Shabazz at a recent rally concerning police shootings
of black people
KINGSTON – A local Kingston community activist is under arrest
following an investigation charging him with felony weapons sales.
Ismail Shabazz, also known as Gary Faulkner, became a person of interest
in a federal investigation in 2013 when information was developed that
he had recruited members of the Bloods gang into the New Black Panthers
Party in Kingston and was advocating violence against police officers,
Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright said Friday.
Over the course of about one year, federal agents purchased six illegal
weapons from Shabazz out his home at 80 Prospect Street in Kingston.
Agents purchased two assault rifles, two loaded handguns, an unloaded
revolver, and a sawed-off shotgun with its serial number defaced.
Among the conversations intercepted by federal agents was a discussion
regarding training members of the New Black Panthers Party how to disarm
a police officer and the potential use of the firearms in question to
be used to shoot officers.
The case was investigated by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, New York
City Police, New Jersey State Police, with assistance from Kingston City
Police and the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office.
