A Romanian fugitive is back in the Big Apple to face charges in the cowardly hit-and-run death of a 74-year-old Queens man more than three years ago.
Florin Stoian, 30, was extradited back to the US after serving a three-year prison stint in Germany for pickpocketing — one of a slew of international crimes that made him a wanted man by the worldwide law enforcement agency, Interpol, law enforcement sources told The Post.
“Whether you run across the street or you run across the globe, as was in this case, the New York City Police Department’s not gonna stop,” NYPD Lt. Jag Singh, head of the department’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad told reporters Wednesday.
“If you committed such a heinous crime, we’re gonna go to the ends of the earth and make sure you’re caught,” Smith said. “This person was very elusive, has been in the past, was in this case as well.”
Stoian, an accused human trafficker with more than 30 aliases who is wanted across the globe, fled the city after he allegedly killed Be Tran on Aug. 14, 2022, racking up crimes in Michigan, Canada, Ireland and The Netherlands before being imprisoned in Germany, the sources said.
He is now accused of being behind the wheel of a black BMW that slammed into Tran on Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood on Aug. 14, 2022, killing the elderly pedestrian, police said.
According to sources, Stoian fled the scene and ditched the car — which he later set on fire, with the flames damaging several homes before he fled the country.
The NYPD highway investigations squad launched their investigation, calling it “Many Aliases” — essentially Stoian’s MO, police said.
The squad tracked the accused killer to Michigan through rental card records, but he slipped away and escaped into Canada, then later to Europe, where investigators traced him to Germany, sources said.
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It wasn’t until last year that US law enforcement identified him as the German prisoner, they said.
“The detectives never waivered and they never and they never gave up just because the investigation became cold,” Smith said. “We’re gonna advocate for the victims.
“He never planned on paying for his actions,” the lieutenant said of the fugitive. “Didn’t think once about the victim or his family.”
Stoian was taken to the 104th Precinct stationhouse on Wednesday and is scheduled to be arraigned on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide assault, arson, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, criminal mischief, reckless driving and tampering with physical evidence.

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