The Full Story of Mauricio Bercan isn’t just a tale of stolen car parts — it’s a chilling journey into the dark underworld of 1990s New York.
The Story of Mauricio Bercan: The Rise of a Stolen Car Parts Empire
When I tell you this man is a car thief, you might think he steals entire cars, but this man specialized in stealing a specific car part, a part you would never expect or imagine, the last part that might cross your mind. He would then form a gang specializing in stealing these parts and establish a vast, integrated network that would bring him a fortune of up to $60 million. Through this wealth, he would pave his way to the top of the pyramid in the world of mafia gangs and organized crime in New York. This story is about a man who built himself from scratch, in the wrong field, but he started from scratch. We'll see how he used his intelligence and keen observation to assert himself in a difficult world like the mafia and, at the same time, amass a huge fortune.
The Security Situation in New York and Car Thefts in the Nineties
Our story takes place in the nineties, a time when New York City faced a massive problem with car thieves. In a previous video, we saw the story of the Chinese intelligence officer who became the biggest car thief in America, specifically in New York. But this man wasn't the only one working in the field. The story we're seeing today happened five years before the Chinese man's story. At that time, in the nineties, there were gangs and criminal organizations whose entire business revolved around cars. Imagine that in New York alone, over a thousand cars were stolen in a single year. These thefts were varied; sometimes they stole the entire car, and sometimes they broke into the car and stole a specific part, trying to focus on expensive parts. But there was a valuable car part that thieves didn't focus on much; they didn't know its value.
Mauricio Bercan's Discovery of the Unknown Valued Part
You might ask, "How could thieves specializing in cars not know the value of the parts?" The answer is that this part's value wasn't just monetary; it had a secret value that no one had discovered at that time. This part's value would be discovered by a man named Mauricio Bercan. This man would establish the largest empire for selling stolen car parts. Mauricio was of Italian descent; his family immigrated to America in search of a better life. And of course, we all know that Italian immigrants in America are associated with the biggest mafia gangs and organized crime. So, these organized crime societies had layers like ordinary societies. You'd find the small-time gangsters who do what we might call the dirty work, like theft, looting, kidnapping, and even murder. And then there are people at a slightly higher level, who are like the small bosses, sometimes posing as merchants. And of course, there's the highest class, who are the big bosses at the top. So, organized crime society is made up of layers, and the higher you go, the richer and more powerful you become. So, those at the bottom always aspire to grow and reach the top.
Mauricio Bercan's Start in the World of Organized Crime
Our friend Mauricio came from the bottom, a poor background with no connections or anyone to help him. He had to build himself from scratch. So, he started working in dirty jobs; he would steal, loot, and sell what he stole to merchants or people above him. During this period, he kept his eyes open and observed what was most in demand in the market, what had a higher price, and what was easier to steal. He even mingled with the sons of bosses and merchants during that time to chat with them and learn how this business worked. In the end, Mauricio decided to focus on the car parts field because he saw that it was a profitable field and felt that his abilities were suitable for it.
Mauricio Bercan's Evolution into a Stolen Parts Dealer
When he felt he had gained the necessary experience and knew how the business worked, he decided to try to rise to the level of a merchant. So, he started buying car parts from thieves. He knew which parts were most in demand and had the highest profit margin. Even in his early days, he would sell parts from the trunk of his car; he made his car like a mobile shop. And imagine, a part he would buy for, say, $10, he would sell for $100. So, his profit margin was insane. So, his business quickly developed, and his money increased. As soon as he had enough money, he went and opened a shop in 1994 because the shop would give him a legal front and make his business easier. Before, he was buying and selling in the streets, which always exposed him to danger. And those who work in mafias and organized crime know that the first step you must take if you want to become a successful dealer in the world of gangs is to open a shop or a legitimate and legal front through which you can work more comfortably.
