Three Venezuelan migrants — including a baby-faced Tren de Aragua leader — brazenly peddled illegal pistols, shotguns, rifles and ghost guns across New York City, prosecutors alleged.
The accused ringleader Stefano Pachon, 21, and his two confederates shuffled into a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday to face gun trafficking conspiracy charges outlined in a 31-count indictment.
Pachon, who racked up a long rap sheet since he arrived in the Big Apple from Venezuela in late 2023, sold nine different loaded guns during the months-long caper, prosecutors said.
“The defendant has access to a seemingly endless supply of loaded guns,” said Assistant District Attorney Yuval Simchi-Levi. “This defendant sold the guns while out on a bench warrant.”
The indictment sprang from a probe into Victor Parra, 30, the leader of an interstate migrant moped gang who spent three months as a fugitive before he was busted by NYPD cops in May.
Parra this week pleaded guilty to grand larceny charges, court records show.
Evidence in the case against Parra eventually led to the gun-trafficking ring allegedly led by Pachon, an alleged high-ranking member of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang, prosecutors said.
Together with Darwin Figuera, 34, and Yorman Serrano, 31, and a fourth as-yet-unnamed defendant, Pachon trafficked an arsenal of high-quality firearms over WhatsApp, according to prosecutors.
One semi-automatic weapon sold was equipped with a “sear switch” that could turn it into an automatic weapon, prosecutors said.
They sold 11 guns, authorities said.
Pachon would negotiate the purchase and price for most weapons, with sales unfolding across the Bronx and an East Harlem gas station at East 125th Street and Second Avenue, officials said.
The trio that appeared in court Wednesday hail from Venezuela and all pleaded not guilty.
“Selling illegal weapons in Manhattan is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The scourge of gun violence takes a devastating toll on our communities, and I have met with far too many heartbroken families who have lost a loved one because of illegal firearms,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“While gun violence continues to trend downward in Manhattan, there is a lot more work to do, and we will continue to partner with the NYPD to hold people accountable who commit this type of dangerous conduct,” Bragg said.
Pachon’s attorney Michael Fineman tried playing up how he’s an “asylum seeker” and that he falls under certain protections, but Judge Althea Drysdale quickly cut him off and corrected his bail application.
“Most respectfully, I don’t know if that should be part of your application,” Drysdale shot back. “Just because all [the accused] hail from Venezuela doesn’t mean you get to be an asylum seeker.”
The judge ordered Pachon to be held without bail for his “arrest-rich rap sheet,” which includes allegedly stealing from a Queens Sephora.
Figuera, who shuffled into court wearing a pair of women’s Cheetah-printed Adidas slides, was held on $50,000 cash bail.
Serrano, who alleged tried to sell his own ghost gun, had his bail set at $75,000.
