Indie Guns owner Lawrence Michael DeStefano was picked up from Florida’s Orange County Jail by New York detectives this week after serving nearly 90 days in custody and flown to New York City aboard a private jet.
When they landed, the officers took a group photo and then rushed DeStefano to an NYPD precinct to be booked, and then to a quick court hearing in Queens. Afterward, he was taken to Rikers Island, a notorious 413-acre state prison located in the East River near the Bronx, where he remains incarcerated.
At the court hearing, a New York State prosecutor tried to portray him as an “evil gun runner,” DeStefano said, but the judge cut her off.
“The judge looked at her and said, ‘I have a 65-year-old man with no criminal record and you’re saying all these bad things about him.’ Then he turned to me and said, ‘You’ve got some real serious charges against you. If you’ve got somewhere to stay, I will let you out on bail,’” DeStefano said over a jail phone Friday morning. “This is going to be a fight and the gloves are off. I am going balls-to-the-wall on this. It’s going to get ugly.”
DeStefano’s court-appointed defense attorney was of little help. She showed up just seconds before the hearing began.
“She had no idea what was going on,” he said.
He will appear in court for a bail hearing in two weeks, DeStefano said.
“I need to figure out how to get a message to the gun community,” he said. “If I am out on bail, I could win this. I know what I need to do to win this. I need to do research, but they’re seizing it for evidence. They already deleted my Telegram account after they got my password,” he said.
Throughout the trip, the detectives were talking furiously with the New York State Attorney General’s Office about whether to issue a press release, DeStefano said.
“It was chaos. Everyone was on their phones. They decided to issue a press release,” he said. “You guys really think you’re doing a press release? You’re helping me. The gun culture is a tight-knit family.”
New York State Attorney General Letitia James issued a massive press release late Wednesday, titled, “Attorney General James and NYPD Commissioner Tisch Announce Indictment of Florida Man for Illegally Shipping Firearms and Ghost Guns to New York.”
It contains a link to a 42-page indictment that charges DeStefano with 71 felonies, which could see him jailed for a total of 521 years.
“Lawrence Destefano and his company Indie Guns are accused of flooding New York with illegal firearms, and we are determined to bring him to justice,” James said in the press release. “I will not tolerate illegal and dangerous weapons in our communities, and I thank our partners in law enforcement for their work to shut down this ghost gun supplier.”
Despite the allegation and the centuries behind bars DeStefano faces, the press release indicates that only a dozen actual firearms were recovered, along with “two ghost gun kits, 28 high-capacity magazines, and over 1,400 rounds of ammunition, which were mailed to locations in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County.”
The press release also mentions the default judgement James won in a civil suit against DeStefano, which he ignored.
“In March 2024, Attorney General James secured a $7.8 million judgment and court order against Indie Guns prohibiting it from selling firearms in New York,” the press release states.
The lengthy press release even includes quotes from NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel and USPIS Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward of the New York Division. All strongly supported James for “disrupting the dangerous illicit weapons pipeline,” and for “dismantling gun trafficking networks.”
DeStefano knows he will be severely outgunned in court.
“I am ready for the fight,” he said.
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About Lee Williams
Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.
Will a defense fund be set up for DeStefano? Is SAF (going to) doing anything beyond write about him? Your work is vital, Lee, and we depend on you for information. None of us have the wherewithal to aggregate and broadcast so well as you. But most of us can afford at least a few dollars towards this man’s defense. We just need to know how.
Ok, then NY needs to ship that Dr who prescribed abortion meds to a patient in AL or MS that was against their state laws. NY governor swore to protect this person, but gets the guy from FL? All should be equal in the eyes of the law – apparently not if you are a Democrat run state.
Let us not forget that DeStefano is a real hero to all of us who support the Second. He should be so recognized by all Americans who support the Constitution. And thank you Lee for keeping this in our thoughts.
Never forget that DeSantis kicked this off, personally signing an order to expend Florida resources to haul DeStefano in on these charges that any examination of the application (let alone by an attorney of his qualifications) should have realized were totally baseless.
OK, here is your first angle of attack: “which were mailed to locations in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County.” They need to prove the items were mailed by DeStefano and not simply in the possession of someone in those jurisdictions. People buy stuff and move it themselves. Secondly, the kits need to fit a specific definition of firearm or prohibited accessary. That has proven to be a steep climb for prosecutors. And this all takes lots of money for lawyers. Progressives view the process as the punishment and will drag the case out for an eternity. So fair warning to… Read more »
l remember the case of The State of Massachusettes vs Brown back in 1769 where they tried to transport Brown from the Carolinas to a British court in Boston to stand trial for making his own musket.
Oh, wait…….THAT NEVER HAPPENED!