Mauricio Bercan Secures His Business from Surveillance
Mauricio opened a shop for selling car spare parts. To make the shop look more legitimate, he would buy genuine spare parts from companies, meaning non-stolen parts. So, even if the police or authorities came and searched the shop for any reason, they would find genuine parts, invoices, and transactions with companies, so no one would suspect him. After he created a legal facade for himself and was fully covered from the front, he now had to pay attention to the back end. In the world of mafias, there's always someone above you. So, if you want to work comfortably in a certain area and in a certain field like cars, you have to pay. And Mauricio knew this, so he always kept things right with those above him and paid the mafia regularly. This money wasn't just to make them leave him alone; no, this money was like protection money. Meaning he was under their protection or under the protection of the boss who controlled that area. This is how things work in that world, which is why it's called organized crime.
The Discovery of the Airbag as a Source of Wealth
Mauricio's business continued to flourish and grow, and he formed stronger relationships with the small-time thieves. He always kept his eyes open for the most valuable parts. The airbag, the air cushion that deploys in an accident, is the part that would transform Mauricio into one of the wealthiest mafia dealers, with his fortune reaching over $60 million. I believe you are still surprised and can't comprehend how a part like an airbag could generate all that money. Let me tell you how. Mauricio noticed that the airbag was one of the easiest parts for a thief to steal from a car. A thief could steal an airbag in less than a minute. And of course, the airbag is small, easy to hide in a bag, making it easy to steal huge quantities of airbags in a short amount of time. For example, if you have a parking lot with 30 cars, you could steal all the airbags from those cars in less than half an hour. This is unlike trying to steal an entire car, for instance, or large parts.
Reasons for the Success of the Stolen Airbag Trade
This also adds an important aspect to the operation: tracking airbags is much harder than tracking entire cars and large parts. Imagine that at that time, airbags didn't even have serial numbers; they didn't have a serial. So, after they were stolen, tracking them was impossible. And of course, hiding and storing them was also easy because they are small parts. And most importantly, they were expensive; the price of a single airbag could reach $1,000 to $2,000, and sometimes more. And money at that time was worth double what it is today. All these reasons made the airbag the perfect part for someone like Mauricio to build a fortune. And there's an additional advantage, which we'll mention later, an advantage Mauricio himself hadn't even considered, and it would make his business skyrocket.
Mauricio Bercan Establishes His Specialized Gang
But just to not get ahead of ourselves, the first thing Mauricio did was to start studying and learning about airbags, identifying the types, how they are removed, and how they are installed. Then he formed his own specialized group of thieves. He chose its members himself, of course, through his work with these thieves throughout the past period; he got to know them and knew who the best among them were. So, he took the distinguished ones and hired them. And he started teaching them how to remove airbags quickly and professionally. So, his thieves started working and collecting these airbags and bringing them to his shop. From the beginning, Mauricio knew that this airbag business would skyrocket. The quantities his followers and gang were bringing in were enormous, and the demand was high. Mauricio's customers were mostly mechanics and owners of car repair shops. So, the airbags would come in from here and immediately go out from there.
Police Notice an Increase in Airbag Thefts
Mauricio wasn't stingy with his thieves; he paid them handsomely because he knew that their loyalty to him was proportional to the money he gave them. Despite this, his profit margin was insane. He would pay around $200 for one airbag and sell it for $1,000 to $2,000 or even more. The New York police started noticing an increase in reports of airbag thefts, and they were surprised by this new trend. They would receive a theft report, go to check the car, and find it in perfect condition, but the airbag was missing. So, they didn't really understand what was going on. But after a short period of investigations, they started to understand the secret. These airbags didn't have serial numbers, so tracking them was impossible. And because they were small in size and quick and easy to steal, it was difficult to catch these thieves in the act.
Police Challenges in Apprehending Mauricio Bercan's Organization
And when they learned that the prices of these airbags reached $1,000, $2,000, and more, the picture became clear to them, and they realized that there was an organization behind these operations. Even after they finally managed to catch some of the thieves who were stealing airbags, the thieves refused to admit to anything. When the investigators asked one of them, "Who's behind you? Who's paying you?" his answer was, "I'm working alone." So, he would take all the blame on himself because they knew that airbag theft was considered a minor theft. So, the thieves would just spend a few hours in jail and get out after paying a fine and compensation, and that was it. In other words, there wasn't even a punishment that could deter them or force them to confess who was orchestrating them. And airbag thefts continued throughout New York; thousands of airbags were stolen every single day of the year. So, the problem became widespread, and the police were bewildered, unable to reach the source or the mastermind.
