Riverdale Ave. banks targeted

Police said they arrested the suspect in a Feb. 10 robbery at the 5671 Riverdale Ave. Citibank and the Chase Bank across the street the previous week. 

They said short-lived robbery streak began on Feb. 4 at 5:05 p.m. when Paul Ryan, 47, walked into the Chase Manhattan Bank at 5656 Riverdale Ave. and passed a note to the teller, threatening to shoot people unless the employee gave him money.

“The teller handed him a stack of money and he fled northbound on Riverdale Avenue to an unknown location. We don’t know where he went,” said Capt. Terence O’Toole, the commanding officer of the 50th Precinct. “The video in the bank was good, we tweeted it, posted it out and stuff, distributed wanted posters.”

Capt. O’Toole said that the NYPD’s major crimes unit was investigating the case until last Wednesday at 3:15 p.m., when a similar robbery occurred at the Citibank across the street. Mr. Ryan allegedly passed a teller a note demanding cash again.  

“We responded to the robbery, we were canvassing the area and we observed him on Broadway around 256th Street,” Capt. O’Toole said. “We stopped him and he was positively identified as the perpetrator.”

He added that officers recovered $1,100 that Mr. Ryan had stolen from the Citibank and arrested him.  According to police, Mr. Ryan had prior arrests and convictions for robbery in similar situations. 

“He made statements implicating himself in the other robbery. He admitted to both of them,” Capt. O’Toole said. “He got out of jail recently… in mid-December, I believe. He had a couple of robberies in his past.”

Mr. Ryan was arraigned on Feb. 11 and charged with robbery in both cases.

A woman who went to Citibank moments after the Feb. 10 robbery said she was shaken by the incident.

“When I got there, they were in the process of closing the bank and there were lots and lots of police there,” said Maxine Kapowitz. “If I had gotten there maybe three minutes earlier, I would’ve seen it.”