5 men in Chicago, Georgia arrested for alleged gun trafficking ring

Five people in Chicago and Athens, Georgia, have been arrested for allegedly running gun trafficking ring, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The indictment, filed in the Middle District of Georgia, alleges the ring operated between Athens and Chicago to provide guns to gang members that have been linked to violence, including a Chicago murder.

Anthony Edmond of Athens, Georgia, known as “Chapo” or “Chapo Barksdale”; Rafael Enriquez of Chicago, known as “Ritchie Rich” or “Ralph”; Elijas Lucena of Chicago, known as “Ei” or “GMT Eli”; Keontice Reed of Chicago, known as “Manman” or “GMT Manman”; and Melvin Griffin of Snellville, Georgia and Chicago, known as “Memo600,” are all facing multiple conspiracy, firearms and drug trafficking charges. Charges include conspiracy to commit firearms offenses, conspiracy to possess firearms and machine guns to further a drug trafficking crime, conspiracy to unlawfully make, transfer and possess machine guns, and interstate travel with the intent to engage in firearms trafficking among others.

Federal prosecutors say Edmond is an alleged member of the Black Disciples gang based in Chicago, and an associate of the Chicago street gang Conservative Vice Lords. Prosecutors say it was Edmonds who directed  other defendants to make straw gun purchases in Georgia, which were then transported to Chicago and distributed to street gang members in the Chicago area. Prosecutors said the memebrs in Chicago often requested gun purchases from the Georgia part of the ring.

Prosecutors say the ring operated between 2020 and 2026, transporting dozens of firearms from Georgia to Illinois and Indiana to be distributed to members gangs including the Black Disciples, Conservative Vice Lords and Mickey Cobras. Each time he bought the guns, prosecutors said Edmond allegedly falsified the required ATF Form 4473 by swearing he was the true buyer and was not purchasing guns on behalf of another person.

Prosecutors allege the five men would coordinate purchases and transfers over the phone and through social media, calling the guns “pipes,” “straps,” “licks” and “blicks” and using code for gun calibers, like calling .10mm pistols “dimes” and .45-caliber guns “nickels.”

Prosecutors also allege Enriquez supplied Edmond with machine gun conversion devices for semi-automatic weapons, which prosecutors said he installed on Glock pistols he then distributed. Prosecutors said they called the Glock switches “Nintendos,” a reference to the Nintendo Switch video game system.

Federal prosecutors also said that among the dozens of guns police recovered between 2020 and 2026, Chicago police found a Glock pistol connected to the alleged trafficking ring in the bedroom of a juvenile street gang member that they said was forensically connected to three shootings in Chicago in 2021, including a murder on June 20, 2021 and a shooting on CTA bus on Sept. 24, 2021.

The federal indictment was filed on April 15 and unsealed on June 23, prosecutors said. The arrests were made by a Homeland Security Task Force led by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

Prosecutors did not release any information about bond or detention in the defendants’ initial court appearances or even say if they had all taken place.

If convicted on all charged, Edmond, Enriquez and Griffin all face up to life in prison, while Reed faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and Lucena faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.