Mauricio Bercan's Empire Expands with a Warehouse and Workshop
On the other side, our friend Mauricio was living the dream to the fullest. Imagine that due to the sheer quantity of airbags his thieves were stealing, he no longer knew where to store them. So, he decided to open a large workshop he called "All In One." This workshop was a huge warehouse; part of it was a storage facility for spare parts and airbags, and the rest was a workshop. So, instead of Mauricio selling airbags to mechanics and workshop owners, he started replacing them for people or selling them directly to people and earning more. And imagine, he even started offering a shipping service across America. If you live on the other side and need an airbag, your order would reach you. And brazenly, he even started advertising his company and calling himself the "Airbag King." He published advertisements in magazines, newspapers, and even online, even though the internet was just emerging.
Mauricio Bercan Recruits an Accountant to Manage His Huge Funds
Of course, all of this made the business flourish, and money accumulated for Mauricio in the millions. He had so much cash that he didn't know where to put it. And here, he started to fear something else; he started to fear financial auditing. If the authorities decided to audit his sources of income and the massive amount of money coming in, he could get into trouble. So, Mauricio decided to find a skilled accountant who could handle his financial records and make everything appear legal because this is an important aspect of organized crime. Mauricio had a friend named Ellen, whom he had known since high school. Ellen was an experienced accountant. So, Mauricio contacted her and asked her to meet him in his office. During the meeting, he told her that he was in the car parts business and wanted her to be his accountant. And when Mauricio showed her the financial records they had, she immediately knew that something was wrong and that this place was not a clean business. After Mauricio felt that she understood what was happening, he told her that all she needed to do was organize these records and make all financial transactions appear legitimate and legal.
Using Checks for Money Laundering and Operations Organization
Ellen was hesitant at first, but Mauricio tempted her with a good salary, so she finally agreed. One of the things she advised him to do was to start dealing with checks because checks give the business and company more legitimacy. So, Mauricio contracted with a check cashing company, and he started paying all his employees, and even the thieves working for him, with checks. So, after they received the checks, they would go and collect their money from this check cashing company. So, the cash, instead of passing through Mauricio's company, started passing through this check company, making the situation appear more legitimate. After that, Mauricio decided to distance himself from the dirty side of the business. Before, he himself managed the thieves working with him, so he decided to promote three of these thieves and make them close assistants. These three would manage the rest of the thieves and manage all aspects of the thefts. As for him, he would be at the top, isolating himself more from the dirty work. So, the business was organized and running smoothly, not just financially, but also in terms of efficiency and management.
Mauricio Bercan's Customer Service and Market Impact
Imagine, they could receive an order for a specific airbag and not have that type available in stock, so the team of thieves would steal that type of airbag on the same day, meaning service in less than 24 hours, better than agencies, man. Mauricio worked on a "customer satisfaction is our goal" system. And he literally dominated the airbag market. Imagine your car's airbag being stolen by thieves at night, and you go in the morning to replace it at his workshop. This is the added advantage that Mauricio himself hadn't accounted for. He was creating the problem and solving it. Supply and demand became his game; he was the one who stole and he was the one who sold, as if he had found an infinite money glitch.
Mauricio Bercan Aspires to Social Status
And if you can imagine the sheer success his company achieved, Mauricio won an award called "Dealer of the Year Award." So, anyone who saw him from the outside, without knowing his secrets, would say that this is a hardworking person who worked his way up and became a big businessman. The wealth Mauricio managed to accumulate made him one of the wealthiest individuals in the organized crime world in New York. So, he bought luxurious houses and expensive cars and lived a life of luxury. But this wealth was not enough for him; he was also looking for something else: he wanted respect and status. And usually, in the world of mafias, you won't get this status unless you are part of the bosses' families, because mafias are always associated with families. And as we said, Mauricio came from an ordinary poor family with no ties to mafia bosses. So, for Mauricio to reach this status, he needed to become part of a boss's family.
