A NYC judge denied bail to a Tren de Aragua leader as three men face charges for illegal gun sales.
New York City: Three Venezuelan migrants, including a young leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, were caught selling illegal firearms. Prosecutors say they sold everything from pistols to ghost guns.
The main guy, Stefano Pachon, 21, and his two accomplices showed up in a Manhattan courtroom facing serious gun trafficking charges. They’re looking at a hefty 31-count indictment.
Pachon has a pretty extensive criminal record since arriving in NYC from Venezuela late last year. He allegedly sold nine loaded guns during this whole operation.
Assistant District Attorney Yuval Simchi-Levi pointed out that Pachon had access to a lot of loaded guns, even while he was out on a bench warrant. That’s pretty wild.
It turns out Pachon is a high-ranking member of the Tren de Aragua gang. The whole case started with a probe into another guy, Victor Parra, who led a moped gang and was on the run for three months before getting caught.
Parra recently pleaded guilty to grand larceny, and the evidence against him led to Pachon’s gun-trafficking ring. Along with his partners, they were using WhatsApp to sell a bunch of high-quality firearms.
One of the guns they sold was a 9-millimeter pistol, and they even had a semi-automatic weapon that could be switched to automatic. They sold a total of 11 guns, which is pretty alarming.
Pachon was the one handling most of the sales, which took place in the Bronx and at a gas station in East Harlem. All three men pleaded not guilty in court.
Pachon’s lawyer tried to argue that he’s an “asylum seeker,” but the judge, Althea Drysdale, wasn’t having it. She quickly shut that down, saying just because they’re from Venezuela doesn’t mean they automatically qualify for asylum.
In the end, the judge decided to hold Pachon without bail due to his long rap sheet, which even includes stealing from a Sephora in Queens. His co-defendant, Darwin Figuera, showed up in court wearing women’s Cheetah-printed slides and was held on a $50,000 cash bail. The third guy, Yorman Serrano, had his bail set at $75,000 for trying to sell his own ghost gun.
