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Bronx man sentenced to over 5 years for ‘stealing massive quantities of beer’
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Dec 18, 2025
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By
Giulia Heyward
Published Dec 18, 2025
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A 29-year-old Bronx man was sentenced to more than five years in prison on Thursday for leading a criminal enterprise that prosecutors said stole caseloads of beer from railyards and beverage distribution facilities across four Northeastern states and resold the pilfered pilsners.
“Jose Cesari led an armed crew that repeatedly targeted railyards and warehouses, stealing massive quantities of beer and treating it like easy money,” said Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. “He took part in more than three dozen thefts and recruited others into the scheme.”
Prosecutors said Cesari led a Bronx-based armed crew that carried out more than three dozen beer heists across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York between July 2022 and April 2024, pilfering hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of beer.
During a typical theft, according to prosecutors, Cesari and his team would meet in the Bronx and travel to one of the targeted facilities under cover of night. They would typically travel with at least one U-Haul box truck, prosecutors said, which would be filled with hundreds of cases of stolen beer, primarily Modelo or Corona imported from Mexico. The bilked brews would then be inspected and resold in the Bronx, and each participating crew member would typically be paid hundreds of dollars for the night’s work, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Cesari would use social media to recruit accomplices and showcase his profits. In one photo posted to Instagram and shared by prosecutors, he’s seen climbing a railcar filled with Corona and holding a yellow angle grinder. In other posts, prosecutors said, he advertised that he could provide police scanners and also promised new recruits “100k in ten days.” Another photo posted by Cesari and shared by prosecutors showed him wearing a Corona T-shirt and included a caption in which he boasted that while some people “got rich off of corona virus [virus emoji],” he “got rich off coronas [train emoji].”
Cesari and seven other Bronx men were charged in connection with the scheme in April 2024. He pleaded guilty in July of this year and received a 63-month sentence on Thursday, as well as three years of supervised release afterward.
He must also forfeit $473,710.52 in profits and pay back $518,710.52 in restitution.
Attorney information for Cesari was not made immediately available to Gothamist.
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that a judge sentenced Jose Cesari to a 63-month prison term.
Tagged
public safety
the bronx
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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