By admin 
The list of victims of the latest crime wave in the region looks more like a menu.
Taco bell. Russells. Lucia is at the lake. Doc Sullivan. And in one day alone, seven restaurants on Transit Road.
But in all cases, the thieves were not looking for money. What they wanted – and what they got – was used cooking oil.
What sounds like a joke is far from endangering the lives of restaurant workers and costing a local company that collects the material an estimated $45 million over the past two years. Worse, law enforcement has been unable or unwilling to make a dent in the criminal enterprise that officials say has become a moneymaker for organized crime.
“There’s not much we can do at this point,” said Sumit Majumdar, president and CEO of Buffalo Biodiesel. “We are being destroyed.”
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Zachary Mezaros, a vacuum driver for Buffalo Biodiesel, empties a container of used cooking oil into his truck outside Russell’s Steaks, Chops, & More on Nov. 1. Organized crime profits from the theft of used cooking oil.
Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in the city, Buffalo biodiesel collects used cooking oil from 25,000 restaurants in 15 states, Majumdar said. The company turns what was once a waste product into feedstock for biofuel production at its Tonawanda facility.
From Jan. 1 through Oct. 28, Buffalo Biodiesel recorded 2,910 oil thefts, according to data the company shared with The Buffalo News. The thefts occurred in New York, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia.
Oil streaks are seen on a container of used cooking oil at Russell’s Steaks, Chops, & More.
Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
A valuable asset
Biodiesel has grown in popularity as states like California and New York and major private companies strive to reduce their carbon footprint.
Biodiesel is a renewable, biodegradable, non-toxic fuel that can be used in diesel engines and other equipment that runs on diesel fuel, such as trucks, heating systems and aircraft.
It burns cleaner and can reduce CO2 emissions by an average of 74%, says Stephen Dodge, director of State Regulatory Affairs at Clean Fuels Alliance Americaan industry association representing the biomass-based diesel industry.
Biodiesel can be made from soy, oil and animal fats. The most popular feedstock processed into biodiesel is used cooking oil, Dodge said.
Cooking oil drips from a vacuum hose as Zachary Mezaros, a vacuum driver with Buffalo Biodiesel, empties a container of used cooking oil into his truck outside Russell’s Steaks, Chops, & More on Friday, November 1, 2024.
Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
More than last year 4 billion liters of the biodiesel was produced in the United States, Dodge said. As biodiesel production continues to grow, so does the demand and value of used cooking oil.
“The raw materials are more valuable because there is an increasing demand for biodiesel, so used cooking oil is becoming more and more valuable as a raw material and that’s why you’re seeing more thefts,” Dodge said.
Buffalo Biodiesel has been experiencing thefts for some time, mainly in New York state and the New York City area, Majumdar said. But over the past year, thefts have become increasingly common in Western New York.
Buffalo Biodiesel has assembled a team of law enforcement officials to advise the company and act as a liaison with police and prosecutors, including former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn.
Prosecution is not easy
Flynn, who resigned as prosecutor in March to join law firm Lippes Mathias, said grease theft cases have not been a priority for law enforcement.
If someone is caught stealing oil from a few restaurants, the value of the grease taken is probably not enough to rise to the level of grand larceny in New York, which starts at $1,000.
Former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn is teaming up with Buffalo Biodiesel to help the company deal with thefts that cost it millions of dollars.
Buffalo News file photo
If someone is accused of stealing something worth less than $1,000, he or she faces a misdemeanor charge of petit larceny and up to a year in jail.
“Every district attorney’s office is busy. Petty theft is not murder, so they’re just not taken seriously,” he said.
But Flynn, in his role at the company, is trying to tell law enforcement that this is more than just petty theft: it’s organized crime.
In 2023, there were six men in the Rochester area accused of conspiracy to steal and sell restaurant oil in federal court.
Police discovered 12,461 gallons of unrefined oil, worth more than $73,000, in a warehouse in Rochester, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of New York.
In total, the men sold and shipped 95,320 gallons of stolen oil to a refinery in Erie, Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, they were paid $60,051 for these two shipments.
A larger grease theft ring was busted in the South in 2019 by federal prosecutors 21 people charged in North Carolina with conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines and money laundering.
Prosecutors say the thieves targeted restaurants in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia and transported thousands of gallons of oil to New Jersey for sale and distribution. Many of the people involved were from Mexico.
