NEW YORK — Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, today announced the filing of a 657-count superseding indictment charging three defendants who allegedly trafficked guns – including flying them to New York from Georgia on commercial flights – with aggravated enterprise corruption, which is the first time that the statute has been used in the entire state and carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
A total of four defendants were previously charged in the case for allegedly conspiring to sell 153 firearms, almost all of which were purchased in Georgia and destined for the streets of Brooklyn. One of those defendants is a former Delta Air Lines employee who allegedly carried backpacks and carry-on baggage full of guns and ammunition on commercial flights from Atlanta to New York on nearly 20 occasions. A second Delta employee, a ramp agent, has been charged in the new indictment with helping to smuggle the weapons on the planes for a fee.
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Eugene Harvey, 32, of 4635 Greenspring Road, College Park, Georgia; Mark Henry, 46, of 535 East 79th Street, in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and 1987 Tiffany Lane, Jonesboro, Georgia; Ernest Leneau, 55, of 632 East 94th Street, in Canarsie, Brooklyn; Adrian Alleyne, 25, of 9029 Farragut Road, in Canarsie, Brooklyn; and Grayling Smith, 52, of 1608 Prospect Place, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and 4339 Persian Court, in Snellville, Georgia.
The District Attorney said that the indictment is the result of a long-term investigation conducted by the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office between May 2014 and December 2014, during which time the defendants conspired to sell weapons purchased in Georgia to an NYPD undercover detective in Brooklyn. The weapons ranged from compact AR-15 and AK-47 assault weapons to 9mm handguns to Glock pistols. Approximately 153 guns were recovered during the investigation.
