16 Are Charged in Gun Trafficking

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Updated, 6:01 p.m. | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg stood gripping a semiautomatic machine gun. It was the exact model used in the mass shooting in July at a midnight showing of the “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo.

The long-nosed AR-15 machine gun was one of more than 100 weapons confiscated by investigators during a police operation this week that officials said dismantled two major gun-trafficking rings operating in Harlem and East Harlem. The cache of illicit guns was displayed on a table during a news conference Friday at Police Headquarters.

Mr. Bloomberg gestured toward the table. “There is an awful lot of firepower here and you can kill an awful lot of people with these weapons,” he said.

“This,” Mr. Bloomberg noted, “is just a tiny percentage of the guns on the street.”

During the news conference, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Mr. Bloomberg â€" joined by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. â€" announced the indictments of 16 members of two groups selling illegal firearms at twice the sticker price.

The indictments grew out of two investigations: The first, dubbed “Mickey Mouse Trap” by law enforcement, began in May 2011 and focused on Mitchell Collins, 64. Mr. Collins, also known as Mickey, and three other suspects sold a total of 88 guns to undercover officers, police said.

“Getting close to the wily Mickey Collins was no easy matter,” Mr. Kelly said. “He waited for months before agreeing to meet with the undercover officer and even longer before he would agree to sell him more than one gun at a time.”

Mr. Collins has an arrest history dating back to 1968 and “has been involved with illegal guns, one way or another, for his entire adult life,” Mr. Kelly said.

The other investigation, “Operation Carver,” began about a year ago, focusing on a group of suspects, ages 17 to 23, who lived in and around the Carver Houses in East Harlem, the police said.

Mr. Kelly said the young men, who called themselves the “East River Army,” “Six-Net,” “Who-a-day” and the “Total Money Gang,” sold 41 guns and a bullet-resistant vest to an undercover officer.

Mr. Kelly also highlighted the issue of guns on the street by addressing an unrelated episode late Thursday night in which the police shot and critically wounded a gunman who fired at officers during a foot chase in Brooklyn.

“Finally, I want to point out that police officers in Brooklyn narrowly escaped injury last night when an armed felon with prior arrests for assault here and in Pennsylvania fired at them from close range with an illegal 9-millimeter handgun,” Mr. Kelly said.

The police said the gunman, Dahan J. Sam, 29, who lives in Brooklyn, was driving a stolen sport utility vehicle with its headlights off in Williamsburg, when he was pulled over by the police. As police officers approached the car, Mr. Sam sped off but then stopped the car not far away and fled on foot.

Police officers eventually caught up to Mr. Sam when he tripped over a low-lying chain and fell. He turned and fired two shots at pursuing officers who returned fire.

Mr. Sam, who was listed in critical but stable condition in Bellevue Medical Center on Friday, was charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.