Feds charge 10 ex-cons in Brooklyn with gun crimes
Ten gun-packing ex-cons were hit with federal firearm charges in Brooklyn in just the past week — including several who were arrested for the gun crimes after being stopped for breaking traffic laws, authorities said Thursday.
Of the 10 alleged criminals, nine were charged for being a felon in possession of a firearm on Aug. 6, according to a statement from Seth DuCharme, the Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
The suspects include Bronx resident Macye McCall, 27, who goes by the street name “Gunplay,” according to the statement.
McCall was busted by cops who pulled over his Range Rover when they saw him driving the wrong way down a street near Sutter Avenue in Brownsville, federal authorities said.
The NYPD cops found a .38 Special revolver when they searched the SUV, according to prosecutors.
In Downtown Brooklyn, cops busted 38-year-old Marvin Pickett after he allegedly drunkenly crashed his car into a Citi Bike stand near Nassau and Navy Streets on March 28.
Cops found a .380-caliber pistol in the car — and Pickett was arrested and indicted in federal court on Aug. 6, authorities said.
Brooklyn resident Tony McQueen, 32, was also arrested that day for allegedly having a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol loaded with 13 rounds in his car, according to court papers.
Cops arrested McQueen in Brownsville when they found him drunk and passed out behind the wheel of his car near Atlantic Avenue and Thomas S Boyland Street, authorities said.
“The one tried and true way to reduce the rapid spike in gun violence we’ve experienced in Brooklyn this summer is to take the guns out of the hands of repeat offenders and take those offenders off of our streets,” DuCharme said in a statement.
The cases were kicked up to federal court as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, which partners the NYPD and federal authorities to prosecute gun cases in Brooklyn.
The busts, DuCharme said, are “sending a clear message to convicted criminals that carrying a gun also carries serious federal consequences.”
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