Six alleged firearms traffickers have been accused in a 558-count indictment of conspiring to buy large numbers of weapons from Georgia and sell them on the streets of Brooklyn.
According to the indictment, one suspect with homes in Georgia and on Staten Island allegedly conspired with the five other suspects, including his wife and two of his uncles, to obtain large supplies of guns from Georgia, transport them to Canarsie and sell them for profits of up to 400 percent per weapon.
That suspect allegedly made 13 car trips from Georgia to Canarsie, transporting as many as 25 guns at a time, and sold them to an undercover police officer at the corner of Foster Avenue and East 96th Street.
The firearms, many of which were loaded at the time of the sales, included an AR-15, a MAC-11, two TEC-9 automatic weapons, and 151 varieties of pistols and revolvers.
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The indictment says that suspect's wife, along with the two uncles and two associates, wired money from New York to Georgia to fund the initial purchases of the guns for resale in Brooklyn and helped him to amass a stockpile of the weapons for transport.
Three of the suspects are in custody in Georgia awaiting extradition; the other three are in custody in Brooklyn.
The indictment stems from a seven-month investigation conducted by the NYPD's Firearms Investigations Unit and the district attorney's Major Narcotics Investigations Bureau.
"Guns sold illegally find their way into the hands of criminals and often destroy lives. This family of gun traffickers did not hesitate to distribute illegal guns in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, but thanks to the hard work of the investigators and prosecutors involved, this pipeline of firearms has been shut down," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement.
"The apparently easy accessibility of these weapons threatened the safety and security of our Brooklyn communities," added Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson. "We will remain vigilant in the fight against the trafficking and sale of illegal guns.”
