New York ( CNN ) -- A New York City crackdown on suspects allegedly involved in forged credit cards and identity theft led authorities to a $ 13 million global crime ring , Queens County District Attorney Richard Brown said Friday . He called it the largest and perhaps most sophisticated ring of its kind in U.S. history . Authorities hired translators to eavesdrop on a series of conversations in Arabic , Russian and Mandarin that led police to 86 suspects in a series of raids that started Tuesday , Brown said . He said the defendants , who were charged with stealing the personal credit information of thousands of unwitting American and European consumers , are allegedly members of five organized crime rings with ties to Europe , Asia , Africa and the Middle East . Twenty-five others remain at large , Brown added . All of the 111 suspects were indicted in the theft case , while nearly two dozen of them were also charged in six indictments related to burglaries and robberies . Several suspects are believed to have engaged in `` nationwide shopping sprees , staying at five-star hotels , renting luxury automobiles and private jets , and purchasing tens of thousands of dollars worth of high-end electronics and expensive handbags and jewelry with forged credit cards , '' the Queens County District Attorney 's Office reported . The two-year probe , dubbed Operation Swiper , involved physical surveillance , intelligence gathering and court-authorized electronic eavesdropping on dozens of telephones in which thousands of conversations were intercepted , it said .
The ring is the largest of its kind ever discovered in the United States , the DA says . Hide Caption The suspects went on `` nationwide shopping sprees , '' the DA 's office says .