NYPD Rescues Man Who Was Kidnapped, Duct-Taped In NYC For $680,000, 3 Men Arrested

In the kidnapping of a Bergen County resident, who was rescued by New York Police Department (NYPD) after being bound and held for ransom last week, three men face federal charges.

According to News12 The Bronx, US attorney Philip Sellinger announced that the three men from New York have been charged with conspiring to kidnap and hold for ransom a New Jersey man. The trio -- Albert Ferrelli and Chiahao Lee, both of Queens, and Fa Deng of Staten Island -- were detained after a Thursday hearing in Newark federal court.

According to court documents, the three men and another conspirator drove to the house of a Fort Lee man late Tuesday. They entered the residence wearing masks, reported nj.com. The victim’s hands were bound by the assailants, who put duct tape over his eyes and mouth. Then they forced him into a minivan.

A special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a criminal complaint that the kidnappers sent the victim’s wife a photograph showing her husband bound and duct-taped. They also demanded a $680,000 ransom.

Cops were called by a neighbor, who saw suspicious men in the house. At the scene, officers found what appeared to be duct tape with pieces of latex gloves stuck to it. Court papers revealed that based on surveillance camera footage from the area, investigators saw a gray minivan that was allegedly used in the kidnapping. Shortly after the abduction, the vehicle crossed the George Washington Bridge then traveled into the Bronx and Queens.

On the day of the incident, police responded to Prince Street in Queens for a 911 call of someone screaming and possibly tied up. Initially, cops didn’t find anything, but they returned to the block the next day and saw the door to a building open with Ferrelli guarding the entrance.

The FBI agent’s statement said that when NYPD officers approached Ferrelli, they heard a "man screaming for help from inside the building." The statement further read the officers entered the premises and located the victim, who was "blindfolded with his hands bound, and duct tape over his mouth and eyes.” According to court documents, as police were speaking to Ferrelli, Deng approached the scene and was arrested after he tried to escape. Authorities were told by Ferrelli that Deng was his boss, who told him to watch the victim.

The minivan used in the crime was recovered at Lee’s house.