Cops Arrest ‘Biggest Burglars’ After Month-Long Spree Across Bensonhurst

Four men were arrested and charged for robbing two Bensonhurst residences last week, and police believe they are responsible for a month-long burglary spree in the neighborhood.

Louis Desalvatore, 36, John Catullo, 46, Paul Debenedetto, 37, and Joseph DeBenedetto, 30, were charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of larceny, trespassing, criminal possession of stolen property and other charges on November 19, prosecutors said.

At last week’s Community Council meeting at the 62nd Precinct, Captain William Taylor described how police zeroed in on the suspects and arrested them on November 17.

“This was a great, great arrest,” Taylor said, describing the suspects “some of the biggest burglars that I have ever heard of.”

The 62nd Precinct observed a 30 percent spike in home burglaries last month, so they narrowed down the area in which the crimes were concentrated to a zone of several blocks, Taylor said.

While cops spent two weeks scoping out the area, another burglary occurred on November 17 at 12th Avenue near Bay Ridge Parkway. The female resident left her home in the morning and when she returned in the afternoon, she found the rear door forced open and $2,500 cash had been removed from her home. Her downstairs neighbor was missing jewelry.

That same day, an on-duty officer noticed one of the suspects – a known felon – lurking around the neighborhood, Taylor said. The suspect spotted the cop and immediately jumped in a Ford Explorer, leading to a car chase.

“It was a real game of cat and mouse,” Taylor said. “These are the guys we targeted from the first day and I’m convinced they were doing all of it.”

When police caught up to the men, they found $2,500 in one suspect’s pocket and a bag of jewelry, a crowbar, gloves, and a mask in the glove department.