Fourteen Bloods gang members and associates have been indicted in connection to an alleged illegal gun trafficking operation that spanned the East Coast, Long Island officials announced Tuesday.
The 127-count indictment is the result of a year-long investigation that led to the seizure of 73 illegal firearms that were trafficked into Suffolk County via states along the so-called “Iron Pipeline,” with the majority of the weapons originating in Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina, officials said.
“This was an extremely complex and dangerous investigation,” Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini told reporters during a press conference at his office.
Sini added: “Only God knows how many crimes were prevented by the work of law enforcement here. Each one of these guns could have been used in a crime.”
In September 2018, authorities began the investigation into known Bloods member Leroy Jones, 31, who officials said was illegally selling firearms in Suffolk County.
Jones, a Deer Park resident, and eight other Bloods members were indicted in the case on weapons charges, while five other associates were also indicted.
Officials said Jones would work with co-conspirators Curtis Bostic, 28, of Hempstead and Jasmine Sexton, 37, of Huntington Station who would coordinate with a relative of Sexton’s in Virginia to move the guns to Suffolk County.
Jones, according to officials, would act as a runner to deliver the weapons to local buyers.
“Unfortunately for them, some of the local buyers were undercover police officers,” Sini said.
The investigation revealed that Jones and his co-conspirators conducted illegal firearm sales on more than 50 separate dates.
“Essentially what you had here was a large operation of gang members that were retrieving guns in the Iron Pipeline through straw purchases,” Sini said. “These are individuals who do not have criminal convictions and are able to walk into a store and buy weapons. Those individuals would then divert the weapons to this criminal enterprise.”
“Then once in the state of New York, [Jones]…would sell those weapons to criminals here in Suffolk County to commit crimes,” he said.
The “Iron Pipeline” refers to a gun-smuggling route along Interstate 95 that connects the Southern states along the East Coast — where gun laws are lax — to New England.
“This is a very important case that undoubtedly put a significant blow into gun trafficking here on Suffolk County,” said Sini.
If convicted of the top count, Jones faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.