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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Macedonian citizen facing deportation after being linked to the original "Ninja Burglar" spree has been arrested in New Jersey, following a burglary escapade where an accomplice stole a police car to escape, authorities say.
Police in Edgewater, N.J., arrested former Staten Islander Nazmi Papraniku, 28, and current borough resident Fadil Sadiku, 27, following the Monday morning incident.
Back in 2008, police linked Papraniku to a crew of Albanian and Macedonian nationals they thought responsible for a string of burglaries in the Todt Hill and Grymes Hill neighborhood in 2007 and 2008. The media had dubbed the spree the work of the "Ninja Burglar."
Papraniku was loosely connected to those burglaries, according to multiple police sources, but ultimately implicated in a break-in that wasn't part of the Todt Hill-Grymes Hill pattern. He was arrested in November 2007, after a Grasmere homeowner caught him in the act during a break-in.
That led to a 45-day jail sentence, five years of probation, and the start of federal deportation proceedings, sources said. Bergen County Jail records list Papraniku as a citizen of Macedonia, and Sadiku a citizen of Albania.
While it's unclear if he was naturalized, Papraniku's case is under appeal before a federal immigration judge, a law enforcement source said.
Confusion over his status, and the fact that Papraniku remains free to get arrested for burglary again, is particularly frustrating from a law enforcement perspective, the source said.
"Obviously this is a real telling sign that something is broken when someone with questionable citizenship status commits a felony in this country and is not deported," the source said.
One NYPD source added, "It's the federal government. Slow, stop and reverse. That's the only speeds they have."
According to published reports, New Jersey authorities say Papraniku, Sadiku and a third man broke into the storefront next door to Taline Jewelry in Edgewater, early Monday morning, and tried to break in through the wall. An alarm went off, and when officers responded, they found a lookout outside and two men within.
The suspects fled -- police scooped up Papraniku and Sadiku, but the third man managed to steal an Edgewater police car and drive off. That car was found eight hours later in Teaneck, abandoned but still running, with the keys in the ignition, according to police.
A police officer discharged a weapon during the incident, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told the Bergen Record.
Papraniku and Sadiku are both being held on $50,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail as they face burglary and other charges.
One NYPD source said Papraniku never actually committed the burglaries in the "Ninja" pattern, but was close to the crew that committed many of those break-ins. "He was the new kid on the block, just riding around and hanging around with these thugs," the source said.
Instead, he was linked to a different set of break-ins, where the culprits would wait for the other members of their Albanian community to go out to cultural events, then strike their vacant homes.
A second man, Bashkim Capa, 25, was arrested in January 2008, in connection with a May 27, 2007 break-in, after he allegedly left his fingerprints at the scene.
The outcome of that case was sealed, but he was extradited to New Jersey to face criminal charges there, and also faced deportation, according to a law enforcement source. He's still in the United States, with another immigration hearing scheduled for March, the source said.
Similarly, Capa was not believed to have been directly linked to the 19 residential burglaries in the "Ninja" pattern.
Rather, sources said, two other members of the group were believed responsible for several of the break-ins in the Ninja Burglar case, but were never charged.
In April 2008, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said regarding the burglaries, "Investigators believe that an individual suspected (but with insufficient evidence to make an arrest) of being the burglar is among three Albanian nationals currently facing deportation because of their illegal status in the United States."
In the months and years to follow, burglaries continued in the Todt Hill and Grymes Hill area, and just last year, burglars broke into houses on many of the same streets struck in the initial spree.
Investigators have since deemed that the Albanian crew was only responsible for some of the original Ninja pattern, sources said.
Detectives had suspected but could not prove that a handful of those burglaries were committed by a career burglar who was caught stealing a parcel off a Todt Hill doorstep, sources said, while the remainder were committed by yet another party who remains at large, possibly a group with Lucchese crime family connections.
The so-called "Ninja Burglar" pattern garnered nationwide media attention in 2007 and 2008, after a Dongan Hills man reported battling a nunchuck-wielding thief in his kitchen. Police grew skeptical of his account, but the nickname stuck, much to the chagrin on NYPD brass here, who have repeatedly pointed out that any professional burglar dressed all in black and wearing a mask could easily be mistaken for a ninja.
