A violent two-man crime team – wanted for at least six stickups in Greenwich Village over the past month – was busted when cops nabbed the duo as they trolled for another victim early yesterday, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
Authorities said the two suspects’ mode also fit the pattern of robberies in the East Village and Chelsea in which the thugs would approach their victims from behind and either draw a gun or knock them to the ground.
Adam Temple, 21, and Anthony Lindsay, 30, were captured at West 12th Street and Eighth Avenue at around 12:35 a.m. after cops from the Sixth Precinct Anti Crime Unit recognized them from police sketches.
A police source said, “They were lurking in the shadows of a building. Something was not right. They took off immediately.”
The alleged muggers tried to run, but the cops chased them down. Temple was spotted tossing a 9 mm pistol aside before he was tackled and was later found with a stolen credit card.
That card belonged to a 55-year-old woman who had been held up in front of 68 E. Third St. in the East Village.
“Two cop cars pulled up and other cops were running down the middle of street. The cop cars screeched up to the intersection. It was very dramatic,” said one witness. “Neighbors even stuck their heads out their windows to watch. They were saying, ‘Did they get them? Did they get them?’ I think people were definitely aware of the robbery spree and scared.”
Officer Arthur Truscelli, Detective James Gillespie and Lt. Michael Casey were among the cops who chased down the suspects.
“The cops looked like they knew what they were doing. They were pretty much in control,” the witness said.
Kelly said the suspects were more than likely hunting for their latest prey when they were caught.
“It certainly is possible that they were going to rob someone else,” he said of the pair, who were charged with one count of robbery and weapons possession. Other charges were pending.
In a mugging on Dec. 4, police said the suspects broke the jaw of a 25-year-old banker when they pushed her to the ground and tried to snatch her purse on West 11th Street.
But the woman sprayed Mace at the attackers, who ran off.