FBI Rounds up 45 Guns from the Streets of Newark, East Orange, and Irvington in Firearm Trafficking Investigation

Eight Defendants Charged with Firearms Felonies

NEWARK, NJ—Eight Essex County, N.J., men have been charged with federal firearms violations following a year-long investigation by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force that led to the confiscation of 45 guns from the streets of Newark, East Orange and Irvington, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Peter Stewart, 21, of Newark; Randy Andrew, 34, of Irvington; Leon Jenkins, 25, of East Orange; Jackson Georges, 39, of Newark; and Nixon Provillon, 40, of Irvington, were arrested today by special agents of the FBI. Eddy Peralta, 27, of Newark, was arrested in Statesville, N.C., over the weekend. Mark Mells, 25, of Newark, was arrested June 8, 2011, and Mark McCargo, 39, of Irvington, was arrested June 20, 2011, in connection with the investigation.

All eight men are charged by Complaint. Andrew, Stewart, Georges, Jenkins and Provillon are charged with trafficking in firearms without a license. Andrew, Georges, Peralta, Mells and McCargo are also charged with being convicted felons in possession of firearms.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

For more than one year the FBI Safe Streets Task Force led an operation to recover firearms in an effort to stem gun violence and take weapons off the streets of Newark and surrounding areas. Agents directed and supervised a “sting operation,” using a confidential informant to purchase firearms from illegal gun brokers and dealers. The operation yielded 45 illicit firearms, including several assault rifles, machine pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic handguns.

Stewart, Andrew and Georges conspired to sell to the informant guns—including on one occasion, an assault rifle—magazines and ammunition from an Irvington laundromat. The complaint against the three men details several other transactions, including sales in which the defendants provided the informant with assault weapons, rifles and a shotgun out of several locations in Newark and Irvington. Peralta, who had a prior felony conviction, sold the informant a .50-cal. rifle out of a location in Newark.

Jenkins’ complaint describes six transactions selling the informant eight guns, including a Romanian AK-47, known as a WASR-10. Most of those sales occurred at an apartment on South Munn Avenue in Newark.

Provillon is alleged to have worked in conjunction with others to sell at least five firearms to the informant over a three-month span. Those sales included assault weapons, a semiautomatic handgun and a shotgun sold out of Provillon’s Irvington residence. McCargo is alleged to have sold a rifle to the informant out of a vehicle parked on an Irvington street. Mells, a prior convicted felon, was previously arrested after agents discovered at least four firearms, including a .45-cal. M10 machine-pistol and several handguns, stashed throughout his apartment on Seth Boyden Terrace in Newark.

Stewart, Andrew and Jenkins made their initial appearance in court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk. All three were remanded. Provillon and Georges will make their initial appearances later this week. Mells has been detained since his arrest in June. McCargo was freed on bond, but was arrested on a state charge and is being detained on that charge.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited the FBI special agents and local detectives and investigators from the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, which operates under the direction of FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, with the investigation that led to the arrests. The Safe Streets Task Force comprises the FBI, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, the Essex County Corrections Department, and the Newark, East Orange and Jersey City Police Departments.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam N. Subervi and Jacques S. Pierre of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division.

The charges and allegations contained in the Complaints are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense counsel:

Mark McCargo: Candace Horn Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark

Mark Mells: Peter Carter Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark
Leon Jenkins: Timothy Donohue Esq., West Orange, N.J.
Peter Stewart: Timothy Anderson Esq., Red Bank, N.J.
Randy Andrew: Paul Casteleiro Esq., Hoboken, N.J.

Nixon Provillon: Laurie Fierro Esq., Kinnelon, N.J.