Like fast and furious but for suppressors
Capping an investigation that began almost two years ago, separate trials are scheduled this month in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for a civilian Navy intelligence official and a hot-rod auto mechanic from California who prosecutors allege conspired to manufacture an untraceable batch of automatic-rifle silencers.
The exact purpose of the silencers remains hazy, but court filings and pretrial testimony suggest they were part of a top-secret operation that would help arm guerrillas or commandos overseas.
The silencers — 349 of them — were ordered by a little-known Navy intelligence office at the Pentagon known as the Directorate for Plans, Policy, Oversight and Integration, according to charging documents. The directorate is composed of fewer than 10 civilian employees, most of them retired military personnel.
Court records filed by prosecutors allege that the Navy paid the auto mechanic — the brother of the directorate’s boss — $1.6 million for the silencers, even though they cost only $10,000 in parts and labor to manufacture.
October 13th, 2014 at 8:19 pm
$1.6M for 349 silencers= $4500 each.
I’m in the wrong damn business…
October 13th, 2014 at 8:44 pm
Yeah, but that’s according to the prosecutors.
With all the BILLIONS of dollars gone missing in fraudulent brother-in-law deals over the last six years, THIS is what gets prosecuted?
October 13th, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Plus $69,800 in tax stamps, plus a background check on every swab jocky in the US Navy at $10 plus a $35 transfer fee for the same people….
It adds up, you know?
October 14th, 2014 at 12:37 am
So… the government breaks the law, and a civilian goes to jail???
Is the underlying crime here NFA violations, or is it the nepotism?
October 14th, 2014 at 9:32 am
I think the crime here occurred in 1934.