Jose Cesari, Leader Of Sophisticated Armed Beer Theft Enterprise, Sentenced To 63 Months In Prison

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced today that JOSE CESARI, a/k/a “Cry,” was sentenced to 63 months in prison for conspiring to commit—and committing—theft from interstate or foreign shipments.  Between approximately 2022 and 2024, CESARI led the “Beer Theft Enterprise,” a Bronx-based criminal organization focused on breaking into railyards and beverage distribution facilities throughout the Northeast and stealing beer—primarily Corona and Modelo, shipped from Mexico—to bring back to the Bronx to sell.  CESARI pled guilty in July 2025 before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, who imposed today’s sentence.

“Jose Cesari led an armed crew that repeatedly targeted railyards and warehouses, stealing massive quantities of beer and treating it like easy money,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “He took part in more than three dozen thefts and recruited others into the scheme.  No more.  Today’s sentence should send a message to anyone who thinks about stealing from businesses in the Southern District of New York: the women and men of this Office take these crimes seriously, and we will not tolerate them.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment and statements made in public court filings and proceedings:

Between July 2022 and April 2024, the Beer Theft Enterprise carried out dozens of beer thefts, which cumulatively resulted in losses to certain railroad and beverage distribution companies of at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.  During at least one of those thefts, the crew carried a gun.  In a typical theft, the Beer Theft Enterprise operated during the night.  The members of the Beer Theft Enterprise working on a particular night usually assembled in the Bronx before traveling to that night’s target railyard or beverage distribution facility.  Normally, the group brought at least one U-Haul box truck to the target railyard or warehouse to be filled with cases of stolen beer.  Once they arrived at their target location, members of the Beer Theft Enterprise typically broke into the railyard or warehouse, breached the railcar or area containing Corona or Modelo beer, and transported that beer—often hundreds of cases—to their waiting vehicles.  The Beer Theft Enterprise then took the stolen beer back to the Bronx, where it was inspected and made available for sale.  After assisting in a beer theft, each of the participating members of the Beer Theft Enterprise was typically paid hundreds of dollars for the night’s work. 

As the leader of the Beer Theft Enterprise, CESARI participated in more than three dozen beer thefts in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, and recruited other members to the group.  CESARI acted brazenly and without regard for the law.  For example, as shown in the image recovered from CESARI’s phone below, CESARI had his picture taken in the midst of one particular beer theft, scaling a railcar filled with Corona beer and holding a yellow angle grinder: 

CESARI played a crucial role in ensuring the success of the Beer Theft Enterprise.  CESARI regularly used his Instagram account to recruit new members.  For instance, CESARI advertised on social media that he could provide a “police scanner” from the “precinct of your choice with the purchase of train method” and promised recruits “100k in ten days sorry not a month.”

CESARI also frequently bragged about how much money he made from his beer heists.  For example, as shown in the image below, CESARI posted to his Instagram account an image of himself in a Corona t-shirt, and boasted that, while some people “got rich off of corona virus [virus emoji],” he “got rich off coronas [train emoji],” referring to the Corona beer that he had stolen:

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In addition to the prison term, CESARI, 29, of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release.  He was also ordered to forfeit $473,710.52 in proceeds from his participation in the Beer Theft Enterprise and make restitution in the amount of $518,710.52.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Port Authority Police Department, and the CSX Railroad Police Department. 

This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Z. Margulies and Joseph H. Rosenberg are in charge of the prosecution.