{"id":320184,"date":"2026-08-13T08:40:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/320184\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T08:40:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:40:48","slug":"queens-woman-admits-leading-2-8m-mail-theft-kidnapping-and-violent-crime-enterprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/320184\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Woman Admits Leading $2.8M Mail Theft, Kidnapping and Violent Crime Enterprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Jersey<\/a><\/p>\n

By: Richard L. Smith\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Queens woman admitted leading a wide-ranging criminal enterprise that federal prosecutors said involved the theft of millions of dollars in checks, the kidnapping of a luxury car businessman, attacks on postal workers and an attempted shooting.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to information released by U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer, 29-year-old Silvia Vasquez Rivera pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit a pattern of racketeering activity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors said Vasquez Rivera led an operation that obtained stolen U.S. Postal Service keys and used them to access collection boxes and steal mail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Authorities said members of the enterprise conspired to steal mail on approximately 100 occasions and advertised more than 1,400 stolen checks for sale online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The checks totaled more than $2.8 million, according to federal officials.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The criminal activity extended beyond mail theft, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

In May 2023, following an unsuccessful investment involving a luxury car business, Vasquez Rivera allegedly arranged for masked men to assault and kidnap a victim.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal authorities said the victim was transported from New York to New Jersey and back before being held for ransom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The victim was released after family members and friends made a ransom payment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also said that in March 2024, after Vasquez Rivera was robbed of proceeds connected to the enterprise, she directed associates to fire gunshots into a vehicle in the Bronx that she believed contained the person responsible for the robbery.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several months later, in August 2024, Vasquez Rivera directed members of the organization to steal keys from two USPS mail carriers, according to federal authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One postal worker was assaulted and required hospitalization, while a gun was brandished at another carrier.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vasquez Rivera now faces a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her sentence will ultimately be determined by the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Jersey By: Richard L. Smith\u00a0 A Queens woman admitted leading a wide-ranging criminal enterprise that federal prosecutors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-320184","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\/320184","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=320184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}