Photo Courtesy of DA Katz
Katz’s Office has prosecuted nearly 3,000 criminal weapon possession cases in 2022.
By Forum Staff
Illegal firearms are still the number one priority for Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, she said in remarks delivered Friday.
“The fact remains that limiting access to firearms saves lives,” Katz wrote. “I have made it my number one priority to rid Queens County of dangerous and illegal weapons that wreak havoc and place countless lives at risk.
Photo Courtesy of DA Katz
Katz’s Office has prosecuted nearly 3,000 criminal weapon possession cases in 2022.
“Not only does my Office house the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau – whose sole purpose is to suppress gang and gun activity in this Borough – but I have also created the Crime Strategies and Intelligence Unit to find ghost guns and home manufactured weapons throughout Queens.
“There is more to be done, but I am proud of the work we have accomplished so far working with our law enforcement, community, faith-based, and cure violence partners. Some examples of the work we have done over the past year include:
- Prosecuting nearly 3,000 criminal weapon possession cases, representing the sheer magnitude of deadly weapons that can no longer be used in our communities.
- Seizing nearly 200 ghost guns – unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be bought online, often sold through “ghost gun kits,” and assembled at home. Our ghost gun recovery efforts lead the city.
- Holding accountable those who profit from the drug trade. Last month, I announced an indictment against an accused drug dealer for possessing roughly 2 kilograms of fentanyl. With a street value of $80,000, the amount seized would be enough to produce 20,000 counterfeit pills.
- Utilizing specialized treatment courts to screen and refer eligible defendants for appropriate interventions to help break cycles of crime driven by addiction. In 2022, my office screened 121 individuals for mental health treatment dispositions, and 79 of those defendants successfully entered into alternative sentencing mental health plea agreements.
- Securing dozens of indictments on hate-crime charges. Earlier this year, we secured prison sentences in two separate hate crimes cases: an eight-year sentence for slashing a victim after hurling homophobic and racial slurs in Flushing, and a five-year sentence for threatening a transgender woman with an illegal firearm in Jamaica.
- Cracking down on the trafficking of women and underage children.
- Securing a guilty plea and a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of a World War I veteran, who had been missing since 1976, thanks to the work of the Cold Case Unit I created when I took office.”
