James Strong, of Long Beach, pleads not guilty to gun trafficking charges, federal officials say

A Long Beach man pleaded not guilty to gun trafficking charges Tuesday after he was arrested with five other people, charged in a pair of indictments, according to federal officials.

James Strong, 35, was charged with one count of firearms trafficking, one count of unlicensed firearms dealing and five counts of being a felon in illegal possession of a firearm.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr., with the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, said Strong sold 21 guns to two separate undercover agents in the middle of the day in Queens Village, blocks away from an elementary school.

The undercover officers, working with the NYPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told Strong that they were planning to smuggle the guns in barrels to Trinidad, federal prosecutors said.

Five other people were charged in an unrelated separate indictment after prosecutors said they were accused of selling at least 29 guns at apartment complexes in the Rockaways. They were charged with bringing ghost guns from North Carolina through straw-buyers to be sold in New York City.

The indictment said two people were charged with selling four machine gun conversion devices to convert semiautomatic pistols. Others were also charged with selling ghost guns and crack.

"James Strong and his co-defendants allegedly funneled untraceable ghost guns and other deadly firearms into a vibrant Queens community, putting countless lives — including children — at risk," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.

A federal defender for Strong could not be reached for comment on Thursday. A federal judge in Brooklyn ordered him detained pending the outcome of his trial.

Strong was previously convicted of manslaughter following a 2007 shooting at a birthday party where up to 100 people gathered in backyard of a home in Valley Stream, prosecutors said. Strong, who was 17 at the time, encountered a rival group of teens, and fired eight shots, killing Ricky Williams, 17, of Cambria Heights and Woodhaven, Newsday previously reported.

Strong was sentenced to 18 years in prison on the manslaughter conviction and was released on parole in October 2023, prosecutors said. Strong was on parole when prosecutors said he sold the weapons to undercover officers.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.