Three Venezuelan migrants — including a child-faced Tren de Aragua leader — brazenly peddled illegal pistols, shotguns, guns and ghost guns throughout New York City, prosecutors alleged.
Accused leader Stefano Pachon, 21, and his two allies shuffled into a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday to face arms trafficking conspiracy charges laid out in a 31-count indictment.
Pachon, who had a lengthy criminal record since arriving in the Big Apple from Venezuela in late 2023, sold nine different loaded guns during the months-long hassle, prosecutors said.
“The defendant has access to a seemingly endless supply of loaded weapons,” said Assistant District Attorney Yuval Simchi-Levi. “This defendant sold the weapons while he had a court order.”
The charges stemmed from an investigation into Victor Parra, 30, the leader of an interstate migrant moped gang who spent three months as a fugitive before being captured by NYPD officers in May.
Parra pleaded guilty this week to grand larceny, court records show.
Evidence in the case against Parra ultimately led to the gun-smuggling ring allegedly led by Pachon, an alleged high-ranking member of the brutal Tren de Aragua gang, prosecutors said.
Along with Darwin Figuera, 34, and Yorman Serrano, 31, and a fourth, yet unnamed defendant, Pachon traded an arsenal of high-end firearms via WhatsApp, according to prosecutors.
One semi-automatic weapon sold was equipped with a “sear switch” that could turn it into an automatic weapon, prosecutors said.
They sold 11 guns, authorities said.
Pachon would negotiate the purchase and price of most of the weapons, with the sale unfolding in the Bronx and an East Harlem gas station at East 125th Street and Second Avenue, officials said.
The trio who appeared in court on Wednesday are from Venezuela and all pleaded not guilty.
Pachon’s attorney Michael Fineman tried to portray that he is an “asylum seeker” and that he is subject to certain protections, but Judge Althea Drysdale quickly interrupted him and corrected his bail application.
“With all due respect, I don’t know if that should be part of your application,” Drysdale shot back. “Just because everything [the accused] Arriving from Venezuela does not mean that you can be an asylum seeker.”
The judge ordered Pachon held without bail because of his “arrest-heavy record,” which includes allegedly stealing from a Queens Sephora.
Figuera, who sneaked into court wearing a pair of Cheetah-print Adidas women’s slides, was held on $50,000 bail.
Serrano, who allegedly tried to sell his own ghost gun, had his bail set at $75,000.
