A 30-year-old Astoria man and three others have been arrested for operating a firearms ring that allegedly sold 30 handguns, numerous rounds of ammunition and other weapons, including a sawed-off shotgun, to undercover cops over a nine-month period.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced the arrests on Wednesday, October 7, at a press conference where they displayed the arsenal, allegedly purchased by cops posing as black market gun dealers.
Juan (Junior) Leon, of 32-45 34th Street in Astoria, was arrested at 8:30 a.m. the day before. An alleged accomplice, Ainsley (Ace) Waddell, 36, of 393 Dumont Street in Brooklyn, was arrested at 6:40 a.m. that same morning. Both have been declared violent felony offenders
Two other men, Corey Odle, 31, and Bryan Brown, 22, both of Newport News, Virginia, were arrested there and are being held pending extradition to New York.
If convicted of the most serious charges leveled against them, each faces 25 years in prison.
“These defendants brazenly attempted to flood the streets of New York City with weapons that were illegally moved up from the South along the so-called ‘Iron Pipeline’ – Interstate 95,” DA Brown alleged. “These weapons typically wind up in the hands of criminals and pose a serious danger to all of our residents,” he continued.
Leon and Waddell were arraigned in Queens on Wednesday before Judge James Griffin, who took their not-guilty pleas and ordered them remanded to jail.
Just before the announcement, a grand jury issued a 20-count indictment against Waddell, including criminal possession and sale of firearms, and conspiracy.
The same grand jury hit Leon with a 107-count indictment, not only with weapons charges, including possession and sale of firearms with a previous conviction, but also for selling cocaine.
The investigation, known as “Operation Ace in the Hole,” began in August 2008 when detectives from the NYPD Firearms Investigation Unit got a tip that the defendants were illegal gun merchants, according to DA Brown.
Detectives and prosecutors from the DA’s Narcotics Investigations Bureau set up a “sting” operation that included monitoring telephone conversations among the alleged dealers, and face-to-face gun buys, he said.
The indictments charge that the defendants sold weapons to undercover officers in Queens and Brooklyn between August 18, 2008 and April 29, 2009.
Among the illegal sales, the indictment alleges that Leon met with an undercover cop in Queens on October 6, 2008 and sold the officer a loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson and a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun.
In another alleged transaction on December 30, 2008, the four “acting in concert,” met with an undercover officer in Brooklyn and sold eight weapons, including .45 caliber and 9mm handguns.
Most of the weapons allegedly sold were handguns, including a .44 Magnum of the type made famous in the “Dirty Harry” movies. Several were “defaced,” according to authorities – usually meaning the serial numbers were removed. A majority of the handguns were allegedly sold loaded.
“This case was about keeping New York safe,” Commissioner Kelly said. “We are on course to end the year with a new record low in murders. One of the reasons is persistent attention to illegal guns, and getting them off the streets and out of criminal hands, and jailing the traffickers,” he added.
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Photo Courtesy Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown
Queens DA Richard A. Brown holds a sawed-off shotgun while Police Commissioner Ray Kelly points to the arsenal of guns and ammunition allegedly brought up from Virginia and sold to undercover cops in Queens and Brooklyn.
