Exclusive | Career NYC crook who has dodged jail despite dozens of burglary busts is finally held without bail

A prolific Big Apple burglar has been set free dozens of times by sympathetic judges after committing numerous heists — including one break-in he committed the same day he was freed from Rikers Island on charges of slugging a cop, The Post has learned.

Al Booker, 41, has managed to rack up more than 40 arrests — mostly for burglary and criminal mischief — in a Manhattan crime spree that dates back to 2018, the NYPD confirmed.

His lucky streak came to an end last week, though, after he was finally ordered to be held without bail following a bust for eight burglaries on the Upper East Side in the last two months alone.

Despite the dozens of busts to his name over the years, Booker has been cut loose on every single burglary rap due, in part, to New York’s bail reform and soft-on-crime prosecutors and judges, law enforcement sources said.

He’s only served time once — a six-month stint at Rikers last year — for hitting an NYPD officer in the face when he was being collared for a February 2024 burglary, according to sources.

In that case, the known recidivist copped a sweetheart deal after Manhattan prosecutors bundled 10 different burglary cases together in exchange for him pleading guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge, sources said.

After his time in the notorious slammer, Booker’s crime rampage and his history of being sprung on pre-trial supervision only continued, according to sources.

The crook was cuffed again on November 8 — the same day he was released — and slapped with charges over three burglaries on the Upper East Side, sources said.

And even that quick of a bust couldn’t lead to him being locked up — as he walked free after a judge agreed to the Manhattan DA’s request for supervised release, the sources added.

Two weeks later, Booker was re-arrested over an Upper East Side burglary on November 24.

Despite prosecutors trying to hold him on a $30,000 bail in that incident, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge set pre-trial supervision instead.

He was picked up again on January 15 over a slew of burglaries targeting UES buildings but was released, yet again, on supervised released by the judge. 

His lucky streak finally came to an end when he was collared on January 31 following two more thefts, including one where cops allegedly caught him stealing packages and a bag from a stroller, according to a criminal complaint.

This time, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Rachel Pauley agreed to prosecutors’ requests to hold him on $20,000 bail, per sources.

Booker has been holed up at Rikers since Feb. 3, records show.

The Post reached out to the DA’s office about Booker’s recidivist history but didn’t hear back immediately.