CONVICTED GUN RUNNERS SENTENCED TO MAXIMUM TERMS FOR FLOODING BRONX NEIGHBORHOOD WITH ILLEGAL HANDGUNS AND HIGH POWERED ASSAULT WEAPONS PURCHASED OUT OF STATE

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that two Virginia residents, Shawn Pettaway and Phenroy Lafayette Day Jr. have been sentenced to prison terms of up to one hundred and thirty three years and eighty four years respectively for selling guns to buyers in the vicinity of the Gun Hill Houses.

Pettaway, of Hampton, Virginia and Day, of Newport News, Virginia, were convicted after a jury trial on May 29, 2003, on multiple counts of Criminal Sale of a firearm in the 3rd degree, Criminal possession of a weapon in the 3rd and 4th degrees. The two defendants were described as leaders of a ring that was a major supplier of guns, ranging from 38 caliber "Saturday Night Special" handguns to deadly Tech 22 caliber assault weapons, to buyers in and around the Gun Hill Houses.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Fisch sentenced Pettaway to eighty seven and a half to one hundred and thirty three years imprisonment and Day to seventy four and two thirds to eight four years imprisonment. Penal Law § 70.30, however, limits the aggregate maximum allowable sentence to a determinate term of twenty years.

The defendants were arrested following a series of undercover gun purchases by detectives. The weapons were delivered to an apartment at the Gun Hill Houses, rented rooms at motels in the area and the parking lot of a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. The transactions occurred on an average of once a week between April 1, 2001 and August 28, 2001.

The guns would be purchased in Virginia by relatives and friends of the defendants and then driven to the Bronx for delivery. Virginia law allows citizens to buy one firearm a month, for a total of twelve guns per person per year. The arrests and convictions were the result of a five month joint investigation by the Bronx DA’s Office and the New York City Police Department. According to statistics gathered by the NYPD Firearms Analysis Section, one out of every seven guns recovered in the Bronx during 2001 were related to this investigation.

This investigation was financed in part by a $100,000 special state grant secured with the assistance of State Senator Guy Velella to provide the Bronx District Attorney’s Office with resources specifically earmarked to prosecute gun crimes.

Three other co-defendants Lerone Finley, 34, and Calvin Bailey, 21, both of Newport News, Virginia pled guilty in October 2002, to Criminal possession of a weapon in the 3rd degree, and Letisha Washington, 20, of Troy, Virginia also pled guilty in October 2002, to Criminal sale of a weapon in the 3rd degree. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Finley received a sentence of four years imprisonment and three years post release supervision, Bailey received a sentence of two years imprisonment and three years post release supervision and Washington received a term of up to 4 months in jail and five years probation.

Mr. Johnson thanked United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Paul J. McNulty, the New York City Police Department Firearms Investigations Unit, the Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach task force of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local authorities, and Detective Investigators from the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for their help in building a case against these defendants. In addition, Mr. Johnson thanked the undercover detective who purchased the guns for his perseverance and courage in building a case against these defendants.

Assistant District Attorneys Samuel R. Ramer and Pamela M. Pannes of the Major Case / Housing Task Force Bureau prosecuted this case.