On June 11th, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that 24-year-old Hayden Espinosa had been indicted for selling illegal firearms and their components while serving time in a federal prison. Espinosa utilized a contraband cell phone to operate chat groups within the prison for sales and also promoted racist and extremist ideologies within the groups. He was arrested by law enforcement immediately upon his release from a federal prison in Louisiana on June 4th and is expected to stand trial in New York on June 24th.
This case, as stated by DA Alvin Bragg, was the result of collaborative efforts among various law enforcement agencies including the NYPD, HSI, USPIS, and ATF, who have long worked together to uncover Espinosa’s illegal activities. He faces charges of trafficking firearms, machine guns, silencers, disguised firearms, as well as attempted third-degree sale of firearms.
According to court records released by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, around May 2022, the NYPD’s “Racial and Ethnic Extremism Mitigation Unit” (REME) discovered the username “Treason 3DA” operating a “3D Amendment” group on Telegram, where illegal firearms and parts were being sold to group members, including silencers, high-capacity magazines, Glock-style pistols, and Auto Sear. Further investigation identified the user as Espinosa residing in Texas.
Court records show that in December 2022, Espinosa was already serving a federal prison sentence in Louisiana from another criminal case. During his incarceration, he used a smuggled cell phone to sell illegal firearms and components to an undercover NYPD officer between August 7, 2023, and November 13, 2023.
During the press conference on the 11th, DA Alvin Bragg mentioned that in addition to selling illegal firearms and parts, Espinosa also promoted white supremacy and anti-government extremism within his Telegram groups and shared related content on his YouTube channel.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office previously wrote to YouTube, urging the platform to stop recommending videos on ghost guns and 3D-printed firearms to children and adults. Last week, they received a response and modified their platform guidelines accordingly.
DA Alvin Bragg called on lawmakers to address loopholes in New York’s gun laws by making the manufacture of ghost guns a felony and classifying the sale or distribution of blueprints for 3D-printed gun parts as a misdemeanor.