Police sergeant admits to selling 'ghost gun' to member of outlaw motorcycle club
Goshen. Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler: “I am enraged that a police officer would sell exactly the types of weapons that are used to kill innocent people, including police officers.”
Goshen /
| 18 Dec 2019 | 11:27
Weapons recovered from Gregg Marinelli’s Home (
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A police sergeant with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has admitted to manufacturing and selling "ghost" guns to those without pistol permits, including a member of an outlaw motorcycle club.
Gregg Marinelli, 38, of Plattekill, N.Y., pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree hindering prosecution, said Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler in making the announcement on Dec. 2.
Marinelli admitted to selling a ghost gun -- a gun without a serial number, making it difficult to trace and attractive to those planning to use the gun illegally -- to Paul Smith, an outlaw motorcycle club member who was also a Middletown Fire Department lieutenant. Hoovler said the case arose out of the enforcement action dubbed “Operation Bread, White and Blues,” which targets members and associates of self-professed outlaw motorcycle clubs trafficking cocaine and other drug dealers.
Marinelli also admitted alerting the lieutenant that he was the target of a police investigation, Hoovler said.
“I am enraged that a police officer would sell exactly the types of weapons that are used to kill innocent people, including police officers,” said Hoovler. “The types of ‘ghost’ guns which were recovered in this case are valuable to criminals precisely because they are difficult to trace. A police officer who alerts an armed drug dealer who has proudly proclaimed his status as ‘outlaw’ motorcycle club member, that he is the subject of police investigation, not only compromises that investigation, but puts his fellow police officers at risk.”
Marinelli said that sometime between June 15 and Sept. 30, 2018, he sold Smith a pistol that resembled a semi-automatic Glock pistol. Investigation found that Marinelli manufactured the gun without serial numbers.
That gun, and many of the weapons alleged to have been sold by Marinelli, were “ghost” guns. In some instances they were defaced weapons, with their serial numbers removed.
The District Attorney’s office will recommend that Marinelli be sentenced to ten years in state prison for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and a concurrent one and one-third to four years in prison for second-degree hindering prosecution. Those sentences would run concurrently to any time Marinelli receives in Ulster County on related charges. Marinelli is next scheduled to appear in Orange County Court on April 6, 2020.
Arrests, charges, and sentencing
On April 8, 2019, Paul Smith pled guilty to second-degree operating as a major trafficker and second-degree conspiracy in connection with the conspiracy to distribute cocaine through self-professed “outlaw” motorcycle clubs.
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Smith will receive a sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years in state prison for second-degree conspiracy and concurrent time for the operating as a major trafficker. The maximum sentence is 25 years to life in state prison. Additionally, Smith agreed to forfeit $315,000 he made from selling cocaine pursuant to the conspiracy, as well as a 2014 Dodge Ram pick-up truck, a 2008 Corvette automobile, and a 2012 Harley Davidson motorcycle that he used to transport narcotics. Smith is next scheduled to be in court on July 10, 2020.
Marinelli was arrested on Feb. 28, 2019, and accused of manufacturing dozens of handguns and assault rifles, including at least one fully automatic assault rifle, and selling them to individuals who are legally barred from possessing such weapons.
Marinelli allegedly assembled the guns in his Plattekill home and sold them to others, including members of outlaw motorcycle groups and those with criminal convictions, sometimes delivering the illegal weapon using his marked police car.
The NYS Police, aided by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Explosives and Firearms, executed a search warrant at Marinelli’s home in Plattekill and recovered gun parts, tools used to manufacture weapons, and numerous firearms.