Feds crackdown on Russian mob arms dealers
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By Adam Gorlick Associated Press - Published: December 23, 2005
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — They're from Romania, Yugoslavia and right here in Springfield — a collection of 25 handguns and assault weapons that federal agents seized in a crackdown on arms dealers with Russian mob ties.
The European-made shotguns and semiautomatic rifles, along with a few Smith & Wesson pistols manufactured in Springfield, had been on their way to local gang members and drug dealers, authorities said Thursday.
But federal agents, using a witness who posed as a local distributor, intercepted the guns and now they're slated to be destroyed.
Late last month, three of the gun dealers linked to Russian organized crime pleaded guilty to selling the weapons. A Pennsylvania man tied to the case admitted his role in the scheme in July, and a fifth man involved in the trafficking ring was convicted by a jury earlier this month.
"There's no reason for these guns to be on the street, other than for a violent act," said FBI supervisory agent Michael O'Reilly, who showed the guns to reporters at the FBI's Springfield headquarters.
Several AK-47s with 30-round clips, 9 mm semiautomatics, shotguns, handguns and rifles equipped with grenade launchers and bayonets cluttered a long conference table. Some were several years old and had missing serial numbers when they were seized; others were brand new.
The firearm crackdown sprang from an investigation by local and federal authorities into rising crime rates in the Russian immigrant communities of Springfield, West Springfield and Westfield.
"Back in early 2001, there was an outcry about the criminal activity taking place in those communities," O'Reilly said. But since then, officials say crime in those communities has subsided.
"Things have been a lot quieter since indictments came down in this case," West Springfield police Chief Thomas Burke said.
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