A North Carolina man who prosecutors say was caught on a wiretap smuggling more than 10 semiautomatic pistols into New York City and then selling them has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
Zaquan Gaillard, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sale of a firearm — one in the first degree and one in the second degree — earlier this year, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
He was convicted of trafficking more than $28,000 worth of firearms from North and South Carolina, then selling them to an undercover NYPD officer in Harlem on eight different occasions in 2021 and 2022, according to the Manhattan DA’s office.
Gaillard walked into the courtroom just before 2:30 p.m., dressed in a khaki sweatshirt and pants with his hands cuffed behind his back. A prosecutor read the state’s recommended sentence, and Gaillard’s defense attorney did not object.
Judge Ann Scherzer asked Gaillard if there was anything he wanted to say, and he quietly responded, “No, your honor.”
“Mr. Gaillard, I wish you good luck,” Scherzer said.
Just three minutes after the hearing began, court officers escorted Gaillard back out of the courtroom to serve his sentence.
The case exemplifies what’s commonly known as the Iron Pipeline, a gun-trafficking corridor along Interstate 95. While New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, sellers often bring firearms from other states along the corridor, which have weaker regulations.
An attorney general’s analysis of the 52,915 guns recovered in New York between 2010 and 2015 found 74% of the guns connected to crimes that law enforcement recovered during that time came from other states, when a state of origin could be identified. North Carolina and South Carolina were two of the biggest exporters during that period — they accounted for 9% and 11% of the trafficked firearms, respectively.
“It is far too easy to traffic guns through the iron pipeline,” Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “We will continue to aggressively prosecute traffickers, and I urge the federal government to take comprehensive action to cutdown on the availability and flow of firearms into our communities.”
Prosecutors accused Gaillard of buying some of the guns from suppliers in North Carolina and others from pawn shops in South Carolina. The DA’s office said he repeatedly traveled to New York City, where prosecutors said he sold the guns to the undercover officer on West 149th Street in broad daylight.
According to the indictment, Gaillard sold police various types of guns, including several Taurus and SCCY pistols, which the DA’s office said are two of the most common firearms used in crimes in New York City.
Investigators used a wiretap to listen in on Gaillard’s calls and read his text messages. That’s how prosecutors said they learned that Gaillard was often reselling the guns for twice the amount he paid to acquire them.
In court filings, Gaillard’s defense attorney, Glenn Hardy, challenged law enforcement’s use of the wiretap, arguing that intercepting his client’s phone calls and messages was unnecessarily invasive. But prosecutors defended the strategy, arguing it was necessary to learn more about Gaillard’s suppliers.
A similar case is scheduled for trial next month. Tyreke Colon, also of North Carolina, was indicted the same week as Gaillard. Prosecutors allege that he recruited people to get permits and buy guns for him, then reimbursed them on CashApp. He’s accused of selling 36 guns to undercover police worth more than $40,000. Colon has pleaded not guilty.
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