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Chef helped 2 brothers smuggle weapons into city: charge
GUNRUNNING was a family affair for two half-brothers accused of shuttling 105 firearms up to New York City along the infamous iron pipeline — with help from a chef at Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center, authorities said Wednesday.
Shavar Stuckey, 31, and Levon Jackson, 30, who have the same father, allegedly ran the gunrunning operation in which firearms were purchased in South Carolina and brought up through I-95 to Chinatown.
Most of the weapons, which included five assault rifles, 75 semiautomatic pistols and an assortment of shotguns, were sent north on private buses heading to Chinatown, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said.
“(Their actions) endangered the passengers, driver and residents of Chinatown,” he said about the smuggling operation.
The smugglers would then hire an Uber or take the train to bring the purchased weapons to Stuckey and Jackson. Also arrested was Devon Heatley, 32, the sous chef.
Troy Allen, 32, Shakial Shephard, 22, and Liq’uel Robinson, 19, also took part of the gunrunning operation, officials said.
Investigators arrested the six suspects Tuesday night, charging them with conspiracy and criminal sale of a firearm.
Stuckey was ordered held without bail during a brief arraignment Wednesday. His cohorts were ordered held on $500,000 bail.
Stuckey sold the firearms to one undercover cop on 42 separate occasions, officials said. The sales were made in Manhattan and the Bronx. Stuckey was proud of his business, which he built from the ground up.
“I’ve been going back and forth for years.” Stuckey told Allen in a recorded phone conversation this past December. “I built this s---, bro, from nothing. I was coming down there bring hammers back. That was me!”
Looking over a table teeming with confiscated weapons, Vance encouraged lawmakers to pass a “kingpin law” that will give heavy jail time to those selling large quantities of weapons. Currently, a “kingpin” faces the same prison time as one selling just one pistol — five years.
Vance also encouraged Congress to fight the federal concealed carry reciprocity act, which would force city cops to accept gun permits from other states.