The infamous NYC bank robber known as the “Burberry Bandit” is a product of the failures of the city’s mental health system – and his own vain love of dapper duds, his relatives told The Post.
Cornell Neilly landed on Page 1 of The Post last Sunday after being busted Sept. 15 while on parole for allegedly knocking over five banks between Aug. 16 and Sept. 13 — and getting sprung by a lefty judge despite his 29 prior bank robbery arrests.
Relatives told The Post the 35-year-old’s appreciation of the finer things may have launched his life of crime.
“They used to call him that because of the way he used to dress,” said an aunt from the Upper West Side apartment where Neilly, 35, was busted Sept. 15. “He was sharp. He did look good,” said the aunt, who asked to remain anonymous.
Neilly became tabloid famous in 2012 when he was captured on surveillance footage wearing Burberry’s iconic tartan during a robbery at a Bank of America in Midtown.
He may also have returned to allegedly robbing banks because he’s bipolar and is off his meds, claimed an adoptive grandmom who also lives in the apartment.
“I really think he needs medicine again,” said the woman, who also requested anonymity.
There’s no record that shows if Neilly ever sought or received any help from city mental health professionals.
The two women were with Neilly when cops arrested him outside their building on West 65th Street near West End Avenue.
“I’ll be right back,” the aunt recalled Neilly telling them. “I gotta go across the street to talk to my parole officer.”
Two white cars then drove up and police officers jumped out. One of them had his gun drawn, the women said.
“I think he got startled and tried to run but it dawned on him, ‘Don’t run,’” the aunt said. “He walked back…and held his hands up.”
Judge Jeffrey Gershuny — a 2019 appointee of former Mayor Bill de Blasio — ignored prosecutors’ request for $50,000 cash bail or $150,000 bond and let him go despite the fact that Neilly was already on parole.
Neilly, whose birth mom and grandmother died when he was in prison, returned to the Upper West Side pad after Gershuny set him loose, the women said.
“I told him, ‘I love you. Stay out of trouble,’” the adoptive granny recalled.
Neilly looked down and told her, “‘Okay, grandma, I love you too,’” she recalled.
She said she won’t tolerate his “playing games again.”
The granny added: “I’m going to wring his neck.”
