Author Topic: Gun ring busted for running weapons to Brooklyn from other states using Chinatown buses: DA  (Read 689 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

rangerrebew

  • Guest


    Gun ring busted for running weapons to Brooklyn from other states using Chinatown buses: DA

    BY CHRISTINA CARREGA-WOODBY
    NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
    Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 3:46 PM



    JESSE WARD/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

    Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announces the seizure of 112 illegal weapons purchased by an undercover officer over the course of one year as part of operation "Steel Merchant."

    These gun runners were bus passengers.

    After a year-long undercover investigation, prosecutors indicted a group of gun traffickers who purchased a smorgasbord of weapons from out-of-state and illegally resold them in a Brooklyn pharmacy parking lot.

    "We are seeing tragedies in Brooklyn every day because of the lax gun laws in other states...how many more people will have to die?" Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said at a press conference Wednesday.

    He noted that "90% of these guns we find in crimes originate out of state.”

    "We need to wake up and deal with this or we are going to have these press conferences every couple of months and have more guns on the table — but how many bodies are we going to have in between?"

    The ringleader and lead transporter, Michael Bassier, was caught on tape arrogantly bragging to his ex-girlfriend about using the Chinatown bus to bring hundreds of guns from Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

    "Listen, I'm walking through Manhattan, right? I've got two Mac 10s on me, a SK assault rifle and four handguns and I'm walking through New York," Bassier allegedly said in one wiretapped conversation.

    Brooklyn Gun Runners Busted
    NY Daily News



    Bassier and seven other defendants were charged in a 541-count indictment with conspiracy, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal sale of a firearm and other related charges.

    If convicted on the top charge they face up to 25 years in prison.

    During 12 trips to Atlanta, Bassier allegedly brought up to six guns and traveled by car to collect purchases in Pittsburgh.

    Bassier, 31, allegedly took advantage of the lax gun laws outside of New York to buy weapons a for up to $300 a pop. Bassier then resold the weapons — including 20 assault rifles — for up to $2,500 each.

    Bassier allegedly recruited Nichole Taylor, 24, and Terrah Moore, 22, both Pennsylvania residents, to purchase firearms from gun stores, pawn shops, websites and street dealers, prosecutors said.

    Willie Ware, 26, and Anthony Jackson, 25, allegedly aided Bassier in reselling the weapons to an undercover officer in his own neighborhood inside the parking lot of a Walgreens located on Rockaway Parkway and Avenue M.

    JESSE WARD/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

    Eight suspects have been arrested and indicted.

    This is the third long-term gun trafficking operation the district attorney's office and NYPD have taken down since last year.

    "Illegal guns continue to be the source of heartache and pain to New Yorkers,” said NYPD Chief of Department James P. O’Neill. “These guns have been taken out of commission but there's a lot more work that has to be done."

    Georgia is part of the so-called “Iron Pipeline,” a collection of Southern states with lax gun laws that critics say allow a steady flow of illegal guns into Northern cities.

    Thompson said the bust underscores the need for the U.S. Senate to pass a pending bill by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that would make interstate gun trafficking a federal crime.

    “There's no real federal statute that really deals with this gun trafficking, like what these folks were doing,” the DA said. “We support Sen. Gillibrand's pending legislation."

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2397376


rangerrebew

  • Guest
C'mon, there are laws against this kind of stuff and, as we all know, criminals are the best at following the law - like with anti-gun laws in Chicago and D.C.; see how valuable they are? :thud:
« Last Edit: October 15, 2015, 02:13:28 pm by rangerrebew »