A crew of Uzbek wannabe mobsters was busted Wednesday for swiping $4.5 million of cigarettes, high-end cheese and other goodies from warehouses across the Northeast — in a scheme straight out of “Goodfellas,” The Post has learned.
Crew leader Murad Khasanov and his cronies allegedly used a modern twist on an old-school mob heist — hacking into computer networks and creating forged invoices to convince warehouse workers to simply hand them the haul without ever needing to point a gun, law enforcement sources said.
When they weren’t hitting the road in trucks full of cigarettes, seafood, pricey cheese, meat and copper wires, Khasanov and his partners allegedly lived the high life in ocean-view digs in Brighton Beach and Coney Island, Brooklyn, driving luxury cars and flashing wads of cash at clubs, the sources said.
“These guys acted like they watched every mob movie ever made and emulated American gangsters — the Hollywood version,” one law enforcement source said. “The great American dream, Cosa Nostra-style.”
Cops busted a “surprised” Khasanov early Wednesday after raiding his Surf Avenue high-rise apartment, which boasts a balcony overlooking the Coney Island Boardwalk, sources said.
Officers seized boxes of records, a computer and phones, the sources said.
Two other alleged members of the crew were arrested as well, and all three will be charged with first-degree grand larceny and conspiracy as part of a joint probe by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Port Authority Police and the NYPD.
Khasanov and his alleged crew entered the US illegally during the Biden administration, and do not speak English, one law enforcement source said.
“These guys can’t speak English. Who knows how they got their [commercial driving] license, but they are right out of central casting,” the source said.
Investigators are also looking to see if the Brooklyn group is part of a national syndicate responsible for similar carjackings all over the country, according to the sources.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and other officials were set to reveal more details about the alleged scheme at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
Khasanov and the other defendants were expected to make their first appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon as well. It was not immediately clear which attorneys were representing them.
