Thieves walk out of New York retailer wtih $40,000 jacket

Two brazen thieves walked out of a high-end midtown Manhattan retailer with a $40,000 coat made of crocodile skin, police said. The men's clothing store, Zilli, sits on East 57th Street between Madison and Park, adjacent to the Four Seasons Hotel. The retailer sells all manner of rare and valuable clothing made from animals, including a brown Australian crocodile skin jacket police said was stolen the evening of Dec. 3. The New York Times said the thieves, a man and a woman in their 20s, entered the store about 5:30 p.m. Security footage shows the woman handing the man the jacket. He enters a dressing room, puts it in a duffel bag and they calmly walk out the door without apparently raising the attention or suspicion of store employees. The theft was made all the more impressive considering shoppers can't just wander into the store. They must use a buzzer system and be let in by store employees, the Times said. Police said they do not think the thieves had any assistance from a worker. The store's manager declined to comment. Zilli is a Paris-based retailer fairly new to the American market. The company has just three stores in the United States, with the Manhattan location open since 2009.