MOSI SECRET
nytimes.com
During the secret meetings at their clubhouse in
Brooklyn, the members of an outlaw motorcycle gang, the Forbidden Ones, secured
themselves with assault rifles, pistols and even grenades to protect themselves
from intruders, the authorities said. But their first — and most imposing — line
of defense was a cannon, at the ready with .50-caliber rounds, aimed at the door
should anyone dare to infiltrate their ranks.
Department of Justice
Among the weapons confiscated were AK-47 assault rifles,
homemade bombs, pistols and a cannon.
But what the men did not know was that despite their
fortifications, one of their own had turned on them. Their very own “enforcer,”
responsible for ensuring that they were all well armed with guns and explosives,
was a confidential informer working with New York police officers and federal
agents to uncover the sale of a huge cache of weapons.
In predawn raids on Tuesday, law enforcement officials
arrested seven members of the Forbidden Ones and two other Brooklyn-based
motorcycle gangs, the Dirty Ones and the Troublemakers, and charged them with
trafficking high-caliber weapons. An eighth man charged was already in prison.
Among those discovered, in 15 locations, were AK-47
assault rifles, homemade bombs and a .410-caliber revolver, the police said.
Some of the guns were kept at a gang member’s home, where his wife ran a day
care center.
The men arrested had nicknames like Spider and Afro,
and some literally wore their accomplishments on their sleeves. The “1% patch”
they wore declared that they had rejected society and lived outside the law. And
the “bangout patch,” showing two handguns crossing each other, signified that
the member had assaulted or had another confrontation with the police.
Most of the gun sales were made in tattoo parlors, the
police said.
The defendants, ranging in age from 33 to 61, were
scheduled to be arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday
afternoon, but only three made court appearances. Four others were taken to the
hospital for heroin detoxification and treatment for high blood pressure. The
men face up to five years in prison if convicted.
Officials said the leader of the trafficking scheme
was Scott Brannigan, known as the Spider. Prosecutors said Mr. Brannigan, 61,
sold 16 firearms and about 1,400 rounds of ammunition, including armor-piercing
rounds, to an undercover officer. The most expensive of the arms, at $2,000, was
the cannon, which came with ammunition and the black powder necessary to fire
it.
The first undercover gun buy was in October 2010. The
confidential informer led an undercover officer to a tattoo parlor on Rockaway
Beach Boulevard in Queens. At a nearby house, the informer paid $1,000 for a
Yugoslavian assault rifle and ammunition, while the undercover officer looked
on. It went on like that, the police said, for the next two years.
