Moped bandits rob New York bartenders at gunpoint: ‘Super rattling’

A pair of moped bandits robbed two Brooklyn bar hoppers at gunpoint — the latest in a crime spree centered on the two-wheeled getaway vehicles, police and victims said Friday.

A 32-year-old actor and her 29-year-old girlfriend were walking from Twins Lounge to Ponyboy bar in Greenpoint around 11:20 p.m. Thursday when a man wearing a ski mask jumped off the back of the moped and pulled a gun from his waistband, the sources said.

According to police and the victim, he pointed the gun at the 29-year-old’s chest and demanded his watch, then grabbed the 32-year-old’s bag.

The crook then got back on the moped and its driver drove away along Manhattan Avenue, near Norman Avenue.

“It was very fast, but obviously it was super rattly. “I have lived in the area for over seven years now and have never felt unsafe,” said the 32-year-old victim, who did not want to be named out of concern for her safety.

Growing up in Venezuela, she said she could tell the bandits were from her home country “based on their accent.”

“It’s pretty insane that this is happening here,” she said.

“My family left Venezuela because this kind of crime is very common there, and they just didn’t want us to grow up in that kind of lack of security.”

The incident comes after two thieves on mopeds stormed the popular Chinese restaurant Birds of a Feather in Williamsburg earlier this week and held three guests at gunpoint.

On Wednesday, a robber pointed a gun at a Canadian man’s head and grabbed his $40,000 Rolex watch in the heart of Greenwich Village before fleeing on a moped.

On June 18, two armed, moped-riding robbers also stole a man’s watch worth $100,000 outside the popular Carbone nightspot in Manhattan, police said.

Police said Friday that the Greenpoint robbery did not appear to be related to previous moped thefts.

The 29-year-old victim, who also asked not to be named, said they were likely targeted because the crooks spotted his expensive timepiece.

“I don’t think it was random,” he said.

“As if they saw from a distance that I was wearing a very expensive watch. Or someone told them.”

Ultimately, the 32-year-old victim said she got her iPhone back after using the Find My iPhone app to track it to a bar where the thieves had thrown it away.

She said that police officers to whom she reported the crime later told her that moped robberies were increasing.

“They were like, yeah, unfortunately, it happens,” she said.

She said police led her through the neighborhood looking for the robbers.

Back at the station, she asked an officer for advice.

“(I asked) If you had children who lived in this neighborhood, what would you tell them?” she said.

“And one of them literally said, leave New York.”