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A man “motivated by Neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideologies” was indicted for allegedly selling firearms and gun parts while behind bars in federal custody, New York authorities said Tuesday.
Hayden Espinosa, 24, was released from a federal prison in Louisiana on June 4 when he was immediately picked up by the Grant Parish Sheriff”s Office for charges back in New York City, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced.
Espinosa had access to a contraband cell phone which allowed him to use a Telegram channel to sell “illegal firearms and parts,” prosecutors said. An undercover NYPD officer was among’s Espinosa’s customers, Bragg said.
Members of Espinosa’s channel “were motivated by Neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideologies,” according to prosecutors. Channel members are devoted to “ethnically motivated extremism” that’s a “combination of racist, antisemitic, xenophobic, misogynistic and homophobic ideology,” prosecutors said.
“The combination of extremism and firearms is incredibly dangerous and threatens the safety of so many New Yorkers,” Bragg said in a statement.
This same Telegram channel had once been used by the racist gunman who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022.
“There is a deep digital footprint of white supremacy and Nazi ideology online and it spans multiple states including Ohio, Louisiana and Texas,” NYPD Chief of Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner told reporters on Tuesday.
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