And in Tennessee, a law enforcement unit spent three years investigating a criminal ring of thieves from China who stole used cooking oil from restaurants in Tennessee, Alabama, Iowa, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky and Oklahoma, a news station in Nashville. reported.
The money these criminal organizations make from selling the stolen cooking oil is laundered and used for other illegal activities, such as drug and human trafficking, Flynn said.
But proving that these thefts are part of organized crime isn’t easy, Flynn said.
“You have to gather information to show that it is an organized effort, that is part of an organized crime,” he said. “That is always difficult. You need proof of coordination. You need proof that there is a leader and that instructions are given to the people who are actually on the ground and committing these types of thefts.”
Another problem is catching the thieves.
Zachary Mezaros, a vacuum cleaner driver at Buffalo Biodiesel, uses a vacuum hose to empty a container of used cooking oil into his truck outside Russell’s Steaks, Chops, & More on Friday, November 1, 2024.
Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
In most of the cases Flynn investigates, the thieves are not local to the area where they commit crimes, he said. Most thefts happen at night, after restaurants are closed. The thieves move quickly, breaking into the barrels, sucking the oil from the tanks of their vehicles and then taking off.
And if the police do catch them, they are usually charged with a low-level crime and given a ticket. They often leave the area and never return to court, Majumdar said.
Flynn emphasized that this crime is serious and hurts local businesses.
“This organized criminal element is in our community,” Flynn said. “It’s in our neighborhoods. It drives trucks to local business properties in Cheektowaga, Amherst, Buffalo, Kenmore, all our communities. Mom-and-pop restaurants and small businesses are victims of this type of organized theft.”
The danger is growing
In addition to losing millions of dollars annually as a result of the thefts, Buffalo Biodiesel is also missing out on local expansion opportunities.
The company processes all the oil it collects at its Tonawanda plant. It has failed to expand its production and in turn create more local jobs, said Mark Grisanti, a former senator and Supreme Court justice who now works as general counsel of Buffalo Biodiesel.
The company has lost employees who quit because they feared encountering the grease thieves, Majumdar said. His employees and restaurant customers have been intimidated and harassed by the thieves if they happen to encounter them stealing the oil. A few restaurant workers were attacked, Majumdar said.
Majumdar advises his employees and restaurant owners not to confront the thieves and instead call the police immediately.
“Unfortunately, someone will be killed eventually,” Majumdar said. ‘There have been, as far as I know, four close calls. One high-speed chase, three vehicle assaults. Weapons have been seized during arrests. There are long criminal records up to and including outstanding murder warrants.’
Zachary Mezaros, a vacuum cleaner driver for Buffalo Biodiesel, backs his truck into an area to pick up used cooking oil at Russell’s Steaks, Chops, & More on Friday, November 1, 2024.
Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
In 2021, in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, a community about 13 miles from Scranton, Steven Caraballo Matos was accused of assaulting a restaurant owner while stealing cooking oil from the eatery.
Caraballo Matos and another unknown person were stealing oil from a barbecue restaurant when the owner pulled up in his car and tried to stop the men and their van, according to the Times-Tribune reported. The thieves rammed the restaurant owner’s car before fleeing the scene.
Since then, Caraballo Matos has been indicted at least twice for stealing cooking oil in Pennsylvania – in April in the US Pocono Mountains region and in June near Scranton, according to local news reports.
In what may be one of the most disturbing cases of theft Buffalo Biodiesel has faced, a man caught on camera stealing oil from a Tonawanda restaurant was later extradited to Spain on a warrant murder, Majumdar said.
According to the Green County Sheriff’s Office in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State Police in February tried to stop Carlos Ariel Diaz-Moralez, who was driving a box truck from the Bronx. Diaz-Moralez abandoned the truck and fled into a wooded area. The police used a police dog to track him down. When deputies used the dog to take down Diaz-Moralez, he struck the dog multiple times, the Sheriff’s Office said.
After Diaz-Moralez was arrested, police discovered he was wanted in Spain for murder. Police also discovered that he had forged passports and was from the Dominican Republic but in the United States illegally.
“I don’t care if I go bankrupt,” Majumdar said. “My biggest concern is that one of my employees will be attacked or killed, or that one of my restaurant owners – who has already been attacked – will be murdered.”
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