Two Men Robbed The Bentley Dealership In Downtown Chicago, During Broad Daylight, This Weekend, And Made Off With Watches Worth Over 2 Million Dollars
ABC7 Chicago - Chicago police are investigating a smash-and-grab robbery at the Gold Coast Exotic Motors dealership.
Officers were called to the 800 block of N. Rush at around 12:11 p.m. Saturday, police said. "We're here to run a legitimate business, not be a western shootout," said Joe Perillo, co-owner, Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars.Shattered glass and empty displays are all that were left after a crime that took mere seconds, ended with millions of dollars worth of jewelry in the hands of thieves.
30 seconds, and they know, the criminals know," Perillos said. "We ran after them on Chestnut, all the way to State Street, and then they split up," said Joe Abbas, co-owner, Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars.
Security video shows two men walking inside the dealership just off the Mag Mile around noon Saturday. One man can be seen standing guard at the door while the other one uses a hammer to smash open the cases. The video, stops short of the men running out with what employees say were at least seven luxury watches, and multiple staff members giving chase.
Employees, unable to nab the crooks as their concerns were quickly replaced with frustration. "I have little kids. I don't want to get shot here," said Abbas. "If they get arrested, they get let go. So, how do you intend to ever solve that problem?" asked Perillo.
This recent luxury heist, coming while Chicago Police, this weekend, have ramped up its presence throughout the downtown area in response to unruly crowds last week and a rise in thefts at high-end stores.
So this happened in broad daylight yesterday. A scene right out of The Dark Knight. In one of the highest-trafficked tourist areas of the city, which means the country. Criminals give negative infinity fucks anymore. They're almost daring the public to stop them.
Here are some other angles of it going down.
Initial reports stated it was just two watches taken, now its as many as seven or eight. Either way, they were worth a shit ton.
Here's what the models were exactly, that nobody is reporting. Again, I'm not a big J journalist like the ones in the "media", I'm just a DJ/bar owner.
(Sidebar- what does it say about our media that a friend sent this video to me and not one of the Chicago outlets?
For the people scoffing at the rest of us for realizing extremely high-end watches can surprisingly get this high in price, look up these makes and models.
There are some wild theories going around about this that I'm not able to write about for obvious reasons, but don't be surprised if this story heats up in the next week. It's worth keeping an eye on.
Chicago is an absolute shit show downtown right now.
The dealership owner Joe Perillo went on air today and went OFF
These smash and grabs are becoming a daily thing. Escalating to the point where criminals are going from beauty products and Walgreens a few months ago-
To exotic car dealerships in broad daylight.
What's really crazy are the people defending the criminals and blaming the businesses.
Including Mayor Lightfoot. Who has gone on the record condemning business owners for not doing more to secure their places of business.
Down is up. Up is down.
This place is the Wild Wild West now.