Doorman Trafficked Guns Out Of Hell's Kitchen Building, DA Says

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — A doorman at a Hell's Kitchen building has been charged with taking part in an interstate gun-trafficking scheme in which he sold guns outside his own workplace and his home in Manhattan, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Roberto Carmona, 51, is facing a slew of charges stemming from the alleged scheme, which authorities began investigating earlier this year.

Between January and September, Carmona sold 80 guns to undercover detectives — mostly outside the office building at 423 West 55th St., where he worked, according to prosecutors. Carmona also stored ammunition in his locker in the basement of the 12-story brick building, which stands between Ninth and 10th avenues and also houses a Planet Fitness gym, authorities said.

Carmona allegedly acquired the guns by working with a group of Tennessee men, who were also charged this week. Two of the men, Alan Goode and Melvyn McDonald, would purchase the firearms at Tennessee gun stores and then sell them to the third man, Harold Floran, who met Carmona in Virginia, Tennessee and New Jersey to exchange the weapons, prosecutors said.

The undercover sales began this winter, after Carmona spoke with a police officer by phone on Jan. 29 and agreed to sell him a gun, prosecutors said. Carmona sold the first two firearms to a police officer on Feb. 3, near his home in Morningside Heights, then followed up days later by selling another gun to an officer in front of the 55th Street building, authorities said in an indictment.

Carmona appeared in court Tuesday morning, with his next appearance scheduled for Dec. 6. The other three defendants are awaiting extradition to Manhattan, prosecutors said.

All told, Carmona sold the 80 guns at prices between $500 and $3,700 each, including pistols, revolvers, assault rifles and a sawed-off shotgun, prosecutors said. District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced the indictments in a news conference Tuesday, with several of the recovered firearms displayed on a table.

"Roberto Carmona allegedly used his job as a doorman to operate a highly illegal, one-man gun show out of the Midtown building where he worked – storing ammunition in his locker and selling multiple deadly weapons outside," Vance said in a statement.

Vance said the takedown was evidence that stronger penalties were needed in order to stop the flow of out-of-state guns into New York City.

"Not even a global pandemic can stop the flow of guns from Southern states into our City," Vance said. "We can wait a lifetime for states like Tennessee to strengthen their nonexistent gun laws, or we can raise the stakes for trafficking in New York."