Prosecutors: NJ Couple Accused Of Smuggling More Than 80 Guns Into NYC
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Police have arrested a New Jersey couple and four men from Virginia and Georgia on charges they formed a gun-trafficking ring that smuggled dozens of firearms into New York City.
The arrests came after an undercover detective purchased more than 80 guns from the Linden couple during more than two dozen meetings in Washington Heights between March 2015 and April 2016, authorities said Monday.
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, authorities said they stopped 67 pistols, 8 revolvers, 5 assault weapons, two shotguns, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from making it to the streets of New York City.
Abdul Davis, 52, and his 50-year-old girlfriend, Shelita Funderberk, had bought the guns from the four men on road trips to the South, officials said.
"Each time, like clockwork he headed back up I-95 and arranged to make a sale to the undercover," District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said good intel from informants led them to Davis.
"This male was selling guns in New York for 10 years prior to this so this is a great takedown for us," Boyce said.
Vance said there was evidence that the southern defendants knew the firearms, including eight assault weapons, were being resold in New York. He said the case was another example of the potential for guns bought legally in states with lax gun-control laws to fall into hands of criminals elsewhere.
"One of the most deadly weapons, a Bushmaster firearm semi-automatic assault rifle, came complete in this sale with 100 round drum magazine filled with 96 bullets," Vance said, as reported by WCBS 880's Alex Silverman.
"We can only imagine the devastation in the wrong hands that a weapon of that type could have caused," Bratton said.
The DA said the guns were brought up the so-called iron pipeline which runs along I-95 from south to north where traffickers make a fortune bringing weapons to New York from southern states.
"Davis sold the guns to undercovers in the detective's car in the vicinity of 166th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights, no more than a 15 minute drive from the George Washington Bridge," Vance said.
The arrests followed a long-term investigation that used wiretaps.
Police charged six people as members of the ring, including four who reside in Virginia and Georgina, and two from New Jersey, including Davis and Funderberk.
"Shelita is actually employed by the New Jersey Department of Corrections, so they have day jobs," Boyce said.
The DA said whether you sell ten guns or 10,000, the penalty is the same, a class B felony. He wants the legislature to toughen the law.
"We believe that the A1 felony which carries a minimum of 15 to life and a maximum of 25 to life will send a signal, particularly to gun sellers in the south," Vance said.
The suspects face conspiracy and various weapons charges. All of them are in custody and in the process of being extradited to Manhattan, 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported.
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