News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
December 7, 2007
Cranston gun dealer is charged with illegally selling handguns
ATF agents and Cranston Police today arrested Anthony Mancini, a Cranston gun dealer, charging him with selling firearms without proper record keeping. According to an ATF affidavit, on three occasions Mancini sold handguns to a man but documented that a female companion of the buyer was the actual purchaser. Both customers were undercover federal agents. On one occasion, the male agent allegedly told Mancini that he couldn’t legally buy a gun because he was a felon.
United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente and Glenn N. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announced a complaint that was filed today in U.S. District Court, Providence.
Mancini was scheduled to appear later today before Magistrate Judge David L. Martin. According to the affidavit supporting the complaint, on October 22, a male and a female undercover ATF agent went to Mancini’s dealership, Continental Gun Engraving, on Park Avenue in Cranston. The male agent selected a .357 caliber handgun and a box of ammunition, and paid Mancini $283. The female agent, however, signed an ATF form stating that she was the actual purchaser.
On November 1, according to the affidavit, the same female undercover agent went to Continental, this time accompanied by a male undercover DEA agent. The DEA agent selected a nine millimeter pistol, but the ATF agent signed a form stating that she was the actual buyer.
The pair returned on November 9 to pick up the weapon. The male agent paid Mancini $316 and the female agent again signed the form stating that she was the buyer. The male agent later discussed with Mancini the purchase of another weapon, and paid him $202 for it. He said that he was “reduced to bow hunting” because of “bad legal advice.” According to the affidavit, Mancini didn’t require him to complete a federal firearms purchasing form.
According to the affidavit, the undercover DEA agent went alone to Mancini’s store on November 26. He allegedly told Mancini that he had a prior felony conviction but wanted to buy a gun that day. He later returned to the store with the female undercover agent, who signed a federal form stating that she was the purchaser, and the DEA agent asked Mancini to place a “sold” sticker on a .357 revolver.
On December 5, according to the affidavit, the two agents went back to Continental Gun Engraving. The male undercover DEA agent paid Mancini $347 for the .357 magnum revolver that he had previously selected. Mancini allegedly gave him the gun and a receipt in the female agent’s undercover name.
Federal law prohibits felons from purchasing or possessing firearms. The practice of using another person to buy guns for a prohibited person is known as straw buying.
ATF and Cranston Police investigated the case, with assistance from DEA and investigators at the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch is prosecuting the case.