FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Queens Man Sentenced For Trafficking Firearms and Narcotics
To Serve 10 Years in Prison; Sold 17 Handguns Over Two Months
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a gun trafficker who sold firearms and crack cocaine to undercover police officers over two months during an operation in Brooklyn and Queens was sentenced to 10 years in prison following a guilty plea earlier this year.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This investigation highlights our continued effort to stop the influx of drugs and firearms into Brooklyn. This defendant put public safety at risk by selling guns and his conviction and sentence is another step toward ending gun violence in our communities.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Everton Gonzalez, 24, of Ozone Park, Queens. He was sentenced yesterday by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to 10 years in prison following his guilty plea on April 27, 2016 to one count of second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and one count of second-degree criminal sale of a firearm. His two co-defendants were previously convicted and sentenced. Omar Cobb, 21, of Arverne, Queens, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree criminal sale of a firearm and was sentenced to seven years in prison and Zameer Khan, 21, of Arverne, Queens, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree criminal sale of a firearm and was sentenced to five years in prison.
The District Attorney said the investigation included undercover police officers making multiple purchases of weapons and crack cocaine in the vicinity of Liberty Avenue and Drew Street in East New York, Brooklyn, and later, in the vicinity of Beach 59th Street and Larkin Avenue, in Far Rockaway, Queens.
The investigation began in November 2014, when an undercover police officer made multiple gun and narcotics purchases from Gonzalez, who later sent his cousin, Cobb, to deliver the guns. The sales were later made in Queens after Cobb complained that he didn’t have a car and couldn’t get to Brooklyn, instead asking that the undercover travel to Queens to purchase the weapons. Khan also acted in concert with Cobb in selling weapons and drugs, including selling 60 grams of what was purported to be crack cocaine for $3,500 to an undercover. The alleged drugs later tested negative for narcotics.
The defendants sold a wide variety of firearms to the undercover, including: a .9 mm Mac-11 assault weapon, .22 caliber Walther pistol, a .44 caliber Ruger revolver, a .9 mm Hi-Point pistol, a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, a .357 caliber Ruger revolver, a .40 point caliber Hi-Point pistol, a .38 caliber Taurus revolver, a .38 caliber Armi Fabri pistol, a .9 mm Bryco Arms pistol, a .38 caliber Argentina revolver, and others. The defendants also sold four ounces of crack cocaine and two ounces of purported crack cocaine to the undercover over the course of multiple purchases.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michael K. Leigh, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Tara Lenich, Deputy Chief for Special Investigations and Assistant District Attorney Nicole Chavis, VCE Bureau Chief and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of Investigations and Patricia McNeill, Deputy Chief.
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