who asked not to be identified, said. "He was running at the same time with the big metal beam coming down -- right at the same time as the metal beam was coming down."
"In the video you can see him getting hit on the head," he added.
The manager believes the bandits were casing out the store the day before the burglary.
"They definitely knew where those pieces were hanging, 'cause the first guy went directly to that," the manager said.
He told CBS2's Dave Carlin that he got the 5 am wake-up call from the alarm company.
He then went and saw how suspects used the block of granite to shatter the reinforced glass out front.
Now the area is boarded up.
CBS2 reported that one of the suspects is likely nursing cuts and bruises because at one point he was hit on the head when the top section of door frame came crashing down.
Police are hoping the surveillance footage will help lead them to an arrest.
People who live and work around the store say this is a crime so brazen it just doesn't happen very often.
"This is the craziest I've seen so far with all those furs and all that money added up like that," said Tyrone Hall.
Dennis Basso -- who has a VIP celebrity clientele -- is rushing home from an oversees trip. CBS2 reported the coats were insured, but without the product to immediately replace them his store will struggle.
The hope is that if the three thieves are caught quickly then the pricey coats may just be recovered too.
