October 27, 2015

NYPD Busts Major Illegal Gun Ring In East Harlem



Samuel Barreto, aka ““Scrappy,” the ringleader of the gun ring seen in court.
Photo: Chad Rachman
[From article]
Police on Tuesday took down a ring of East Harlem gun traffickers who had been flooding the ​same streets where NYPD cop Randolph Holder was shot and killed last week​ with illegal weapons​, officials said.
Tuesday’s takedown came just hours before Holder’s wake in Queens — and exactly one week after ​he was gunned down in East Harlem.
​Six men ​are ​charged with selling undercover cops more 74 guns over a nearly one year.
“Each of the buys took place in residential neighborhoods in broad daylight, with two of the final sales taking place on East 102nd Street near the site of violence which culminated in the death of police officer Randolph Holder last week,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance told reporters after the men’s arraignment.
[. . .]
The six men indicted Tuesday are accused of selling 74 firearms to an undercover cop beginning last summer and continuing through this past August, court documents show.
The crew’s ringleader, Samuel “Scrappy” Barreto, was the person who arranged the deals between his associates and the undercover officers. He also personally sold most of the guns to the officer, authorities said.
[. . .]
In one of the larger buys from last summer, Barreto gave the officer a small arsenal of weapons, including a Tula Arsenal .38 caliber revolver, two Cobra .380 caliber semi-automatic pistols and a Beretta .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol, all with matching ammo, in exchange for $3,000, documents show.
Officials said many of the guns sold by Barreto and his crew came to New York City through the “Iron Pipeline,” a trade route for black market arms dealers who funnel guns from southern states.
“We are having this conversation against a very, very painful backdrop,” Mayor de Blasio said.
“We know for a fact, the gun that killed officer Holder originated in South Carolina,” he continued. “We keep seeing this pathway illustrated over and over again: a gun from South Carolina kills one of our finest here on our streets.”
“What adds to the pain of that loss is that these guns are so available.”

http://nypost.com/2015/10/27/nypd-busts-gun-ring-in-east-harlem-neighborhood-where-cop-was-killed/

NYPD busts gun ring in East Harlem neighborhood where cop was killed
By Rebecca Rosenberg, Ben Feuerherd and Daniel Prendergast
New York Post
October 27, 2015 | 1:50pm

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