United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Earlier today, David Mccann and Calvin Tabron pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York to conspiring to traffic firearms. Mccann also pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl. Today’s proceedings took place before United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II. Co-defendants Raymond Minaya and Tajhai Jones pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic firearms earlier this month. When sentenced, Mccann faces up to 40 years in prison, Minaya faces up to 20 years in prison, and Jones and Tabron each face up to 15 years in prison. The defendants were charged in January 2023 in the first case in New York to publicly charge the gun trafficking provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Frank A. Tarentino, III, Special Agent-in-Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration and Edward A. Caban, Commissioner, New York City Police Department, announced the guilty pleas.

“With these guilty pleas, the defendants have admitted to bringing dozens of deadly weapons and dangerous drugs, including fentanyl, to the streets of Brooklyn,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This Office will vigorously use all tools available, such as Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, to ensure that no one is able to illegally feed the cycles of gun violence and drug abuse in our community.”

“These pleas resonate public sentiment that gun and drug trafficking will not be tolerated. These deadly weapons have been removed from circulation, saving lives along the way. I commend our law enforcement teams from the DEA Group D-41, NYPD and the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York for their diligent work,” stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Tarentino.

“Today’s guilty pleas underscore the unwavering commitment of our investigators to disrupt the flow of illegal guns and deadly drugs coming into our communities,” stated NYPD Commissioner Caban. “I thank our colleagues at the DEA for their partnership, and I commend our NYPD undercover officer for their diligent work, performed under the most dangerous of circumstances. I also applaud everyone at the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York for delivering this prosecution to its righteous conclusion.”

According to court filings and facts presented during the plea proceedings, the gun-trafficking operation involved the sale of at least 50 illegal firearms over multiple transactions in Brooklyn between January 2022 and August 2022. The defendants conducted these firearms sales in broad daylight in a public park, in shopping center parking lots, and in vehicles in and around the New York City Housing Authority’s Breukelen Houses complex, located in Canarsie, Brooklyn, across from a church, and blocks away from a preschool and grade school. Two members of the gun-trafficking operation obtained the firearms in Virginia and then transported them to New York to be sold on the streets of Brooklyn. Some of the firearms the defendants sold had defaced serial numbers or were made from ghost gun kits, making them harder for law enforcement to trace. Two defendants also engaged in significant narcotics trafficking conspiracies, including a fentanyl distribution conspiracy that introduced thousands of lethal doses of fentanyl into the community.

Firearms sold in the conspiracy have also been linked to several shootings in Brooklyn. For example, on June 22, 2022, a defendant sold an undercover officer a Glock 30, .45 caliber handgun. The investigation revealed that this gun was used in an August 21, 2021, shooting in Bedford-Stuyvesant during which armed perpetrators shot into a large crowd gathered for a family day celebration. In total, eight individuals were struck by gunfire. Another gun trafficked by a defendant—a Glock 43, 9-millimeter caliber handgun—is linked to a December 18, 2021, shooting of an individual in Canarsie, in the blocks surrounding the Breukelen Houses complex. That individual sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his body, including his right hand, shoulder, neck, and the base of his skull.

This prosecution is among the first in the country, and the first in New York, to charge the gun trafficking provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Congress and the President enacted in June 2022.

Assistant United States Attorneys Adam Amir, Irisa Chen, and James R. Simmons are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendants:
DAVID MCCANN
Age: 29
Brooklyn, New York

TAJHAI JONES
Age: 29
Portsmouth, Virginia

RAYMOND MINAYA
Age: 27
Brooklyn, New York

CALVIN TABRON
Age: 26
Virginia Beach, Virginia