Police Uncover Mauricio Bercan's Involvement Through a Thief's Confession
From there, he met Carol Montana, who was the daughter of one of those bosses. Mauricio kept getting closer to her and expressed his admiration for her. Most likely, her status was the most important thing to him, even if she was beautiful and had other good qualities; I think he just saw her as the boss's daughter. That alone made her the ideal woman for him. Then Mauricio approached her father, and her father was already impressed with him and admired that he made his own way and managed to reach this level through his own efforts. So, the boss immediately approved their engagement, and Mauricio and Carol became engaged. So, here you feel that Mauricio had achieved all his goals: wealth, a wife, and status. But in the world of gangs and crime, you must know that even if life turns rosy, everything can turn black in an instant. The police managed to catch one of the thieves working for Mauricio. So, you might say, "What's the problem? In the end, he'll be jailed for a few hours and released with a fine, as usual." Not true, unfortunately for Mauricio, while he was stealing an airbag from a car, this thief was caught assaulting and beating someone to steal from them. And this is considered a serious crime that could get him in serious trouble. So, this thief was willing to do anything to get out of this mess. And he knew that the police surely wanted the information he had about the airbag empire Mauricio had built.
Police Track Mauricio Bercan's Operations
So, he made a deal with them that he would tell them what he knew in exchange for them dropping the charges against him. The police agreed, and the thief gave them everything; he told them about Mauricio and his company, "All In One," and told them how this whole operation worked. Immediately afterward, there was a police surveillance team in front of Mauricio's workshop. And they immediately noticed that people carrying large bags were entering the workshop and leaving without these bags. And they immediately knew that these bags contained the stolen airbags. So, they started preparing themselves to set up an ambush. But Mauricio was one step ahead of them because he was very cautious. He had installed surveillance cameras around the workshop building from all directions. He immediately noticed the van the police were hiding in.
Mauricio Bercan's Continuous Caution Towards the Police
So, the first thing he did was call his assistants and order them to stop delivering stolen parts to the workshop. After that, the detectives tried to follow Mauricio by car, but Mauricio was observant and knew they were following him. To make sure, he even made a move where he turned right three times. The move of turning right three times is an ideal move to know if the car behind you is following you. Because when you turn right three times, you'll be like you're going in circles, so if the car behind you turns with you three times, it means it's following you. Even the police who were following him, when they saw him make this move, knew that he knew they were following him. From then on, Mauricio became very cautious and made his assistants store the stolen airbags in another place; they no longer brought them directly to the workshop.
The Evolution of Airbag Tracking Devices and Their Impact on Investigations
Police investigations continued for months without them being able to find anything to incriminate Mauricio. Even once, they tried a trick: they sent an undercover police officer with an airbag to try and sell it to Mauricio. But Mauricio immediately sent him back and refused to buy from him. Mauricio didn't just buy from any random person; he had his own thieves and didn't take from any outside thief. Nevertheless, the police kept trying the same trick, but it didn't work for them. They wanted to penetrate his small circle; they wanted one of them to be an undercover thief among them, but Mauricio was always cautious and didn't let anyone in. And imagine, these investigations continued for a year and a half, and they couldn't catch him. Until 1997 arrived. That year, the Japanese company Honda decided to put serial numbers on the airbags of their cars. And this was unprecedented and would greatly help the police in their investigations. Because now, if they could recover one of Honda's airbags, they would be able to track that airbag and know if it was a genuine spare part or a stolen airbag. So, the investigators focused on Honda cars. And any new Honda car whose airbag was stolen, they would immediately take the serial number of the stolen airbag and create a special list containing all the serial numbers of stolen Honda car airbags.
