{news} Drugs keep guns on the street

Mon Jul 3 16:56:30 EDT 2006

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Connecticut 

Drugs keep guns on the street 
William Kaempffer, Register Staff
07/03/2006
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Clifford Allderige doesn't immediately spring to mind when you envision an illegal gun trafficker. 

But the decorated former Hamden police officer, who retired in 2001 on a disability pension after 14 years on the force, is accused of providing at least three guns to a New Haven drug dealer after developing a crack cocaine habit and running up a debt.

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Every year, New Haven police seize hundreds of guns off city streets, but a steady flow of replacements keep youths and criminals supplied with deadly firepower.

Where do they come from?

"A tremendous number of these guns that end up on the street come from straw purchasers, primarily drug addicts, who exchange guns for drugs," said U. S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut. "We've prosecuted in the last year or two quite a few of these cases."

In March, O'Connor's office secured an indictment against an East Windsor chiropractor and his wife for their alleged role in a firearms-for-narcotics scheme. Authorities seized more than 80 weapons from home of David "The Doc" Muska.

"If that addiction continued, how many of those guns would have ended up on the street?" O'Connor asked.

While guns filter to the street in many ways, straw buying is an increasing problem across the country and individual purchasers can put dozens and even hundreds of weapons into criminal hands.

"Straw purchases are probably the No. 1 way that guns get put into the hands of people who shouldn't have them," said Jim McNally, a spokesman for the Boston field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"Some people are motivated by addiction. Some people are motivated by financial gain. A gun that sells for $100, they can get 300 on the street."

A straw buyer is a person who legally purchases one or more weapons and then sells or trades them, usually to a felon or someone who otherwise wouldn't legally be able to purchase them.

Sometimes the scheme occurs on a frighteningly large scale.

One straw buyer purchased about 250 handguns at gun shows in Ohio and sold them on the streets of Buffalo, N.Y. Authorities estimated he and his accomplices pocketed $50,000 in profits before the plan unraveled. In Pittsburgh, a woman was arrested after purchasing 40 handguns and turning them over to a felon.

More often, a buyer purchases a few guns, passes them along and gets some kind of payment, like money or drugs. Sometimes, addicts desperate for their next hit will trade their personal weapons.

Allderige fit into the latter category, according to police.

In March, the 46-year-old Hamden resident admitted to New Haven police and an ATF agent that he had a crack addiction and gambling problem and accumulated a debt. When his Fair Haven dealer suggested Allderige could pay him back by buying firearms, Allderige bought two Glock pistols and supplied them to the dealer, who paid for the guns, gave him $100 and some drugs, according to a police affidavit.

Allderidge also admitted he sold one of his personal guns to the dealer. Although he was charged with three counts of illegal sale of a weapon, he admitted providing the dealer with four guns, the affidavit said.

One of the Glocks was used in four shooting incidents, including one in which a victim was shot in the neck. 

Allderige could not be reached for comment. A message left with his attorney has gone unanswered.

Allderige's case is still pending in New Haven Superior Court.

Similarly, a gun owned by Michael Rice of Milford was used to shoot a New Haven police officer in 2002 after Rice gave it and two other weapons to his drug dealer to hold because he was short on money. Officer Robert Fumiatti was shot in the face with one of the weapons. Rice pleaded guilty in February 2004 to one count of illegal transfer of a gun.

What's frustrating for law enforcement is that it's often difficult to make a case against the gun owner when it turns up on the street or is used in a crime. Rice and Allderige confessed when confronted with the facts, police said, but others escape prosecution. It's easy to report the gun stolen or missing after the fact or claim they didn't realize it was missing.

"Folks, when they're dealing with addictions, we have found in this city are trading guns for drugs around the clock. It concerns us, because to some extent there's little consequence for the gun owner," New Haven Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said.

Police chiefs across the state rallied behind legislation this year that would have made it a crime in Connecticut to fail to report the loss or theft of a firearm. The National Rifle Association and sportsmen's groups lobbied against the proposed law, and it was killed by the state House lawmakers.

Opponents warned that the measure could result in law-abiding gun owners being fined or charged with a crime simply because they didn't realize their firearms had been lost or stolen.

Local straw buyers aren't the only source of illegal firearms on the street. Other guns are traced out-of-state, where gun laws are less strict and they make their way to Connecticut through a formal or informal pipeline. But O'Connor said he believed most of the guns on Connecticut streets originally were purchased from state gun dealers.

Earlier this year, the ATF arrested Frank D'Andrea, owner of D'Andrea Gun Case in Milford, one of the state's largest gun dealers, on charges he fudged criminal background checks, sold weapons to people who indicated on forms that they were under indictment for a felony and failed to report "hundreds of instances of lost or missing firearms."

The problems were detected during an ATF audit, but federal authorities had D'Andrea's on their radar screen before that, O'Connor said. When D'Andrea's was at its previous location in Stratford, the federal government rented billboard space near the store to send a message to prospective straw buyers: If you sell a gun for drugs, you're not only going to have blood on your hands if that gun is used to kill or maim someone, but you're also going to jail.

O'Connor said the placement was no coincidence.

"We had reason to believe a lot of guns were coming back to that store. We recognized that it had become a magnet for straw purchasers, and we wanted them to realize that we're paying attention."

D'Andrea could not be reached for comment. 

©New Haven Register 2006 

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