DA: Gun Trafficker Indicted For Illegally Selling Weapons To Undercover NYPD Detective
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A gun trafficker has been indicted on more than 100 charges after making repeated illegal gun sales to an undercover NYPD detective, authorities announced Wednesday.
As 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported, Christopher "Country" McPhaul, 43, gave the so-called Iron Pipeline from the Carolinas to Brooklyn a workout.
He's accused of traveling to North Carolina to buy or steal weapons that he would then sell on the streets of Brooklyn, according to authorities.
DA: Gun Trafficker Indicted For Illegally Selling Weapons To Undercover NYPD Detective
Police said McPhaul sold 30 guns during 10 transactions over a six-month period to an undercover detective.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly displayed most of the guns purchased by an undercover detective at a press conference.
DA: Gun Trafficker Indicted For Illegally Selling Weapons To Undercover NYPD Detective
As WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported, Hynes said McPhaul communicated with buyers by text message.
"From 'Country' McPhaul advising the undercover officer that he had multiple weapons available for immediate purchase, and he'd text in code 'Have lots of toys for kids. I'm back. A little $2,500 will take them all," Hynes said.
"By August, he was sending volumes of text messages and pictures, a virtual gallery of gun photos providing different angles of a .22 caliber assault rifle," Kelly said.
McPhaul was arrested earlier this month.
"Once the NYPD ascertained that McPhaul had a serious customer, in other words a customer other than the undercover officer, he was arrested in East New York," said Kelly.
McPhaul's arrest comes two months after the city's largest gun seizure ever, when more than 250 illegal guns brought to New York from the Carolinas were taken off the street, Cornell reported.
"The Carolinas are the second largest source after Virginia for crime guns ending up here in New York," said Kelly.
Nine in 10 crime guns come from out of state, Kelly added.
Narcotics detectives keep working to dismantle the Iron Pipeline, Cornell reported.
McPhaul faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted on the top charge.
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