Cops Take Down Washington Heights Gun Ring, Arrest 10, DA Says

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Ten people are facing charges in connection with the running of a gun trafficking ring in Washington Heights that is accused of selling more than 40 firearms to an undercover NYPD officer, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced Friday.

Crimes included in the 96-count indictment include various counts of criminal weapons sales and possession, attempted criminal weapons sales and conspiracy. The takedown includes the alleged ringleader of the weapons ring, 32-year-old Bienvenido Liriano, prosecutors and police said.

Liriano and his associates are accused of selling an undercover police officer 43 firearms in Washington Heights starting in October 2018, prosecutors said. The ringleader would coordinate sales with the officer — who was posing as a gun dealer — and many of the deals took place out of Liriano's car near West 161st Street and Broadway. Of the weapons sold, 33 were semi-automatic pistols, six were revolvers and four were assault rifles. The ring also sold the officer 353 rounds of ammunition for the weapons, prosecutors said.

“To sustain record-low levels of crime in New York City, and to further reduce violence and disorder, we must hold illicit gun dealers responsible for their actions and do all we can to remove every illegal gun from our streets," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said in a statement.

The officer met with Liriano and other members of the gun ring 27 different times, with firearms being sold for $700 to $2,100 per gun, prosecutors said. Many of the weapons sold were considered "street guns" and a number had been smuggled into New York from states such as South Carolina, prosecutors said.

A number of the people involved in the gun ring were members of the Trinitarios street gang, prosecutors said. The gang is most known for its connection to the 2018 murder of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz in the Bronx.

The investigation into the Washington Heights gun ring was led by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit and the NYPD’s Firearms Investigation Unit. The DA's office created the VCEU in 2010 to cut down on gun violence in the city.

"In the safest borough of the safest big city in America, we’re still losing New Yorkers to gun violence," Vance said in a statement. "Since I formed our Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit in 2010, our proactive gun trafficking investigations have yielded 36 indictments against 94 traffickers, removing more than 1,800 illegal guns from our streets."

Here's a full list of people named in the indictment:

• Bienvenido Liriano, 32;
• And Omar Ahmad, 30;
• Nelson Brown, 54;
• Daquan Bryant, 20;
• Keandre Frazier, 24;
• Billy Pandiello, 35;
• Misael Reynoso, 26;
• Yakeem Spann, 28;
• Te’ara Walley, 18;
• Darnell Wynt, 30.