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Ex-con Ahmad Singletary, 24, and Joseph Young, 26, both of Newark, committed three of the robberies last Sept. 5, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Four more holdups -- also in a single day -- followed exactly a week later, the U.S. attorney said.
Singletary "threatened, assaulted, and struck victims in the head" with a Ruger 9 mm P95 handgun, injuring all of them, a complaint filed by the ATF says.
The robberies were committed during the early-morning hours on or near highways in Essex, Middlesex and Union counties, Sellinger said.
Four of the victimized gas stations are in Woodbridge, two are in Union and one is in West Orange, according to the ATF complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark.
Singletary had already served two different state prison sentences when he was released on May 31 of last year -- three months before the robbery spree.
The ATF said he and Young wore black ski masks and black clothing in the holdups, each of which was over in four minutes or less.
They used a white Audi A4 that had been reported stolen out of Shrewsbury during the three Sept. 5 robberies, the complaint says. It was driven by a third man whom authorities didn't identify or describe in any detail, heavily suggesting that he's a cooperating witness.
Young drove a black BMW 430i in the four holdups that followed on Sept. 12, according to the complaint.
The rampage began with both men assaulting two attendants -- one of whom was pistol-whipped by Singletary when he resisted -- at a Garden State Parkway gas station in Woodbridge, it says.
Singletary and Young took a cellphone, a Medicare card and $800 in cash from the assaulted attendant and $187 in cash from his co-worker. The entire robbery took less than 90 seconds, the complaint says.
Roughly 15 minutes later, it says, the same men robbed an attendant at a gas station on Route 22 in Union Township. Singletary allegedly held a gun on the victim while Young emptied the cash register.
Singletary pistol-whipped that attendant, too, breaking his nose, chipping a tooth and cutting his head, the ATF complaint says.
Seven minutes later, it says, the pair hit the gas station at the Whitney Houston Service Area on the Garden State Parkway in Union, taking $600 and the attendant's phone at gunpoint.
It turned out the attendant's wife and daughter were sitting in a car nearby. The woman tried to dial 911, but Singletary snatched the phone away from her, the complaint says.
Eight hours or so later, Young led police on a vehicle pursuit that ended with him bailing out on Glorieux Street in Irvington.
Young removed his ski mask as he ran, which was captured on area security video. Facial recognition helped authorities identify him.
DNA swiped from a Gatorade bottle and a fingerprint found in the Audi both matched Young's, the ATF said.
He and Singletary were back at it on Sept. 12, the complaint says, when they robbed a station on Route 27 in Woodbridge around 3 a.m.
Young, who was driving, stayed in the car while Singletary -- wearing the same clothes as the week before -- took $370 and the attendant's cell phone, it says.
Minutes later, the ATF said, both men returned to the scene of one of the previous robberies a week earlier -- the Colonia North Service Area on the Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge.
Young again stayed in the car while Singletary robbed one victim of $146 and another of $199, the complaint says.
A half-hour later, the traveling bandits pulled their biggest score.
Singletary pointed a black handgun at two attendants at a Main Street gas station in West Orange and forced them to lie on the ground while he robbed them, the federal complaint says. He then turned his attention to two people sitting in a vehicle waiting for gas, taking their phones and car keys, it says.
Singletary then forced one of the attendants into a service booth to retrieve more cash, clocked him with the gun and punched him in the head before fleeing, the complaint says.
Altogether, Singletary collected $1,000, it says.
Authorities got their big break the following day, Sept. 13, when a black Chevy sedan being pursued by Newark police crashed and overturned.
Young got out and tried to run but was quickly chased down, the ATF complaint says.
Soon after, he confessed to participating in the first three robberies on Sept. 5 and then being the wheelman on Sept. 12, it says.
Investigators pulled Singletary's name and contact information off Young's phone, noting that both of them were pictured in the photo assigned to his number.
Singletary -- aka "Maddy" -- was arrested in Irvington on Sept. 25 by police who said they found him in a stolen vehicle. He was wearing a fanny pack that contained a loaded Ruger 9mm handgun that matched the one agents believe was used in the gas station robberies, the ATF complaint says.
Given his history, Singletary is looking at serious time in the federal prison system, which has no parole, if he's convicted of any of the crimes for which he and Young are now charged.
That not only includes robbery, conspiracy and weapons-related offenses: Singletary is also charged with illegally possessing a firearm and ammo as a convicted felon.
Both men are expected to remain in federal custody until they're tried -- or they take plea deals -- in U.S. District Court in Newark.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Douek of Selinger's General Crimes Unit in Newark is handling the case for the government.
Special agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Newark Field Division made the case with assistance from New Jersey State Police, the Union County Prosecutor's Office, the Newark Police Department and fellow police from Union, West Orange and Woodbridge, Sellinger said.
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