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Coney Island family sells entire wall featuring Banksy mural to Connecticut brewery for big bucks

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Coney Island family sells entire wall featuring Banksy mural to Connecticut brewery for big bucks


Bye-bye, Banksy.

A Brooklyn family is about half a million dollars richer after selling a mural of a little robot that the iconic graffiti artist Banksy painted on their Coney Island building for 13 years ago.

The Ruoccos decade-long effort to cash in on “The Tagging Robot” ended last month, when an arts company took down an entire section of their Stillwell and Neptune avenues brick wall and shipped it off to a trendy brewery in Connecticut, the family said.

The “Tagging Robot” is officially gone from the Coney Island wall it sat on for 13 years. Anthony J Causi

“Brooklyn family strikes gold!” Richard Ruocco, of Bergen Beach, joked to The Post Wednesday.

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The Ruoccos had been trying to pawn off the famous mural since they effectively hit the art world lottery, when the enigmatic graffiti legend painted the bot on their building in the middle of the night back in October 2013, shortly after Superstorm Sandy.

The piece, which the family lovingly calls “Mr. Robot,” depicted the android spray painting a barcode, and was one of several barcode murals that Banksy blanketed across the globe that fall.

The Ruoccos initially had no idea that the graffiti was by a famous artist until swarms of gawkers came to witness the viral sensation.

“Brooklyn family strikes gold!” said Richard Ruocco, seen here. Obtained by the NY Post

They immediately protected Mr. Robot behind a roll-down gate and hired a security guard — and started looking to make a bundle off the work in the arts market.

“Why not? What are we going to do with it? Leave it on the wall and lose the money,” said Ruocco, who is cousins to the Russo family behind Gargiulo’s in Coney Island.

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Unfortunately, the hype around Banksy died down and buyers were hard to come by until Ruocco’s older brother, Anthony, read that a Connecticut beer garden had acquired another Banksy mural that was left in The Bronx during the same era as “Mr. Robot.

The robot mural is installed at Foolproof brewery in Bridgeport.
The mural was jammed into steel framing and removed as a massive piece.

Foolproof in Bridgeport last February installed a massive wall showing a young boy spray painting the words “Ghetto 4 Life” on a brick wall while a butler in formal attire stands beside him holding a tray of spray paint cans — which initially caused an unwelcome stir for “insulting the neighborhood,” CT Post reported at the time.

Anthony Ruocco called the brewery over the summer and “brokered the deal” to pass along the Robot mural, Ruocco said.

“We didn’t sell it for what we originally wanted. We lowered our price and he went for it. Not too many people were willing to buy a brick wall,” said Ruocco, adding that the buyer also had to pay about $75,000 for art shippers to remove and transport the mural.

The robot joined another formerly NYC Banksy at Foolproof Brewery in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Douglas Healey

Representatives for Foolproof did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

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An incredible video shows Fine Art Shippers meticulously shoring up a portion of the brick wall into steel framing and jackhammering it out into one piece before shipping it off to Bridgeport, a journey first reported by Coneyologist.

Ruocco did not want to share how much cash the family received for the piece, but teased that it was for “less than half a million bucks.”

“That’s too personal. No one needs to know that, except my accountant,” he said.

Richard, left, Frank and Anthony Ruocco split the cash with their other three siblings. Obtained by the NY Post

He and his five siblings evenly split the sale, which leaves “enough to buy a nice car each.”

“We’re a very fair family. I know that’s what our parents would have wanted us to do. We shared everything right to the penny,” said Ruocco.

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One of the siblings has already treated themselves to a cruise and Ruocco dreamed about buying a new car for his collection, though he admitted his wife would make him get rid of one before adding another.

The Ruocco siblings, now all in retirement, are planning to sell the building where the Banksy mural once lived. It had once been the site of Aiello’s catering, which the family ran from the 80s to the 90s.



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One arrested after a multi-car crash in Naugatuck Saturday

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One arrested after a multi-car crash in Naugatuck Saturday


Naugatuck Police say one person has been arrested after a multi-car accident on Route 63 Saturday afternoon.

According to police, they responded to the area of Route 63 and Cherry Street around 1 p.m. for reports of a collision with injuries.

They say a 30-year-old man from Waterbury was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of drugs/alcohol, operating under the influence with a child passenger, illegal possession of prescription drugs, failure to keep narcotics in the original container, risk of injury to a child and distracted driving.

Police say he is being held on a $10,000 Surety Bond.

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This is all the information at this time.



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Overnight Forecast for April 19

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Overnight Forecast for April 19



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Woman killed in Friday head-on crash in Burlington

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Woman killed in Friday head-on crash in Burlington


BURLINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) — A woman is dead after police said she was involved in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer on Friday in Burlington.

According to Connecticut State Police, a Toyota RAV4 and Peterbuilt 386 tractor-trailer collided head-on on Route 4 near Punch Brook Road at around 4:49 p.m. on Friday.

The driver of the Toyota, identified as 64-year-old Mary Christine Ferland of Burlington, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured, according to state police. No one else was in either vehicle at the time of the crash.

The crash is still under investigation by state police, anyone with information is asked to call Trooper Brew at 860-626-7900.

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