Officials: Gun trafficking ring broken up in Brooklyn

Federal agents and NYPD detectives busted up a suspected gang of Brooklyn gun traffickers Wednesday who investigators believe have contributed to a two-year flurry of dozens of shootings around public housing areas in the Canarsie section, officials said.

The arrests of four suspects followed an intense yearlong investigation sparked by intelligence and tips from angry residents of the Breukelen and Bay View houses — who for the past two years have lived amid a backdrop of gun violence that killed four people, wounded 27 others and accounted for 102 incidents of confirmed shots fired, according to the NYPD.

Cops and DEA agents, through the work of an undercover NYPD officer, purchased more than 50 firearms from the suspects — including untraceable “ghost guns” — along with more than 100,000 doses of fentanyl, along with other drugs, said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace at a news conference. One of the guns was sold with blood on it, law enforcement officials noted.

“Certain of the guns had a defaced serial number, which makes them more difficult to trace,” Peace said. “Several of the guns had been traced by law enforcement to violence in Brooklyn.”

In particular, Peace noted that one of the handguns purchased by an undercover cop in June 2022 had been linked to an Aug. 21, 2021, shooting in Bedford-Stuyvesant in which a suspect fired into a crowd gathered for a family gathering, wounding eight people.

“Gangs, guns and drugs are a scourge in New York,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig at the news conference. “This case targeted three elements and hopefully will have significant impact on future violence.”

Essig noted that one of the guns seized was involved in six shootings.

“Who knows how many shootings were prevented because these 50 guns were taken off the street?” he said.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell noted that shootings last year dropped 17% compared with 2021 and cops took a total of 7,000 guns out of circulation.

Some of the 50 illegal guns seized in the Brooklyn bust came from Southern states. Others appeared to be recycled “community” guns used in prior Brooklyn shootings and resold, said law enforcement officials. The sales of the guns took place out in the open and in vehicles, as well as at the Canarsie Pier, a popular family recreation area in Brooklyn.

According to Peace, federal prosecutors for the first time in New York are using a 2022 federal law that makes it easier to prosecute gun trafficking cases. The “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” allows officials to prosecute someone for gun trafficking, even if they have only a tangential connection to the conspiracy, compared with the higher standard of earlier laws, according to Peace.

All of the defendants were charged with firearms trafficking, which has a 15-year maximum sentence. Those arrested were identified in court records as Brooklyn residents David McCann, 28, and Raymond Minaya, 26, as well as Virginia residents Tajhai Jones, 28, and Calvin Tabron, 25. McCann and Minaya were ordered detained Wednesday by a federal judge. Jones and Tabron will have detention hearings in Virginia on Friday.

A law enforcement official who didn’t want to be identified said the current case is expected to expand as the investigation follows new leads.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.