The Lou Reed Mosaic Bandit of St. Mark’s returns

As we reported earlier this week, two men used a ladder early Monday morning to remove Invader's nearly 10-year-old Lou Reed mosaic from the upper floor of 110 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Residents called 911 and later contacted the 9th Precinct. Neighbors linked one of the suspects to a similar Invader mosaic theft above Ralph's Famous Italian Ices on Avenue A and Ninth Street last summer.

Invader himself has condemned these rip-offs, noting that once pried from the wall, the tiles are worthless. 

Now comes a stranger twist: on Tuesday night around 11, a neighbor says the same suspect returned ... this time to chip away at the few scraps of tile still clinging to the wall.

"The tapping on the wall woke us up," the resident said. 

Half-asleep, they fumbled for a photo, but the flash went off, ruining their chance to stay hidden.

A call to 911 followed, but the thief managed to slip away with the remaining tiles. 

An array of Invader's mosaics arrived in NYC and the East Village, some in collaboration with the LISA Project, in 2015.