Thomas MacMillan Photo
Office David Zannelli stepped into a bedroom on Division Street and found the alleged gun dealer he was looking for still in bed. “You remember me?” he asked.
The 23-year-old suspect, known as “Ali,” did remember him. He’d had a run-in with Zannelli (at right in photo) in 2009, when the officer arrested him on a narcotics charge in the Dwight/Kensington neighborhood, the district where Zannelli, a New Haven cop, was assigned at the time.
For the past nine months, Zannelli has been assigned to a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) task force. For six months, he’s been gathering evidence against a variety of alleged gun dealers — including Ali.
Six months of labor came to fruition Wednesday morning with Ali’s arrest. He was one of 11 suspects rounded up by police in the first five hours of a day-long operation Wednesday.
Some three dozen cops, ATF agents and U.S. marshals fanned out across the city to execute warrants on 24 suspects.
The police action targeted gun offenders in order to reduce violence in the city, said Lt. Jeff Hoffman, head of the Tactical Narcotics Unit. Cops are hoping to remove firearms from the street and track where they’re coming from, both by talking to previous owners of the guns and by arresting and interviewing alleged gun-sellers, Hoffman said.
Fifteen guns have been recovered so far in the six-month investigation. No guns had been seized during the day’s raids as of noon Wednesday.
In the pre-dawn hours, Zannelli and five other cops gathered in the parking lot behind the police station at 1 Union Ave. Another team, led by Lt. Hoffman, mustered there as well. Four other teams took part in the day’s raids.
Warrants for Ali were secured with the help of a confidential informant, Zannelli said. He had three possible addresses for Ali. He knew the car he was looking for: a dark green Nissan Maxima. Cops had recorded video and audio of Ali selling guns out of the car on two occasions.
In an unmarked SUV and a white Crown Vic, Zannelli’s squad rolled to the first location: Ali’s mom’s house on Tyler street in the Hill.
They didn’t see the Maxima there. They decided not to talk to the mother, lest she tip off her son.
At the second location, an apartment on Norton Street where Ali’s girlfriend lives, the Maxima was again nowhere to be seen. Zannelli and his team decided to take the risk of knocking on the door and asking after Ali. No luck.
Zannelli (front right) and crew return to their cars after checking one location Wednesday.
The team headed to Division Street in Newhallville, and found the Maxima parked on the street. Cops entered an apartment across the street belonging to Ali’s girlfriend’s aunt. That’s where they found their man, asleep in bed with his girlfriend, with his baby daughter nearby.
Moments later, a cop who was masked to protect his identity emerged from the apartment. He summoned a prisoner conveyance van by radio. “We need a 29 at 215 Division.”
Zannelli came out a few minutes later. “He’s saying goodbye to his daughter,” he said of Ali.
He said the suspect was cooperative. Ali was arrested on two warrants for a variety of charges, including possession of a sawed-off shotgun, weapon in a motor vehicle, violation of a protective order, and illegal sale of a gun.
Ali has previous arrests dating back to 2007 on charges including larceny, trespassing, interfering, breach of peace, and possession of marijuana.
No guns or drugs were found in the apartment with Ali.
As he waited for the prisoner van, Zannelli shared some of the theory behind the gun raids.
“We’re trying to get as many firearms off the street as possible,” he said. The warrant executions are the first of a two-part process, he said. The “second wave” will involve interviewing the permit holders of any guns recovered. The theft or sale of a gun should be reported to authorities within a certain time period, Zannelli said. If that’s not done, police want to know why not.
The point is to determine how guns wind up on the streets of New Haven. “We want to know what their supply is, who’s giving them the guns.” The next step will be to interview Ali. “He has to have a connection.”
Later, after an interview with Ali, Zannelli said Ali had “purchased [the guns] from random individuals with intention of doubling the money on the street.”
When the van arrived, cops marched Ali out of the apartment. As Ali was transferred from one pair of cops to another, Zannelli helped put a hat on him.
“It can get cold in lock-up,” he said.
