Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and NYPD Commissioner William Bratton announced the arrests Wednesday, saying the suspects funneled firearms from Florida to New York City, often beneath Chinatown buses.
According to the 196-count felony indictment, the investigative team seized more than 70 illegal guns bought at gun shows in Florida, many of which were then resold in New York for up to four times their original price.
As a result of the investigation, known as "Operation Midnight Run," the eight members of the ring were charged with numerous counts of conspiracy, criminal possession and criminal sale of firearms. If convicted, seven of the eight defendants face up to 25 years in prison.
"Gun-trafficking rings fuel the epidemic of gun violence that is killing children and families across New York and the United States," Schneiderman said. "We must do absolutely everything in our power to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of criminals. We have strong gun control laws in New York State and sensible, cooperative solutions like the Model Gun Show Procedures to ensure background checks on anyone purchasing a firearm at a New York gun show. Preventing criminals from circumventing these measures by illegally shipping dangerous weapons into our communities is literally a matter of life or death."
The joint investigation, led by the Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force and the NYPD's Firearms Investigation Unit, began this past spring. According to the indictment, the ring was led by Natasha Harris - who regularly traveled from her Brooklyn apartment to gun shows in Florida to purchase guns for resale - and Quincy Adams, who helped finance the ring's purchases and personally transported some of the weapons back to New York City.
"This investigation demonstrates the demand for illegal guns in our city and the continued commitment of the New York City Police Department and the New York Attorney General's Office to intercept these weapons before they are used to commit violent crimes," Bratton said. "Thanks to these collaborative efforts, we very likely prevented a life from being taken by one of these firearms."
Authorities say that earlier this year, an undercover investigator began purchasing guns directly from the alleged ringleader and, subsequently, electronic surveillance was used to monitor the ring's activity. The surveillance revealed that ring members communicated regularly, often sending each other text messages that included photographs of the guns for sale.
According to police, an undercover investigator purchased 33 guns from the ring in 11 separate face-to-face transactions conducted in Brooklyn over a three-month span. The undercover led the defendants to believe that he intended to resell the weapons to his own customers.
Between May and November of this year, the two ringleaders and other defendants made several trips from New York City to Florida. Harris and others, including a Florida-based straw-buyer, would allegedly purchase multiple guns from multiple shows. The ring would then transport the weapons back to New York primarily by stowing them beneath commercial buses - including the Star Line bus company - bound for Manhattan's Chinatown, according to the indictment.
For example, the investigation revealed that on October 24, Harris drove from Brooklyn to Florida. Over the next two days, she and some of her co-defendants (along with Harris's grandmother and two young children) attended the Orlando Gun Show and Bunnell Gun Show, purchasing several guns at each show.
On the afternoon of October 26, it is alleged that Harris and Octavio Batista met the ring's female courier at the Orlando Bus Depot and placed a purple suitcase full of firearms they'd purchased in the luggage compartment of an overnight Star Line bus, headed to Chinatown. The courier then boarded the bus.
On the morning of October 27, the New Jersey State Police, working in coordination with "Midnight Run" investigators, stopped the bus at the New Jersey Turnpike's Joyce Kilmer rest area in East Brunswick and seized the purple suitcase, which contained 33 firearms.
Firearms sales charged in the indictment ran the gamut from .22 caliber pistols to assault weapons.
Other guns allegedly sold by the ring include:
--Mossberg .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol
--Sig Sauer 9mm semi-automatic pistol
--Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol
--Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic pistol
--Rock Island Armory .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol
--Taurus .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol
--Beretta .40 semi-automatic pistol
--Smith & Wesson .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol
--Steyr 9mm semi-automatic pistol
--Hi-Point .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol
--Taurus .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol (stainless steel)
--Keltec 9mm semi-automatic pistol
--SCCY 9mm semi-automatic pistol
--Lorcin .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol
--North American Arms .22 caliber revolver
--Charter Arms .38 caliber revolver
--Colt .38 caliber revolver
--Interarms .357 caliber pistol
--Rossi .22 caliber revolver, among dozens of others.
Police say approximately 18 of the guns seized had the serial numbers filed off, making the weapons untraceable. Investigators are in the process of tracing the other weapons.
The suspects are identified as:
--Natasha Harris, 33, of Brooklyn
--Quincy Adams, 35, of Brooklyn
--Octavio Batista, 25, of Brooklyn
--Michelle Cantres, 24, of Brooklyn
--Draxel Clarke, 32, of Brooklyn
--Deryl Springs, 36, of Queens
--Michael Liburd, 24, of Florida
--Unidentified Female Courier