A Glenview man is one of more than 40 people that have been charged or sentenced to federal prison for gun crimes in the wake of a cross-jurisdictional “Firearms Trafficking Strike Force,” according to the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
The Department of Justice launched the strike force in July 2021 to disrupt illegal firearms trafficking and reduce gun violence, according to an Aug. 22 release from the United States Attorney. It said the strike force was led locally by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in the Northern District of Illinois and across the country to help stem the supply of illegally trafficked firearms and “to identify patterns, leads, and potential suspects in violent gun crimes.”
A jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Feb. 8 found, Joseph Ghandour, 31, of Glenview, guilty of illegally selling an AR-15 rifle to the felon during a meeting in a grocery store parking lot in Deerfield, on July 28, 2017, according to a release from the FBI. It said the rifle was considered a “ghost gun” because it contained no identifiable serial number and had been manufactured by another individual from parts collected from various sources.
The felon Ghandour sold the rifle to was cooperating with law enforcement, said authorities. On June 22, Ghandour was sentenced to time served, with three years of “supervised release,” the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois said on Aug. 22.
“Firearms traffickers and straw purchasers enable violence,” U.S. Attorney, John R. Lausch, Jr. said in the Aug. 22 release. “Over the past year, the cross-jurisdictional strike force has increased collaboration with our law enforcement partners and enhanced our long-standing efforts to hold accountable individuals or groups who illegally traffic firearms into Chicago.”
In the first year of the strike force, several dozen defendants, including Ghandour, have been charged or convicted in federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, the release said.
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It said that thanks to the strike force, an Orland Hills, Ill., man was charged with illegally selling 36 firearms, including “ghost guns” and machine guns, in the Chicago area, that two Indianapolis men were charged with federal firearm violations for allegedly trafficking 10 guns, including four semi-automatic rifles and two “ghost guns,” from Indianapolis to Chicago, that a Chicago resident was charged with trafficking more than a dozen guns, including a “ghost gun” and a machine gun, in Chicago and that a Dolton, Ill. man was indicted on firearm charges for the alleged “straw purchase” of 27 handguns from suburban Chicago stores.
And two days after the fatal August 2021 shooting of Chicago Police Officer Ella French, a Hammond, Ind., man was charged with conspiring to straw purchase the semi-automatic handgun used in the shooting, said the release.
“Illegal firearms traffickers help fuel the horrific gun violence inflicted on our communities and families,” Zachary A. Myers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana said in the release. “Working with law enforcement partners across agencies and jurisdictions, our office will continue to prioritize investigations and prosecutions that stem the tide of crime guns onto the streets of all of our communities and hold gun traffickers accountable.”
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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