Man Who Sold 1,000 Guns on the Streets Gets 8 Months in Prison

A Highland Park man who allegedly sold street gang members and others more than 1,000 handguns--dozens of which were later linked to violent crimes--was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday to eight months in federal prison.

Mario Miranda, 37, who had pleaded guilty to one count of selling firearms without a license, was one of two men who operated from a van at Lincoln Park and sold guns to an undercover agent posing as an ex-convict, federal authorities said.

The other man, Gustavo Salazar, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to sell firearms without a federal license. He was sentenced Dec. 21 to one year in federal prison.

Miranda and Salazar were arrested Aug. 9 as they prepared to sell two cases of .380-caliber handguns--36 guns per case--to the undercover agent, said Rod Watson, a supervisor for the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

According to Watson and court documents, Miranda would take orders mostly for “Saturday night specials” from his van. He would then contact Salazar, who used a fraudulent gun dealer’s license to buy weapons from legitimate dealers in North Hollywood and Santa Ana.

An investigation showed that 89 of the 1,165 guns Salazar purchased between last January and August have turned up in crimes ranging from homicides to robberies or were recovered during searches, federal authorities said.

In an earlier telephone interview, Miranda acknowledged selling 19 guns to an undercover agent, but denied selling weapons to anyone else.

“I could have said no, but I didn’t because I needed the money,” he said.