Manhattan
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Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying the man pictured at right, who allegedly mugged an 85-year-old woman in her Chinatown apartment building.
The suspect was in an elevator with the woman as she rode up to her floor in the Alfred E. Smith Houses near Madison Street at 10:45 a.m. last Sunday, investigators said.
He followed her off the elevator and pounced the moment she opened her apartment door, police said.
He allegedly knocked her to the floor, grabbed her pocketbook, ransacked her apartment and made off with an undetermined amount of cash.
The elderly woman declined medical attention at the scene, investigators added.
The suspect was described as appearing to be in his 20s, about 5-foot-7 and weighing about 140 pounds.
Queens
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Two men are being sought for questioning in connection with armed robberies in at least nine convenience stores throughout Queens and Manhattan, cops said.
The stickup spree has been under way since May 11, with the duo hitting stores in Astoria, Flushing and Woodhaven in Queens, as well as the Upper East Side of Manhattan, police said.
The suspects (left) struck again last Sunday, holding up the Orlando News Store on York Avenue at about 7 p.m. to the tune of $1,000 and some packs of cigarettes, according to investigators.
The commuting duo then headed over to Woodhaven, Queens, where they allegedly robbed the M&N Deli and Grocery on Atlantic Avenue, of about $200.
Both suspects were described as standing about 6 feet tall and weighing about 190 pounds.
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Cops say a 53-year-old woman wearing leg braces was knocked off her bicycle in Jackson Heights and forced into a van by five thugs who blindfolded her and repeatedly hit her while screaming, “Where’s the money?”
The gang (one of whom appears in the police sketch above) leaped out of a green Honda Odyssey on 30th Avenue near 73rd Street at 11:30 p.m. last Saturday, cops said.
They sent the woman sprawling to the ground, grabbed her, wrapped a rag around her eyes, pistol-whipped her and tossed her into the van, according to witnesses.
The same woman two years ago was the victim of a burglary in which $500,000 in cash was stolen from her local business, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday. There has yet to be an arrest in that case, Kelly added.
Brooklyn
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The body of a 36-year-old man who had just returned earlier that day from drug rehab was found hanging from a rafter in his Bushwick home, law-enforcement sources said.
His girlfriend made the grisly discovery in their Locust Street apartment at 11:20 p.m. Monday and desperately tried to cut him loose but was unable to save him, the sources said, adding that he was wearing a backpack filled with weights.
Police found used heroin baggies in the couple’s bathroom and confirmed that the man had just gotten back from a drug- detoxification center.
The Bronx
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This guy gives bicycle thieves an even worse name.
Antonio Stewart, 51, knocked a man off his bike near Decatur Avenue and East 198th Street in Norwood at 3:40 p.m. last Sunday and rode off, according to a Criminal Court complaint.
But when the ticked-off bicyclist got off the ground and managed to chase down the crook, Stewart got off the bike and punched the man several times in the face, causing minor injuries, according to court papers.
As it turns out, Stewart should have just kept pedaling away, because the time it took to beat up the bike owner gave cops a better chance to catch up with him, police said.
He was arrested a short time later on charges of robbery, assault and grand larceny, according to cops.