NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The first of eight men implicated in a massive gun trafficking ring that ran from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and north to New York and Connecticut, was sentenced to 22 ½ to 45 years in prison by a Montgomery County judge.
Larry B. Williams, 42, of Philadelphia, was the purported leader of the ring and faced more than 1,000 felonies in connection with the ring, which was brought down by law enforcement in 2023.
Williams had initially entered a guilty plea with prosecutors in February last year, but tried to withdraw it at a May 2024 sentencing hearing on the premise he took bad advice from his then-attorney.
Moments before the sentencing, Williams continued to profess his innocence and said the gun ring was “something he had nothing to do with.”
Assistant District Attorney William Highland said Williams showed no remorse for his actions.
“It was evident even sitting here today Mr. Williams did enter a guilty plea in February 2024, but here we are a year later we’ve had to litigate a motion to withdraw his plea,” said Highland. “The court did the right thing in not allowing him to withdraw his plea.”
Highland also said the organization was also the largest gun trafficking ring he had ever prosecuted, and the judge noted that it had purchased upwards of 94 firearms, only 42 of which have been recovered.
“The sheer volume of firearms this organization was producing,” Highland said, “there is no excuse for buying 94 guns to flood the streets.”
Williams’ current attorney Matthew Brittenberg left the courtroom without comment.
Six other defendants have also pleaded guilty in connection to the gun ring and are scheduled to be sentenced in June.
An eighth man, 26-year-old Kevin Lester Logan, was charged but has not yet been arrested. Authorities are still looking for him.