Interstate Gun Bust Hits Eight People With 541 Counts Of Gun Trafficking Into Brooklyn

In a victory against illegal gun trafficking from southern states to New York City, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office and New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced a 541-count indictment against eight men and women from Brooklyn, Georgia, and Pennsylvania for conspiracy, criminal sale of firearms, criminal possession of a weapon, and other related crimes.

The announcement comes as a national debate over gun violence, gun sales, and gun control continues in circles. It also comes on the heels of months of shootings — several of them deadly — have proliferated in and around Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

“These defendants conspired to use the lax gun laws down south and elsewhere to flood the streets of our city with assault weapons and other guns, which, in the wrong hands, could have caused mayhem and massive bloodshed in our communities,” said Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson. “We will now hold these merchants of death accountable no matter where they live.”

Thompson has been vocal about the need to target the businesses in Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and other states with less stringent gun laws than New York in order to make headway in preventing gun violence here at home.

His emphasis has been echoed by NYPD Commissioner William Bratton and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, as well.

Regarding this latest bust, Bratton praised “the members of NYPD’s Firearms Investigations Unit, whose dedication to this dangerous long-term investigation not only prevented more than 100 firearms from reaching the streets of Brooklyn, but undoubtedly saved lives in the process.

“The NYPD will continue to work with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and our many law enforcement partners to bring to justice any individuals or criminal organizations that seek to profit from the illegal sale of firearms,” Bratton added.

Those arrested included residents of Canarsie, Crown Heights, and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens: Michael Bassier, 31; Willie Ware, 26; Anthony Jackson, 25; and Jonathan Destin, 26.

According to a statement from the Brooklyn DA’s office:

Between September 2014 and September 2015 the defendants allegedly conspired to sell guns purchased in Georgia and Pennsylvania to an NYPD undercover detective in Brooklyn. The investigation included the use of intercepted electronic communications as well as physical and video surveillance.

The weapons recovered during the course of the investigation include 9mm Ruger and Glock pistols, .22 caliber Walther pistols, .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistols, .45 caliber Taurus pistols, and a variety of assault weapons including multiple .22 long rifle caliber semi-automatic Walther Model MP Uzis, .39 mm caliber semi-automatic Norinco Model SKS, 9mm Luger semi-automatic Jimenez Arms Model JA25 and others.

. . . Almost all of the sales took place at a Walgreens parking lot located at Rockaway Parkway and Avenue M in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Bassier allegedly paid between $150 and $300 per gun, and paid the straw purchasers a fee of $50 per gun. The undercover paid on average between $800 and $1,200 per gun, although the assault weapons purchased by the undercover cost approximately $2,000 to $2,500. The undercover spent a total of $130,050 on the firearms purchased during the course of the investigation.

. . . The District Attorney said that prosecutors assigned to his newly created Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, working with detectives from the New York City Police Department’s Firearms Investigations Unit, have taken 553 guns off Brooklyn streets since he took office.