{"id":295643,"date":"2026-07-14T17:37:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295643\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:37:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:37:45","slug":"brazen-thieves-steal-catholic-statues-in-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295643\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazen Thieves Steal Catholic Statues in Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\"\"Property owner Giovanno Battaglia says he was determined to put a new statue of St. Anthony in the same spot as the one that was stolen because it was important to his faith. \u201cWe are Catholic. We came from Sicily. I remember my mother used to go to church every morning at 7,\u201d he adds. (Photo: Paula Katinas)<\/p>\n

HOWARD BEACH\u00a0\u2014\u00a0When\u00a0Giovanni\u00a0Battaglia\u00a0learned that a statue of\u00a0St. Anthony\u00a0he\u00a0had placed in front of\u00a0an office\u00a0building he owns\u00a0in Howard Beach\u00a0had been\u00a0ripped from its pedestal and\u00a0stolen, he decided\u00a0he\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0going to let the\u00a0thieves\u00a0win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u00a0got another\u00a0statue of\u00a0St. Anthony\u00a0from his son, painted it the colors of the original,\u00a0and put it where the old\u00a0one\u00a0had been\u00a0for more than 25 years.\u00a0This time, however, he secured the statue with\u00a0a\u00a0pedestal and\u00a0a\u00a0chain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019m going to replace it, but I want to make sure that this time they\u2019re going to have a hard time if they\u00a0try to steal it again,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Battaglia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The theft of\u00a0Battaglia\u2019s\u00a0St. Anthony\u00a0statue\u00a0is\u00a0part of a\u00a0troubling\u00a0spree of\u00a0thefts\u00a0of religious statues in\u00a0Howard Beach and Ozone Park that have angered and perplexed Catholics in the two\u00a0communities and\u00a0led a local\u00a0councilwoman\u00a0to call for stricter law enforcement\u00a0penalties\u00a0for the crimes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are concerned.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0concerned that their faith is under attack,\u201d said Phyllis\u00a0Inserillo, president of the Howard Beach Lindenwood Civic Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Vandal Spray Paints Statue Outside St. Rita Church, Writes \u2018Pagan\u2019 on Sidewalk<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the NYPD, there\u00a0were\u00a0four thefts of religious statues in the\u00a0Howard\u00a0Beach and Ozone Park communities\u00a0between\u00a0June 11\u00a0and June 25.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0theft of\u00a0Battaglia\u2019s\u00a0St. Anthony statue, which\u00a0stood outside\u00a0Rockwood Park Chiropractic\u00a0at 91-17 157th\u00a0Ave.,\u00a0was the first\u00a0incident reported to the NYPD.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, on June 23, a homeowner reported the theft of two statues \u2014 one of the Blessed Mother and\u00a0another\u00a0of St. Pedro \u2014 from the front\u00a0of a\u00a0home\u00a0near\u00a0Bristol Avenue and Hawtree Street in\u00a0Ozone Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Someone\u00a0struck Ozone Park again\u00a0the following day, stealing a statue of the Blessed Mother\u00a0from a property\u00a0near\u00a0Bristol Avenue and Centerville Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NYPD\u2019s Hate Crime Task Force was notified of\u00a0all\u00a0of the\u00a0incidents, officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No suspects have been arrested.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On\u00a0July 13, the same day The Tablet visited Howard Beach to report on the thefts,\u00a0the\u00a0office\u00a0of Councilwoman Joann Ariola<\/a>, who\u00a0represents\u00a0the neighborhood,\u00a0notified\u00a0the newspaper that a fifth incident\u00a0was reported to them\u00a0by a local homeowner that same day.\u00a0The thief removed a statue of the Blessed Mother from\u00a0the\u00a0front of a house in the vicinity of 159th\u00a0Avenue and 98th\u00a0Street, according to the councilwoman\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Howard Beach, nestled in the southwest corner of\u00a0Queens, is a\u00a0neighborhood\u00a0where statues of\u00a0the Blessed Mother, Jesus Christ,\u00a0and saints like St. Anthony are common sights\u00a0on front lawns.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond the monetary value of the statues, they\u00a0are beloved\u00a0by community residents, who often stop in front of a statue to say a quick prayer while walking down the\u00a0street, Ariola said.\u00a0\u201cThey become very personal to the people who live there. People pass by and say\u00a0their\u00a0prayers,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ariola\u00a0believes the thefts are a\u00a0deliberate\u00a0attack on Catholics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are\u00a0quite targeted at the Catholic\u00a0community,\u201d said\u00a0Ariola,\u00a0who is Catholic, also lamenting the fact that\u00a0the law\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0appear to have\u00a0any\u00a0teeth\u00a0when it comes to\u00a0punishments for these types of crimes.\u00a0\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be a\u00a0slap\u00a0on the wrist,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Battaglia\u00a0is praying that his replacement statue of St. Anthony\u00a0stays put.\u00a0\u201cIt makes us feel good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Property owner Giovanno Battaglia says he was determined to put a new statue of St. Anthony in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-295643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}