Bronx livery driver carjacking: 4th suspect taken into custody

HUNTS POINT, N.Y. (WABC) -- A fourth man was taken into custody overnight in connection with two recent carjackings of livery cab drivers in the Bronx.

On Friday, police arrested Takiem Ewing, Tyrone Felder and Kareem Martin, and the fourth, Tommy Smalls, 26, was arrested late Friday night.

Police said the livery drivers were carjacked for the purpose of the suspects stealing the cars to commit other crimes. Both drivers were shot to death. The suspects have not been charged in their deaths.

In the first murder, 49-year-old Maoudo Kane was fatally shot in the head on Hunter Avenue. The suspects are believed to have used his livery car to then rob two convenience stores in Yonkers before pouring bleach on the vehicle and dumping it near Yankee Stadium.

After the second driver, 62-year-old Aboubacar Bah, was shot, he lost control of the livery car and crashed. The black Toyota Camry was so damaged that the suspects were unable to drive it, and they abandoned it shortly after.

The murders prompted calls for action, with many drivers saying they feel like sitting ducks with targets on their backs every time they makes a pickup.

Fernando Mateo, with the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, met with NYPD Commissioner William Bratton Wednesday to ask for increased security measures to help protect drivers.

"We have not seen this kinds of criminal activity, horrible murders, in our industry since '98," he said. "So we would like to implement a lot of the programs that we had back then and more."

The suspects appeared before a federal magistrate in White Plains Friday afternoon. They were all charged with two federal carjacking counts, with the carjackings resulting in murder. Federal prosecutors also linked them to the two Yonkers convenience store robberies.