Bronx Man Pleads Guilty To Trafficking More Than 100 Firearms Into New York City (DOJ)

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced today that EDSON BROWN, a Bronx resident, pled guilty to an 18-count indictment, charging him with crimes in connection with a firearms trafficking scheme spanning more than a year and involving at least two straw purchasers. BROWN pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan.

"New Yorkers want criminals who use guns off our streets and, together with the NYPD, the FBI, the ATF, and many others, we are committed to pursuing gun-toting criminals and gun traffickers," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. "To be clear, gun traffickers are criminals who serve violent criminals-there is no place for them in New York."

As alleged in the Superseding Indictment and other public filings in this case:

Between in or about July 2023 and in or about February 2025, BROWN, who lived in the Bronx, traveled to North Carolina and South Carolina more than a dozen times to illegally purchase approximately 118 firearms at gun stores, each of which were federal firearms licensees ("FFLs") that he then transported back to New York and sold. BROWN was not allowed to purchase or possess guns because he is a convicted felon.

BROWN's illegal purchases were split between North Carolina and South Carolina. BROWN illegally acquired approximately 53 guns in North Carolina that he then transported to New York and sold to others. Between July and December 2023, BROWN made six trips from New York to North Carolina with a straw purchaser, that is, someone who falsely stated to FFLs that the straw purchaser was buying the guns legally and for his or her own use, but in reality was buying the firearms for BROWN and for the purpose of resale in New York. BROWN also illegally acquired approximately 65 guns in South Carolina that he then transported to New York and sold to others. Between October 2023 and February 2025, the defendant worked with a second straw purchaser in South Carolina to acquire those guns. Sometimes that straw purchaser bought the guns and then transferred them to the defendant. Other times the defendant traveled to South Carolina from New York, impersonated the straw purchaser himself by using the straw purchaser's ID to buy the guns, and then transported the guns back to New York himself.

BROWN defaced many of the guns by removing their serial numbers before selling them in New York. Members of the NYPD have recovered seven of the guns that BROWN trafficked from North Carolina and South Carolina to New York. Six of those seven guns had obliterated serial numbers that the NYPD firearms lab was able to restore-and thus trace back to BROWN's purchases in North Carolina and South Carolina. The remaining firearms that BROWN trafficked have not yet been recovered, or if they have been recovered, members of law enforcement have been unable to trace them because their serial numbers cannot be restored.

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BROWN, 37, of the Bronx, New York, pled guilty to the following 18 crimes, which carry the maximum sentences described in the below chart:

The statutory maximum sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the New York City Police Department.

This case is being handled by the Office's Violent Organizations and Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Jones and Joseph H. Rosenberg are in charge of the prosecution.