NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Nine people have been charged with participating in a trafficking scheme that transported guns from Georgia to New York City, some of which were purchased by a Brooklyn-based gang, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
James Thomas, DuVaughn Wilson, Courtney Schloss, Ken Alexander, Argam Taj, Samuel Taj, Christopher Machado, Harlie Ramos and Jamel Thomas were hit with charges including conspiracy to commit gun trafficking and gun trafficking Wednesday morning, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said.
Ramos, Taj and Machado have not yet been arrested, but the other six suspects are in custody, the attorney’s office said.
“Today’s arrests shut down the alleged gun pipeline of these nine defendants,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement. “These arrests should also send a message to anyone who is thinking about illegally selling guns to New Yorkers or illegally bringing guns to New York: We and our law enforcement partners are watching.”
Prosecutors say Wilson, who lives in Georgia, bought at least 87 guns between last August and this past April.
After he purchased the weapons, Wilson allegedly handed them over to Schloss, James Thomas and the other alleged traffickers.
While some of the guns were resold in Georgia, others were bussed to New York City for resale, prosecutors said.
Many of the guns ended up being sold to members of the “Blixky Gang,” a Brooklyn-based crew composed mainly of “aspiring rappers,” according to prosecutors.
Some of the gang’s members flashed the illegal guns in their music videos, prosecutors noted.
Attorney information for the nine people charged on Wednesday wasn’t immediately available.