Mayor: 'Scary' Amount of Firearms Found in Raid on Norwalker's House [Update]
George Uzar Sr. of 24 Granite Drive had a large number of weapons in his home when a federal-state-local task force came in to arrest him, Mayor Richard A. Moccia said.By David Gurliacci | May 13, 2011
Update 4:05 p.m., Friday:
Inside George Uzar Sr.'s Granite Drive home just north of the Merritt Parkway in the Cranbury section of Norwalk, police found a large number of automatic weapons, said Mayor Richard A. Moccia, who went to the scene when Uzar was arrested.
"It's scary to see the amount of weapons that were taken there ... especially in a residential area that seemed so quiet," Moccia said on Friday. (See video accompanying this article.)
Update 12:14 p.m., Friday:
Cranbury resident George Uzar Sr. helped get machine guns and other firearms, some with serial numbers removed, to Patrick Uzar of Stamford, for sale to Latin Kings gang members and others, according to federal prosecutors.
Uzar, 47, of 24 Granite Dr., was the only Norwalk resident arrested in Thursday's roundup of a ring that sold machine guns and other firearms to Latin Kings gang members in Stamford, police and prosecutors said. Undercover agents and wiretaps were used in the investigation. The federal indictment, handed down by a grand jury, refers to alleged sales as early as last summer and as late as last month.
George Uzar Sr. is referred to in several counts of the indictment. He is accused of unlawful dealing in firearms and four counts of illegally possessing and transferring a machine gun. George Uzar and others arrested Thursday were arraigned in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport that day.
The federal indictment makes these allegations about George Uzar Sr. and others:
Patrick "Pistol" or "Pepe" Uzar would arrange to get machine guns with serial numbers removed from George Uzar Sr. (hereafter "George"), then sell them to others, dividing the proceeds with George. These illegal activities took place from January through May.
For example, the indictment states that "On or about Jan. 16 and 17, 2011," George Uzar Sr. and Patrick Uzar "discussed selling a firearm to an individual known to the grand jury. On or about Jan. 21, 2011, George Uzar Sr. transferred a 9-mm. Sten-style automatic machine gun with no serial number to Patrick Uzar, who sold the machine gun to an individual known to the grand jury for $2,200. Patrick Uzar provided George Uzar Sr. with a portion of the proceeds of the sale."
George apparently removed at least one of the serial numbers himself: "On or about Jan. 23, 2011, George Uzar Sr. advised Patrick Uzar that he had completed work on a firearm," which Patrick Uzar received the next day and later sold for $2,300.
"It was a part of the conspiracy that Patrick Uzar was in the business of selling firearms without a license," according to the indictment. "On some occasions, Uzar would advise an individual known to the grand jury that he had a firearm for sale, and would make arrangements to acquire the firearms he intended to sell to this individual from relatives and associates, including fellow members and associates of the Latin Kings."
There is no indication whatever in the indictment that George Uzar Sr. was himself a member of the Latin Kings.
Sometimes Uzar would arrange to have Kevin "Kev" Goulbourne of Stamford conduct the actual sale. The indictment also describes other associates of Patrick Uzar providing weapons that were later sold. Patrick Uzar "would arrange for distribution of the proceeds of the gun sales."
On Oct. 14, 2010, the indictment states, John "Silk" Davis and Jamar "Mar" or "Mars" Blackburn bought a Sig Sauer Mosquito 22-cal. semi-automatic pistol and a Smith & Wesson model SW9W pistol from the Forest and Field store in Norwalk. The two later sold the weapons to Patrick Uzar, who sold them "to an individual known to the grand jury" for $1,200.
Various others arrested as part of the conspiracy were accused of helping to sell cocaine or Ecstasy, a form of methamphetamine. The indictment also states that various defendants should be subject to property forfieture, although those defendants don't include George Uzar Sr., who was also not named in any of the counts involving drug sales.
Also on Thursday, Uzar's son, George Uzar Jr., was arrested on multiple drug possession and illegall weapons possession charges by Norwalk Police. The two live at the same address in Norwalk. Information on the drug possession charges was not available from Norwalk Police on Friday morning.
According to police records, George Uzar Jr. was charged with 12 different crimes including two counts of illegal manufacture, distribution or sale of prescription medications, illegal possession of drugs near a school, illegal possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal possession of drug paraphernalia near a school, carrying dangerous weapons and illegal sale of drugs near a school.
Also among the 12 counts was one charging him with illegal possession of less than four ounces of marijuana. All of the charges allege violations of state law, and George Uzar Jr. was scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Norwalk Friday morning. His bail was set at $100,000.
The 24 Granite Dr. address of both George Uzar Jr. and Sr. is also listed as the address of "Uzar Brothers Hardwood Floor," according to Google Maps.
Update 6:19 p.m., Thursday:
More than a hundred guns were bought from a ring of drug and firearms traffickers connected to the Stamford Chapter of the Latin Kings, said law enforcement officials, who arrested 16 area residents Thursday, including one from Norwalk.
The haul of confiscated firearms "has taken many dangerous heavy weapons out of the wrong hands,” Stamford Police Chief Robert Nivakoff said in a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Haven. Stamford police were one of seven federal, state or local law-enforcement agencies participating in the joint investigation.
"We’re proud to have been involved in this operation, which now includes the largest seizure of firearms in the history of the Stamford Police Department," Nivakoff said.
The news release also stated:
"The indictment alleges that, on multiple occasions beginning in approximately July 2010, Patrick Uzar of Stamford acquired firearms from relatives, as well as fellow members and associates of the Stamford Chapter of the Latin Kings, sold the firearms to a third party and distributed some of the sale proceeds to members of the conspiracy. The indictment further alleges that Uzar and others also were involved in the distribution of cocaine and Ecstasy."
Undercover law enforcement agents bought several firearms, including machine guns, according to the statement. The announcement said that on Thursday "in association with the arrest of the defendants, law enforcement officers executed multiple federal search warrants and seized dozens of firearms, ammunition, firearm parts and related material."
The long-term, joint investigation involved seven federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Norwalk and Stamford police departments, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Haven announced.
Special Agent in Charge Guy F. Thomas of the Boston Field Division of the ATF, said in the news release that the arrests "will have a significant impact on reducing violence and improving the quality of life for residents of Stamford and surrounding communities.”
One Norwalk man was arrested following a raid in the city. Another 12 of the defendants are Stamford residents. Two others are in state prisons and one is from Trumbull.
A copy of the 12-page, 20-count indictment is attached to this article. A total of 13 defendants were arrested under the indictment, two others were already in prison and another man was arrested on federal criminal charges.
These individuals were named in a federal indictment and appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport:
Patrick "Pistol" or "Pepe" Uzar, 24, of Lafayette Street, Stamford;
Christian Andre "Frost" Aliaga, 29, of Cove Road, Stamford;
James "Mar" or "Mars" Blackburn, 24, already in state prison;
Alfred "Viddy" Brown, 27, already in state prison;
Agustin "Auggie" or "Warlord" Crespo, 34, of Spruce Street, Stamford;
John "Silk" Davis, 25, of Haig Avenue, Stamford;
Louis "Cano" Feliciano, 25, of Pepper Ridge Road, Stamford;
Kevin "Kev" Goulbourne, 38, of Lockwood Avenue, Stamford;
Analisa "Lisa" Martinez, 28, of Spruce Street, Stamford;
Willie "Willo" or "Flaco V" Nieves, 47, of West Broad Street, Stamford;
Jeffrey “J Free” or “Brother Jeff” Nunez, 27, of East Main Street, Stamford;
Rodolfo "Rudy" Revello, 38 of Unity Road, Trumbull;
Anthony Uzar Sr., 49, of Lafayette Street, Stamford;
George Uzar Sr., 47, of Granite Drive, Norwalk;
Santos "Tos" or "Inca" or "Pres" Zambrana, 24, of Montauk Dr., Stamford.
Anthony Uzar Jr., 28, of Frederick Street, Stamford, was not part of the indictment but was also arrested Thursday on a federal charge of possession of firearm and ammunition by a previously convicted felon.
Other law enforcement agencies involved in the joint investigation were the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bridgeport Police Department, the state Department of Correction. According to the news release, a "significant part" of the funding for the operation came from the United States Attorney’s Office Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the office’s Project Safe Neighborhoods and Anti-Gang programs.
