The gun used to blast a cop in the chest at a Lower East Side housing project over the summer has been recovered, thanks to a five-month undercover investigation into nearby drug gangs, federal prosecutors said yesterday.
The .22-caliber handgun was purchased in September during a joint NYPD- Drug Enforcement Administration probe spurred by the July 5 shooting, law- enforcement sources said.
A yet-unidentified thug used the gun to fire a single shot into the bulletproof vest of Officer Brian Groves, who survived.
“The ballistics on that gun showed it was the one used to shoot Officer Groves,” Assistant US Attorney Sarah Krissoff said as the suspects pleaded not guilty.
“Bulls–t. That’s bulls–t,” several of them mumbled in Brooklyn federal court before they were ordered held without bail.