Rhode Island ghost gun manufacturer fired untraceable firearm on YouTube: NYC prosecutors
A Rhode Island ghost gun manufacturer sold more than 100 of the untraceable firearms — and even posted a YouTube video of himself shooting a DIY Glock, prosecutors said Thursday.
Robert Alcantara, 34, had a veritable DIY gun factory at his home in Providence, according to a complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court. On Nov. 20, he allegedly bought firearm components costing more than $16,000 at a gun show in Morgantown, Penn. FBI agents arrested him driving through the Bronx hours later with an accomplice, allegedly carrying a stockpile that included 46 upper receivers and 45 lower receivers.
Further investigation uncovered Alcantara’s YouTube channel. In a 2019 video cited in the complaint, he displays a homemade 9mm Glock, loads it with an extended clip and then opens fire.
“Everything work. No issue. Very nice,” he says in the video.
Pictures pulled from Alancatara’s phone show he had a poster portraying former President Donald Trump as a heavyweight boxer above a cluttered workbench with a hydraulic drill press, a vise and other tools used to make the guns, according to the complaint.
In one photo, five ghost guns were displayed on a mat with manufacturing instructions.
Other images showed multiple DIY rifles and guns packaged for shipment or sale, the feds wrote.
Alcantara is charged with conspiracy to traffic firearms and lying to the feds following his arrest.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said a deadly business had been shut down.
“Untraceable ‘ghost guns’ pose a serious threat to public safety,” Williams said in a statement. “As alleged, the defendant agreed with others to buy the parts for these firearms, put them together at his home, and then unlawfully sold or attempted to sell over 100 of them.”
Ghost guns have become a growing concern of law enforcement because they are manufactured without any serial number. They are assembled using gun parts, which can be purchased without background checks. Ghost guns have become increasingly popular among criminals in the city. They have even fallen into the hands of kids: Last month, a Brooklyn teen was allegedly busted at his high school with one of the untraceable guns and $30,000 cash.
To make and transport 15 Glocks, Alcantara charged a neat $9,624 — “tax” included, the complaint charges.
Alcantara got involved in the gun trafficking scheme with five coconspirators in late 2019, the feds charge. According to messages in his Signal app, he dropped thousands on gun parts monthly. Texts show he delivered bullets to Philadelphia in September and bought $32,000 worth of ammo in November, according to a complaint.
In one series of texts in July 2021, Alcantara allegedly told a coconspirator he could have his mother bring firearms with her on a trip from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic.
“My mother is coming tomorrow. In case you wanted to send something,” read the message, which was written in Spanish, according to court docs.
In another text, he wrote guns were “ready for exportation” to the Dominican Republic, prosecutors charged.
Alcantara snapped another picture of two suitcases filled with cash and guns at a port in the Dominican Republic, according to the complaint.
Alcantara was ordered detained after an appearance in in Rhode Island. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
