March 29, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 13

An armed thug targeted a man as he left a nightclub early on March 22, pistol-whipping him and getting away with his cash.

When the victim left a nightclub on Greenpoint Avenue between Manhattan Avenue and Leonard Street at around 3 am, a crook approached him, yielding a silver handgun.

The mugger struck the victim with his gun, knocking him to the ground and leaving him with a cut above his right eyebrow and swelling on the right side of his face. The thug grabbed the man’s wallet, his cellphone, his credit cards and $420, cops say.

Bag snag

A slaphappy mugger trailed a North 11th Street woman back to her apartment on March 21, smacking her in the head and stealing her designer handbag.

The crook, whom police describe as a woman with straight black hair, trailed the victim from a bar to her home on the corner of Berry Street at around 2:50 am.

After slugging the victim, the crook grabbed her credit cards, digital camera, driver’s license, digital camera, $3,000 Chloe purse, and $94.

Purse curse

Crooks are snatching purses from barstools left and right. Here’s a round-up:

• A $700 gold Coach bag, from a Union Avenue bar at Richardson Street at 2:30 am on March 16.

• A brown Liz Claiborne purse from the same bar, on March 22.

• From a bar at North Eighth Street and Roebling Avenue on March 21.

• A purse containing a Gucci wallet, from bar on North Sixth Street between Berry Street and Wythe Avenue, while the victim was smoking outside.

• A black leather purse containing $700 from a bar on the corner of Bedford Avenue and North Seventh Street, at around 3:30 am.

• A Ninewest purse from a bar at North Sixth and Berry streets, on March 21 at around 1 am.

Phoneless

A teenage crook targeted a 12-year-old girl on March 17, tearing her cellphone from her hands as she walked to school.

The thief grabbed the Sidekick at around 8:20 am on Metropolitan Avenue between Graham and Manhattan avenues.

No photos

Crooks made it hard for a photographer to focus on March 16 when they broke into his Volkswagen.

The thieves smashed the rear driver’s-side window of the car while it was parked at the corner of Lorimer and Jackson streets between 2 am and 8:30 am.

The thieves snatched $2,600 of photography equipment and lights.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper