Photo Courtesy of NYPD
The three separate indictments stem from a long-term investigation that uncovered multiple criminal operations, including bank larceny and gun trafficking.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A Far Rockaway man has been indicted for allegedly running a large bank larceny operation, according to the City Police Department.
Julius “Juju” Salazar, 26, was arraigned earlier this month on dozens of felonies and misdemeanors. He pleaded not guilty and bail was set at $500,000 bond/$250,000 cash.
Salazar is one of 19 defendants that have been variously charged in three separate indictments for allegedly selling 40 trafficked firearms, attempting to steal approximately $60,000 from bank accounts, and possessing two illegal guns. The charges, law-enforcement authorities said this week, all stem from a long-term investigation that relied on electronic surveillance and revealed interconnected schemes and alliances between alleged gang members and their associates.
“These indictments are a testament of our resolve to continue going after firearm traffickers, who endanger the safety of our communities for profit, and gang members, who often fund their crimes through larceny and fraud. Gun runners and those who aid them should be on notice that they are not safe from prosecution just because they live out of state – we will arrest them and bring them to Brooklyn to face justice,” said Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who has helmed the Kings County Office for most of October. District Attorney Ken Thompson announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer on Oct. 4. He died five days later.
As part of the charged larceny scheme, according to the evidence, between May and September of 2016, Salazar enlisted co-conspirators who paid individuals to open bank accounts or provide information about existing accounts. According to investigators, the account holders handed over all personal information associated with their accounts, including dates of birth, Social Security numbers and banking credentials. Salazar then allegedly arranged for either the deposit of fraudulent checks or the completion of fraudulent wire transfers into the accounts. The account holders were then instructed to quickly withdraw the funds (before the banks could discover the bogus transactions) and the co-conspirators split the proceeds.
The investigation found that the larceny operation used accounts at Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Capital One and TD Bank in four states: New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Georgia, cops said. The defendants allegedly tried to steal approximately $60,000 from the banks and succeeded in withdrawing at least $37,000. The suspects charged in the indictment face up to seven years in prison if convicted of the top count.
Authorities noted that the initial target of the investigation was Colin “Rum” Toney, 27, of South Carolina. Between June 2015 and September 2016, on 19 occasions, Toney allegedly sold a total of 40 guns that were purchased in his home state to an undercover NYPD detective in Brooklyn and Manhattan, according to the indictment. If convicted of the top charges outlined in the indictment, Toney faces up to 25 years in prison.
“At the heart of this long-term investigation is the trafficking of illegal firearms from South Carolina to New York City,” said Police Commissioner Jim O’Neill. “Those guns—40 of them—would be on our streets if not for the hard work of investigators.”