Conclusive Evidence Leads to Mauricio Bercan's Arrest
Then they called "All In One," Mauricio's company, and simply asked for Honda airbags from the same new models for which they now had the serial numbers. And when these airbags arrived, they were indeed able to confirm that at least one of them was on their list, meaning it was stolen. This was the first strong evidence they obtained in the case after more than a year and a half of investigations. But they still needed more and stronger evidence; they didn't want to arrest Mauricio and his group until they were sure that the evidence they had would destroy this entire organization. So, they obtained a search warrant from the court to search the postal packages that Mauricio's company sent throughout America. This search warrant allowed the police to open the postal packages, confirm their contents, then close them and allow them to be shipped normally as if they had not been opened—a secret search. This search showed them the huge quantity of airbags that Mauricio's company was selling. And they were able to confirm that a number of these airbags were indeed stolen. So, the evidence they had became stronger, but they weren't satisfied with that. They decided to also look into the company's financial records. And these records led them to the check cashing company that Mauricio was using. This check cashing company, as we said, cashed all the checks brought by Mauricio's employees and thieves. And the thieves were registered as employees of the company. What Mauricio didn't know was that the check cashing company photographed every transaction that occurred; it photographed the check and the face of the person who received the amount. There was a camera in front of the teller, so all of Mauricio's thieves and employees had their photos at the check cashing company. So, Mauricio, who was using the check cashing company to make his business more legitimate, ultimately, this decision turned against him and his followers. And these photos and transactions confirmed that Mauricio was dealing directly with these thieves. So, at this point, the investigators knew they had all the evidence they needed, and it was time for the arrest.
Mauricio Bercan's Arrest During His Honeymoon
Imagine, these investigations took 18 months to reach this point. So, a team of police and investigators went to Mauricio's house with an arrest warrant from the court. This warrant allowed them to break into the house and search it completely. So, as soon as they arrived, they broke down the door, stormed the house immediately, and began searching the rooms. But the unpleasant surprise they found was that the house was empty; there was no one there. This made them fearful and worried that Mauricio had learned about the arrest and managed to escape and might now be on his way to another country. But after searching the house, they noticed a table with gifts, and they quickly realized that these were his wedding gifts. Mauricio had just gotten married, and next to the gifts was a list of wedding guests. This list contained the names of mafia gang bosses and well-known figures in the organized crime world, whom the police even knew about. It also included some of the airbag thieves working for Mauricio whom the police had been tracking. Of course, as we mentioned, the police learned about the airbag thieves and their identities through the check cashing company. The list also included Mauricio's father and mother, with their phone numbers next to their names. So, the investigators decided to try to call his mother and get her to reveal his location. One of them called her and told her that Mauricio's house had been broken into by thieves and that they needed to contact him. The mother told them that her son, Mauricio, was currently on his honeymoon with his wife on one of the Hawaiian islands. And she gave them his phone number that he was using there. So, the investigators called him and told him that his house had been burglarized. During the call, they were able to track the number he was using and found out that it belonged to one of the resorts on the island of Maui, Hawaii.
The Fate of Mauricio Bercan's Empire and Its End
After confirming his location, they called the FBI office in Hawaii and asked them to arrest him. The FBI agents there quickly moved, identified the resort where Mauricio was staying, found out his room number, went to his room, stormed it, and arrested him in the middle of his honeymoon. And from that moment, the airbag empire collapsed. The number of airbags that Mauricio and his gang stole during the years they were operating is estimated to be around 40 to 50 thousand airbags. And the fortune Mauricio alone amassed from this operation reached $60 million. And as I told you, money at that time was worth double its value today. In the end, most of Mauricio's properties were confiscated; as for his money, God knows if he hid any of it in a secret place. He was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit thefts. The sentence is honestly light compared to what we've seen in other cases. So, I don't know the circumstances and details of this ruling. Certainly, the fact that these operations were unarmed and not dangerous or violent contributed to the lighter sentence. I searched for Mauricio online and found this page on LinkedIn. He describes his professional profile as an operations manager with extensive experience in the automotive field and high skills in management and sales. I think after seeing his story, we can all attest to that.
📚 Sources:
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FBI Archives – Detailed insights on car theft rings in New York during the 1990s.
FBI – Vehicle Theft Reports -
New York Times Archive – Investigative articles on stolen car parts and underground markets.
The New York Times – Car Theft Articles -
National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) – Statistics and patterns of organized car theft.
NICB – Organized Crime & Auto Theft -
History.com – Background on organized crime and the rise of vehicle theft empires.
History – Organized Crime in the U.S. -
Queens Local News Archives – Coverage of police busts and local car theft operations.
QNS – Queens Car Theft Stories