American Airlines Catering Truck Drivers Allegedly Skimmed More Than 100,000 Mini Liquor Bottles

Remember the movie “Office Space,” where the conspiring co-workers wrote wrote a banking program to take a fraction of a cent here, a fraction of a cent there until they amassed a small fortune? Some employees of Sky Chef, the catering contractor for American Airlines, did that at New York’s JFK Airport. Except instead of a massive ill-gotten fortune, the 18 current and former truck drivers ended up with hundreds of thousands of tiny liquor bottles. Which they sold, instead of just having a few really amazing parties.

In the fantastically-named “Operation Last Call,” the accused thieves sold ill-gotten booze to undercover investigators. Their haul also included duty-free items such as grownup-sized liquor bottles, cologne, and cigarettes. One retired driver had hundreds of garbage bags filled with mini bottles in his home, along with a pile of cash.

If you’re wondering, the bottles go for fifty cents to $1.25 each on the black market.

18 JFK Airport Workers Accused Of Stealing 100,000 Mini Liquor Bottles [Gothamist]
EIGHTEEN CHARGED IN THEFT OF MINI BOTTLES OF LIQUOR AND DUTY-FREE MERCHANDISE FROM JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT [Queens DA’s Office]

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