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A scheduled first court appearance for 38-year-old Michael Cassano at the jail in Hackensack was scrapped in favor of federal prosecution, authorities told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.
Local police said Cassano held up both banks using an airsoft gun that he placed on the counter in each.
After taking $4,000 from the HCSB on Essex Street just before 2:45 p.m. on Monday, Cassano stopped at the Dunkin Donuts up the street, then approached a Paterson man outside and asked him for a cigarette, Lodi Detective Capt. Donald Scorzetti told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
They each then went their separate ways, he said.
By that time, police had flooded the area from all sides.
Maywood Sgt. Timothy Moran and Officer Glenn Tutschek said the 5-foot-10-inch, medium-built Cassano was “acting like nothing was wrong” when they approached him moments later near a getaway Dodge SUV with New York plates parked on Maybook Drive near Demarest Place.
He was still wearing the fedora and sunglasses and carrying an airsoft gun that they said he used to rob the HCSB, they said.
He was also carrying a cup o’ Joe. READ MORE….
ABOVE: Michael Cassano (INSET: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF / Bank surveillance photo: Courtesy TOMS RIVER PD)
Michael Cassano MUGSHOT: Courtesy LODI PD / Surveillance images (Toms River PNC Bank): FBI New Jersey
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