Police in Edgewater, N.J., arrested former Staten Islander Nazmi Papraniku, 28, and current borough resident Fadil Sadiku, 27, following the Monday morning incident.
Back in 2008, police linked Papraniku to a crew of Albanian and Macedonian nationals they thought responsible for a string of burglaries in the Todt Hill and Grymes Hill neighborhood in 2007 and 2008. The media had dubbed the spree the work of the "Ninja Burglar."
Papraniku was loosely connected to those burglaries, according to multiple police sources, but ultimately implicated in a break-in that wasn't part of the Todt Hill-Grymes Hill pattern. He was arrested in November 2007, after a Grasmere homeowner caught him in the act during a break-in.
That led to a 45-day jail sentence, five years of probation, and the start of federal deportation proceedings, sources said. Bergen County Jail records list Papraniku as a citizen of Macedonia, and Sadiku a citizen of Albania.
While it's unclear if he was naturalized, Papraniku's case is under appeal before a federal immigration judge, a law enforcement source said.
Confusion over his status, and the fact that Papraniku remains free to get arrested for burglary again, is particularly frustrating from a law enforcement perspective, the source said.
"Obviously this is a real telling sign that something is broken when someone with questionable citizenship status commits a felony in this country and is not deported," the source said.
One NYPD source added, "It's the federal government. Slow, stop and reverse. That's the only speeds they have."
According to published reports, New Jersey authorities say Papraniku, Sadiku and a third man broke into the storefront next door to Taline Jewelry in Edgewater, early Monday morning, and tried to break in through the wall. An alarm went off, and when officers responded, they found a lookout outside and two men within.
The suspects fled -- police scooped up Papraniku and Sadiku, but the third man managed to steal an Edgewater police car and drive off. That car was found eight hours later in Teaneck, abandoned but still running, with the keys in the ignition, according to police.
A police officer discharged a weapon during the incident, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told the Bergen Record.
Papraniku and Sadiku are both being held on $50,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail as they face burglary and other charges.
One NYPD source said Papraniku never actually committed the burglaries in the "Ninja" pattern, but was close to the crew that committed many of those break-ins. "He was the new kid on the block, just riding around and hanging around with these thugs," the source said.
Instead, he was linked to a different set of break-ins, where the culprits would wait for the other members of their Albanian community to go out to cultural events, then strike their vacant homes.
A second man, Bashkim Capa, 25, was arrested in January 2008, in connection with a May 27, 2007 break-in, after he allegedly left his fingerprints at the scene.
The outcome of that case was sealed, but he was extradited to New Jersey to face criminal charges there, and also faced deportation, according to a law enforcement source. He's still in the United States, with another immigration hearing scheduled for March, the source said.
Similarly, Capa was not believed to have been directly linked to the 19 residential burglaries in the "Ninja" pattern.
Rather, sources said, two other members of the group were believed responsible for several of the break-ins in the Ninja Burglar case, but were never charged.
In April 2008, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said regarding the burglaries, "Investigators believe that an individual suspected (but with insufficient evidence to make an arrest) of being the burglar is among three Albanian nationals currently facing deportation because of their illegal status in the United States."
In the months and years to follow, burglaries continued in the Todt Hill and Grymes Hill area, and just last year, burglars broke into houses on many of the same streets struck in the initial spree.
Investigators have since deemed that the Albanian crew was only responsible for some of the original Ninja pattern, sources said.
Detectives had suspected but could not prove that a handful of those burglaries were committed by a career burglar who was caught stealing a parcel off a Todt Hill doorstep, sources said, while the remainder were committed by yet another party who remains at large, possibly a group with Lucchese crime family connections.
The so-called "Ninja Burglar" pattern garnered nationwide media attention in 2007 and 2008, after a Dongan Hills man reported battling a nunchuck-wielding thief in his kitchen. Police grew skeptical of his account, but the nickname stuck, much to the chagrin on NYPD brass here, who have repeatedly pointed out that any professional burglar dressed all in black and wearing a mask could easily be mistaken for a ninja.
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