In 15 years as an NYPD undercover cop, “Stevie Gunz” spent Sundays kneeling in the presence of the Lord. The rest of the week found the preacher’s son knee-deep among sinners.
The now-retired cop flaunted the colors of the Crips and the Bloods, buying dope and sawed-off shotguns while working the city’s streets and housing projects in a bulletproof T-shirt.
Before turning in his shield two years back, the native New Yorker earned his nickname by helping take nearly 500 guns off the street, testifying at 55 trials – and never firing his gun once.
Full Story – HERE
Worth the read. It’s part 1 of a 3 part series… I’ll post the rest when they come out.
Interesting chart presented in the article (shown below)… I can’t say I’m surprised at any of the guns on the list:
I am a little surprised no rifles made the list though.
Comments
13 responses to “NYPD Cop Spends 15 Years Deep Undercover Buying Guns And Drugs”
“I am a little surprised no rifles made the list though.”
I’m not. We’ve said all along that long arms are not a significant factor in crime. That was one of our primary reasons for disputing the Assault Weapons Ban.
What I am surprised about, though, is how many service caliber handguns were recovered. It used to be mostly so-called “Saturday Night Specials”, the small-caliber el-cheapos like the Raven .25 on the list. Now it’s mostly 9mm and larger? The criminals are getting “smarter”, as it were.
Actually, the list makes perfect sense. It’s not the crooks getting “smarter”, they’re just using what’s commonly available.
The Ravens, Brycos and Hi-Points because they are, of course, absurdly cheap, essentially “disposable” guns. Eighty bucks new for the smaller ones, twenty bucks on the street.
Glocks are a bit more interesting. First, they are, of course, police service weapons, and I’d lay a good wager that the bulk of the recovered ones were stolen from law enforcement, in one way or another. Second, they’re “street cred” guns- rap music is full of references to Glocks (“hear ma Glock clickin’…”) and third, they’re very commonly used in movies. (Besides the fact that generic square black guns all get defaulted back to “Glocks” anyway…)
The Rugers and Mossbergs are also unsurprising. They’re inexpensive (bordering on cheap) and every gunstore in America carries ’em- including Wal-Marts and K-Marts. Besides the cheapness for strawman purchases, they’re commonly bought by lower-income people, from whom they’re eventually either stolen, or sold by.
The Smith & Wesson .38 and .357 revolvers are also expected. S&W has been making .38s for a century, and .357s for sixty years. There’s tons of them out there both as civillian models and ex-LEO trade-ins. And, being revolvers in this age of poly wondernines, they’re often dirt cheap. The pic shows a modern Scandi Smith, but remember, a “Smith .38” can mean a sixty-five-year-old Model 15, too.
Ditto the Smith Nines; the pic shows a modern plastic-framed double-stack, but Smith has been making nines for sixty years. The 39 came out in the late fifties, and police departments started issuing the 59 in the late sixties.
None of it’s any surprise. Or at least, any surprise to anyone that realizes that the latest Michael Bay movie doesn’t reflect reality. Which excludes most of Congress, but we won’t get into that. :)
Doc.
I figured they had rifles at home for SHTF gang scenarios, but according to the data I’m probably wrong.
I am not, for it is a little hard to sit on the stoop trying to cover up an AR or AK rifle, and most criminals don’t have either the ability or knownledge to cut down a barrel properly – unlike a shot gun, which is pretty straigh forward.
Good point… I just figured they had rifles at home for SHTF gang scenarios, but maybe not?
They “recovered” these from criminals, but in NYC< just practicing your basic Constitutional right is criminal.
To say recovered is to say that they were owned by the authorities in the first place.
Any rifle/shotgun that loads more than 5 rounds, like the SMLE are illegal in NYC which makes me think, when was the last time someone committed a murder…anywhere… with a bolt action? The UTexas shooting?
Furthermore, you need a license to even handle black powder pistols, or antique weapons firing fixed ammunition. Same question applies here, when was the last time someone was murdered with a musket? I can’t even remember…
I’ve talked with some of my colleagues and they think that it makes sense, since NYC has a huge population.
My question is this, especially considering the Minimum Force Bill. When something like the North Hollywood Shootout happens, and you call 911, and they cant do anything because they’re outgunned, whats going to happen? A complete ban of firearms in NYC? If SHTF, its over for most of NYC. They hate firearms, and say trust in the professionals, i.e. the police. But they hate the police for using lethal force so they strip them of the right to do so.
I wish they’d change the example for the Ruger pistol. The SR9 hasn’t been around that long and isn’t that inexpensive; A P89 or P95 would make a lot more sense.
At least they got the Sigma right. I have yet to hear a registration check over the police scanner for an M&P.
Um… so where are all the evil high capacity black guns that by their mere presence cause people to go on unprovoked killing sprees?
It really doesn’t surprise me that the oddball calibers are being ditched for more common 9mm and .40 caliber handguns. If I am a criminal. When was the last time anyone found a box of .25 rounds at a reasonable price? They can’t compete with the quantity of the other calibers, which means they can’t compete with the price. Even a criminal knows that cheaper ammo is a better deal.
Very true Mike.
I’ll have to say, this is the kind of gun “buyback” I can approve of. The guns are far more likely to be used in a crime than a “sock-drawer special”, not to mention the sellers are almost certainly the bad men themselves. Though I don’t suppose the NYPD would be returning them to the rightful owners if it turned out they were stolen…
Yea, I agree… these numbers actually mean something. I don’t think i’d want my gun back if it was stolen. Who knows how many bodies there could be on it. At the very least, if that ever happened to me and I did get a stolen gun back, I would replace the barrel and the firing pin.