Instagram Post Of Weapons And Cash Leads To Largest Gun Bust In New York City History

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the largest gun bust in the city’s history, and it all likely started thanks to a post on a social media website.

According to Digital Trends, the bust netted a total of 254 firearms and 19 indictments on 552 counts of conspiracy, criminal sale of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon.

The investigation apparently began when Brooklyn based aspiring rapper Matthew Best – otherwise known as Neno Best – posted Instagram photos and YouTube videos of various guns and stacks of cash. He gloated that he was selling weapons out of his Ocean Hill recording studio, boasting that he’s “packing more guns than the Air Force.”

ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website

Authorities said Monday a pair of gunrunners smuggled firearms into New York City by hiding them in luggage they carried on discount buses that offered cheap fares and lesser odds of getting caught, according to CBS News.

An undercover city police officer posing as a gun broker for criminal customers bought more than 250 weapons from the men in dozens of transactions since last year – the largest gun seizures in the city in recent memory.

"There is no doubt that the seizure of these guns has saved lives," Bloomberg said at a news conference.

ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website

ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website

The gun case was apparently a spinoff of a drug investigation in Brooklyn that turned up the Instagram photos of handguns and wads of cash posted by the rapper.

Digital Trends also reports that the indictment named one $160,000 sale that accounted for 208 guns, including a semi-automatic Soviet-era rifle, a weapon with a laser-dot sight attachment and suppressor, and a fully automatic MAC-11 pistol with a silencer as large as the gun.

"In about five seconds, you get 32 rounds spraying down the street,” said a law enforcement source reportedly of the latter weapon.

Sources: Digital Trends, CBS News

undefined