Armed Robber Hits Two Upper East Side Banks in City-Wide Pattern: Police

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Police are trying to identify a man they believe robber two banks on the Upper East Side, once in June and again on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

On Tuesday the man entered a Valley National Bank on Second Avenue near East 71st Street and threatened an employee with a gun, police told Patch. The armed robber forced the employee to let the man into the teller area and open the money drawers, police said. The man took more than $13,000 for the drawers and fled the bank, police said.

The same man is a suspect in a robber that occurred June 28 at a Citi Bank located on 1st Avenue near East 71st Street. During that robbery he and forced employees to the bank's vault area by gunpoint, but was unable to open the vault police told Patch.

In both robberies the man used similar techniques, namely displaying a firearm to threaten employees, police said. Both robberies also occurred in the morning and in both robberies the man wore a full suit, police said.

Police release a photo of the man (seen above) traveling on the subway between robberies.

This photo was taken of the suspect during the October 4 robbery. Taking a page out of John Dillinger's playbook the man is dressed in a full suit, fedora, sunglasses and wearing black gloves:

Police also said the man is a suspect in a July 15 robbery in Queens. During that robbery the man made verbal threats to a bank teller, who handed him $7,800, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

Photos: NYPD