12 North Jersey residents arrested for alleged gun trafficking

PATERSON — New York authorities seized 74 firearms — including 17 assault weapons — in busting an alleged North Jersey gun-trafficking ring coordinated by a 24-year-old Paterson man who reportedly got help from his 42-year-old mother.

Twelve of the 13 people arrested in the takedown lived in Paterson, Hackensack, Wayne, and Passaic, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. The other suspect is a man from Florida who authorities say sent the illegal weapons to the Paterson ringleader through the mail.

The Paterson leader used such codewords as “toys,” “sneakers,” or “panties” when he arranged the gun purchases, New York officials said. Once he got the weapons in the mail, the Paterson man stored the firearms at his home in Paterson as well as the homes of two Paterson women also arrested in the case, authorities said.

The leader’s mother helped him “move, hide, store, and pay for the firearms,” said the New York AG’s Office.

The ring didn’t sell the guns in New Jersey. Instead, they drove the weapons to Washington Heights in Manhattan, hiding the guns in blankets, sheets, reusable grocery bags, and one time inside a guitar case, New York officials said.