Man arrested and charged with gun trafficking from Savannah to Brooklyn

A man was arrested and charged with conspiracy to illegally traffic firearms from Savannah to Brooklyn, New York, a route commonly known as the Iron Pipeline, according to a press release issued by Barry L. Paschal, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia.

From November 22 to 28, 2022, Tony Terry, a 35-year-old Brooklyn resident, traveled to Savannah, where members of his family served as straw buyers for several firearms from gun dealers licensed firearms, according to the federal indictment that was unsealed Wednesday. Terry then returned to Brooklyn where a co-conspirator sold two of the guns.

The indictment also stated that on December 6, 2022, Terry sold a Taurus 9mm G2e handgun to an undercover NYPD officer.

The straw buyers, José Marrero and his mother Jacqueline Christmas, were charged and prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia for 15 additional firearms that they purchased on behalf of the defendant. Marrero pleaded guilty and was sentenced in May to 18 months in prison. Christmas pleaded guilty in March and is awaiting sentencing.

According to the plea agreement, Christmas' maximum possible sentence is 10 years in prison, eight years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, such restitution as may be ordered by the court and confiscation of all confiscated property.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Joint Firearms Task Force, as well as ATF Atlanta and the US Field Office ATF Savannah investigated the case, according to the press release.

“This indictment underscores the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ unwavering commitment to disrupting the flow of illegal weapons onto our streets,” said Special Agent in Charge the ATF, Bryan Miller, according to the press release. “Those who buy and traffic firearms for resale to those who cannot legally obtain them pose a threat to our community. Disrupting gun trafficking schemes like this is a top priority for us.”

The indictment was unsealed about 10 months after the Savannah Morning News published a series of articles on the prevalence of the iron pipeline and the high number of guns used in crimes in Savannah in 2022 purchased legally in state, including at a local pawn shop.

More: Where did the weapons used in the Savannah crimes come from? Data provides answers and raises questions

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Where did the defendants purchase the firearms?

According to the plea agreement, Terry is the brother-in-law of Christmas' husband. Terry provided the gun list at Christmas, who provided it to his son Marrero to make the purchases.

To purchase the firearms, Marrero executed ATF Form 4473, Firearms Transaction Record. On the Form 4473, Marrero indicated that he was the purchaser of the firearms, which was false. The real buyer was Terry, according to the plea agreement.

The ATF website requires that the six-page ATF 4473 be used “to determine whether a prospective firearm purchaser is prohibited by federal or state law from receiving a firearm.”

According to Marrero and Christmas' indictment, between February 14 and December 14. On December 13, 2022, they both teamed up to “voluntarily transfer” 17 handguns to Terry, who does not reside in Georgia and has already served more than a year in prison.

According to the Christmas plea agreement, Marrero purchased five handguns from Backwoods Armory, LLC, a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL) located in Bulloch County, Georgia.

Backwoods Armory did not respond to a call for comment.

It remains unclear whether the ATF has ever inspected the Backwoods gun store. At the federal level, the ATF is the sole entity responsible for inspecting 75,000 federally licensed firearms dealers nationwide to ensure they are complying with federal, state, and local laws. Backwoods Armory is not listed in the Brady Gun Store Transparency Project, which was launched in January 2022 after a wave of lawsuits against the ATF by Brady. Brady was created by White House Press Secretary James Brady after he and then-President Ronald Reagan were shot in a 1981 assassination attempt.

“Legitimately, the majority of [FFL’s], on the whole, are honest businesses,” said Thomas Crawford III, resident agent in charge of ATF Savannah Group One, in a mid-April interview. “No one has a crystal ball. If you go to a store and buy a gun for me. If I don't stand over your shoulder and show you the gun I want and you buy it, I'll give you $300 at the pawn shop. That's sort of a clue to what's going on. And I think that in general, most [the FFL’s] will stop this.

Drew Favakeh is the public safety and courts reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Man arrested and charged with gun trafficking from Savannah to New York