A gutsy 87-year-old man fought off a brazen pair who tried to tear off his $48,000 Rolex exterior a Gramercy Park senior middle he was attending along with his spouse, based on cops and the victims.
Larry Schwartz, 87, and Joanna Cuccia, 89, have been approaching the Stein Senior Middle on East twenty third Avenue close to Third Avenue – a brief distance from their residence – round 11 a.m. Wednesday when the male suspect held the door open and requested Cuccia for instructions to a Walmart, he mentioned.
“I mentioned, ‘There are not any Walmarts in New York Metropolis,’ after which he mentioned, ‘Oh, inform my spouse, inform my spouse,’” Cuccia mentioned.
The stranger, believed to be in his 40s, led Cuccia exterior to the curb the place a girl sat within the again seat of the passenger aspect of a grey SUV.
As soon as Cuccia met the supposed spouse – who seemed to be about 35 years outdated – on the window, she rapidly sensed one thing was off.
“As I’m speaking, what she had in her hand was loads of chains and bracelets,” she mentioned.
“They have been attempting to indicate that they have been very wealthy, I assume. However I wasn’t considering that. She prolonged her hand and I believed she wished to shake, however she then grabbed my hand and began kissing my hand and punctiliously wanting 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 rapidly fixated on Schwartz’s Presidential Rolex – which he’s owned for greater than 40 years and values at $48,000 – and all of the sudden provided him a watch of her personal that seemed to be an affordable knockoff.
“She dangles this faux Rolex,” Schwartz mentioned.
“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 mistaken.”
As Schwartz held the faux, the grasping lady obtained her arms on his wrist, he mentioned.
“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. Instantly 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 underneath 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 mentioned, ‘Come, select no matter payments you need,’” she mentioned.
“And at that time I actually knew we have 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 attempting 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 mentioned.
Regardless of his age, he mentioned preventing off the would-be thief was a pure intuition for him.
“I’m a bodily individual. I’m not bashful,” he mentioned.
“I’ve been concerned in bodily issues a great a part of my life. I work out with weights day by day. I run. I do the entire 9 yards.”
However he mentioned he doubts that “the final citizenry” could be “in any situation, form or talent to take them on.”
Schwartz mentioned he additionally has little hope that the devious duo will wind up in cuffs – or a minimum of not for lengthy.
“The most important phrase I can placed on the 2 of them is brazenness,” he mentioned.
“These individuals haven’t any worry. I believe 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 suppose they consider there’s a lot probability they’re going to get nailed.”
And Cuccia, a seasoned New Yorker, described the late-morning theft try as “surprising.”
“I’ve lived in New York all my life, by loads of administrations, loads of troublesome crime occasions,” she mentioned.
“I’ve by no means been concerned in something like this. I’ve at all times been on the road, however I’ve by no means been gray-haired earlier than and I really feel extra weak 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 most recent NYPD knowledge.
A complete of 124 robberies have been reported as of Sunday inside the precinct’s boundaries – a few 19 % leap from the 104 reported inside the identical timeframe in 2024.
And the precinct tallied 192 grand larcenies thus far in 2025, leaping about 21 % from the 159 reported throughout the identical interval final 12 months, the statistics present.
