Authorities are investigating a spree of burned cars and swastikas in a predominantly Jewish area of Brooklyn as a possible insurance scam, not a hate crime, sources tell NBC New York.
Officials have a person of interest that they're investigating for being behind the November destruction, which included spray-painted "KKK" graffiti and stunned the city with its hateful messages.
The person may have been trying to destroy a car for insurance money, authorities believe, and was concealing that with the other crimes.
At the time, city leaders and neighbors condemned the act, and worried for their safety.
"This kind of hateful act has no place in the freest city in the freest country in the world," Mayor Bloomberg said in November.
The burned cars and graffiti were found the day after the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazis' 1938 anti-Jewish attack that left 91 Jews dead, damaged more than 1,000 synagogues and destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses.
