An Ozone Park man was arrested by FBI agents Wednesday, April 20, for allegedly conspiring to rob an armored truck at the Resorts World New York City casino and hotel where he worked security, but not as an armed guard, according to federal prosecutors.
Selwyn Balkissoon, 55, appeared in Brooklyn federal court on Thursday and was charged with plotting a heist that was supposed to go down on April 21.
Balkissoon allegedly began plotting the heist in late March with an individual who was an FBI confidential informant, according to court documents. On April 8, Balkissoon placed a call to the informant describing how simple it would be to rob an armored truck at Resorts World.
“Look how easy it is, if you pull up next to him. He don’t even know that you pull up next to him,” Balkissoon allegedly said to the confidential informant. “You pull that door, you blast his a**, and within 30 seconds’ time you take eight or 10 of them bags.”
Balkissoon went on to suggest the individual recruit another person to help conduct the armed robbery and offered to drive them around the Resorts World property so he could show them how they could rob an armored truck without being detected.
“All you need is minutes, open the door, spray his a**, slam to the ground and boom, when you pull up with your trunk open one time, boom, boom, boom, back up, take the f**k off,” Balkissoon said. “If you want, go down the Conduit, you know the Conduit? Take the Belt Parkway and just f**king disappear.”
On April 13, Balkissoon and the informant agreed in a call that they, together with the third individual, would surveil the Resorts World property the following day. On April 14, the informant and an undercover law enforcement agent picked Balkissoon at his Ozone Park home and they drove to Resorts World. The conversation inside the car was recorded with Balkissoon explaining, “That’s not casino money, that’s outside money … 260 per bag, they have over 20 [bags].”
The FBI special agent said Balkissoons’s reference to “260 per bag” meant that the armored truck would be carrying 20 bags each containing $260,000 in cash.
At one point in the conversation, Balkissoon told the FBI informant and undercover law enforcement agent that they might want to recruit another individual so the group could rob more money.
“I wanna say get a third f**king guy, but you don’t want loose lips sinking ships,” he said.
Balkissoon went on to explain what he would do if armed security guards at Resorts World tried to pull their guns on the group.
“If I’m here it’s a done f**king deal,” he said. “I’ll say brother, put that f**king gun down.” Finally, Balkissoon explained how easy it would be to pull off the heist.
“This is 99 to 100% doable. In [and] out, then no more than f**king 20 seconds,” he said. “Slam, bam, thank you ma’am … get five bags.”
On April 20, the informant recorded another call in which Balkissoon agreed the informant and the undercover agent would conduct the robbery at Resorts World on the morning of April 21 and share a portion of the stolen money with Balkissoon, who added he would procure pepper spray they could use in the robbery.
On the evening of April 20, the informant drove to Balkissoon’s Ozone Park home, where Balkissoon handed him the promised pepper spray, as FBI agents moved in and placed him in custody.
Following his appearance in Brooklyn federal court Thursday, Balkissoon was released on $100,000 bond and is on home detention with electronic monitoring.
