Gun Ring Brought Weapons to NYC by Bus, DA Says

A man charged in a major new interstate gun trafficking case admits on a secret recording that he is using lax laws in the South to flood New York with illegal weapons, Brooklyn prosecutors said Wednesday. Bassier was heard on wiretaps allegedly explaining his strategy in nearly comically clear terms: “When I’m out of state, like in Atlanta and Georgia and all that, it’s all legal, but New York, it’s completely illegal”. The gun used to kill Officer Brian Moore earlier this year was one of 23 also stolen from a Georgia pawnshop; nine of those guns have been recovered at crime scenes in New York.

Bassier recruited straw purchasers to pay between $150 to $300 per gun at gun stores and pawn shops and on websites in their home states, then resold them for $800 to $1,200, authorities said.

“Listen, I’m walking through Manhattan, right?”

“Illegal guns continue to be the source of heartache and pain to New Yorkers”, said NYPD Chief of Department James P. O’Neill.

The ring was penetrated by an NYPD undercover officer who began buying the guns a year ago, allowing police to recover more than 100 weapons including handguns, rifles and assault weapons.

And now you know how gun trafficking works.

“He made a decision to take those buses”. “This is not about the Chinatown buses, this is about these guns”.

Thompson says more has to be done on the national level to prevent gun violence.

A 541-count indictment charges Bassier and his seven cohorts with conspiracy, criminal sale of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon and other charges.

Scarier still is the ease with which Bassier was able to purchase guns out-of-state, obtaining hundreds of weapons, including 9mm Ruger and Glock pistols, 40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistols, .45 caliber Taurus pistols, and a variety of assault weapons.

Michael Bassier, 31, toted the weapons from Atlanta to New York during a dozen trips on Chinatown bus lines including the Canal Street-based Bus2NYC, as well as other Chinatown buses, the DA said.

Bassier was remanded following his arraignment Tuesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Bus2NYC didn’t return a message seeking comment.