Suspected member of ‘Green Goblin’ gang that terrorized two women on a subway train is arrested

Mariam Issouf, 26, of Queens, surrendered herself to police on Monday

A suspected member of the ‘Green Goblin’ gang of female thieves that robbed and terrorized two teens on the New York subway was released without bail on Tuesday.

Mariam Issouf, 26, of Queens was released after being brought to court on a second-degree robbery charge following a subway robbery on October 2 in which she was caught on camera.

Issouf left Manhattan Criminal Court with a black leather jacket covering her face and her lawyer John Russo by her side, the New York Post reported.

‘She did nothing wrong,’ said Russo as he left court with his client, who he said had no prior criminal record.

‘She assaulted not one of the victims and is seen on videotape saying, “I want no part of this, Let’s go.”‘

Russo even suggested that Issouf actually ‘tried to assist the victim’.

Her release comes after she gave herself up on Monday afternoon after being identified by police on Friday as one of the suspects in the horrifying attack. 

Emily Soto, 34, Ciante Alston and Dariana Peguero, both 26, have also been named as alleged members of the gang. The four have 15 arrests between them, authorities said.

All four suspects are residents of the New York City Housing Authority’s Queensboro Houses, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.

Peguero has the most extensive criminal record with nine arrests, while Aston has three and Soto two. All three are still at large, while the other suspects in the gang have not yet been identified. Issouf had only been arrested once previously.

The horrifying attack comes as robberies in New York City are up a shocking 36 per cent on last year. 

Four suspects from the gang have been identified by police, with a rap sheet of 15 prior arrests between them

Two teenage girls were swung around, stomped and punched by the green-clad group on a New York City N train on Sunday around 2.00am

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Onlookers did not attempt to intervene as the innocent girls were beaten and robbed – instead they recorded the incident

They are wanted over the brutal assault and robbery of two 19-year-old girls on October 2, at the end of a Saturday night out.

The pair were waiting for the N train in Times Square at around 2.00am when a group of at least six women in bright green costumes charged down the station stairs.

The teens backed away and chose to enter a separate train car than the group that was ‘loud and obnoxious,’ according to one of the girls’ mothers.

But the green-clad group poured into the train from every entrance and ultimately ‘jumped’ the two young women. 

A mother of one of the victims told the New York Daily News that there had been no prior negative interaction between the girls and the group.

‘They just jumped.’

‘My daughter’s words were, they bum rushed them. I asked, ‘Why? Did you say something?’ She said, ‘I wish I did, because then there would be a reason for what happened to me,’ she told the outlet.

The violent and unprovoked altercation, which was posted to Reddit, shows the two teenagers getting kicked repeatedly, punched, and thrown around the train car as onlookers film the incident but do not intervene or attempt to help.

‘They video instead of calling 911. It’s so disturbing for me as my mother that this is the world we live in.’

‘My daughter is literally getting beat while all these bystanders just stood there. Maybe police would’ve gotten there faster if someone called 911,’ said the mother.

The crew took credit cards, a phone, and a wallet from the girls before exiting the scene.

‘Thankfully my daughter is here. It could have been so much worse. These people belong in cages,’ she said. ‘Animals belong behind bars. Make an example of them.’

Both young women were treated at a hospital for their injuries, which included a concussion, bite marks, bruises across one of the girl’s stomach and legs, and facial bruising.

One of the victims was home for the weekend from Florida, where she attends college, to celebrate her birthday.

The group members got away Sunday morning, but police say they have identified the social media pages of some of the perpetrators

‘Because of the head trauma, I couldn’t put her on a flight until I knew there weren’t bleeds on the brain or concussion,’ said the mother. 

‘This is how she spent her 19th birthday. I hope they get what they deserve and then some because it’s disgusting,’ she told the New York Post.

According to the mothers of the two teenagers, the incident was entirely unprovoked. The two victims were returning home from celebrating one of their 19th birthdays in the city

The girls reportedly moved away from the goblin green gang when they saw them on the subway platform, but the group streamed into several entrances on the subway

Police continue to search for the attackers, most of whom wore full green masks over their faces. Detectives informed the mothers that they have seen the social media pages of the ruthless attackers.

The mother added that New York state’s relaxed bail laws are putting everyday citizens in danger.

She said she had a message for Governor Kathy Hochul (D) and city and state lawmakers who are ‘making these ridiculous laws and letting savages walk the streets with nothing but a slap on the wrist.’

‘Watch the videos of these two girls getting beaten by a gang of grown women, and imagine it was your daughter, granddaughter, sister, mother or friend. Put yourself in that situation.

‘What happened to the New York City we all loved? Start fixing it now!’ she said.

Hochul is up for her first election to keep her seat at the head of the New York political system this November. She replaced disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) after he resigned following an investigation into multiple claims of sexual harassment in his office. 

One major tenet of the November election in New York is crime.

Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has not acted to end New York’s reformed bail laws that many argue create a rotating door for metropolitan criminals

Crime in New York City has been running rampant, up overall by 31.8 per cent on last year, with robbery up a shocking 35.5 per cent 

Transit related crimes in NYC have increased 43% in the last year under the watchful eyes of Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul

Crime in the five boroughs has soared 33% since last year

This latest subway incident occurs as crime in the city is up over 31 per cent from last year.  

Driving the increase is a more than 35 per cent increase in the number of robberies, and a 32.4 percent increase in burglaries.

Felony assaults are also up 15 per cent over last year, while grand larcenies are up a whopping 43 per cent. 

But Mayor Eric Adams (D) fled the crumbling city at the end of September to visit  hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, which he refers to as New York’s ‘sixth borough.’

Transit-related crimes have increased 43 per cent in the last 12 months in addition to a 16 per cent growth in felony assault charges, according to police records.

There were 1,165 crimes reported in the city transit system for the period last year compared to 1,670 this year.