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Thieves Target North End Restaurants

BOSTON (CBS) - Surveillance video shows a bold robber moments after breaking into the back of the Vinoteca di Monica restaurant in the North End.

It was just after 11 a.m. Wednesday morning and owner George Mendoza was inside.

"I was downstairs where we work. We had a gentleman that was getting ready to bake bread in the kitchen," Mendoza said.

Next, Mendoza says the bandit tore open his cash register with a crow bar, making off with about $250 in cash.

North End suspect
Suspect wanted in North End restaurant theft (Image from BPD)

Now police are on the hunt for him.

This is not the first brazen robbery in Boston's North End this week. Other surveillance video shows a man ripping a bag of money from a Mike's Pastry worker on Monday morning.

North End robbery
Surveillance image shows thief inside Vinoteca di Monica (WBZ-TV)

She was walking to the bank right across the street from the iconic bakery to make a deposit.

It's all too much for Mendoza who claims crime in the North End is being driven by the opioid crisis.

"You go to the harbor walk, people are shooting heroin in the middle of the day. Heroin needles everywhere," Mendoza said. "Petty crime, you own a grocery store, they don't make enough cameras."

Boston Police, he argues, is too understaffed here to combat it.

"The few guys they have working in the police department, the detectives and the police officers do a fine job," Mendoza said. "They're just outnumbered and they need more help."

The suspect in the robbery of the Mike's Pastry employee is described as a white man in his 40's or 50's. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and dark jacket on Monday.

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