Bragg stood alongside NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny and Special Agent in Charge of ATF NY Field Division Bryan DiGirolamo above a table overflowing with guns — from large rifles to small handguns — where he revealed the 56-count indictment on June 22.
According to Bragg, the gunrunners looked to transport weapons and ammunition from Georgia to the Big Apple between March and May of this year, reaping illicit proceeds of $46,000.
“The NYPD identified this network and built a case with precision and strategy to remove these guns before they could be used to harm any New Yorkers. Beginning in March, field intelligence officers from the 103rd Precinct in Queens developed information about an individual believed to be selling firearms. That information was quickly brought to the ATF and the NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force. Over the next several months, NYPD officers purchased nearly 70 firearms from these defendants, mostly including semiautomatic handguns,” Chief Kenny said.
This investigation came to a head in April. Court documents show that 34-year-old Daniel Vern Joly allegedly contacted — unbeknownst to him — an undercover police detective via both text messages and video calls to set up sales of the weapons. On April 1, at approximately 6:36 p.m., Vern Joly told the cop that he planned to visit New York later that month while sharing photos and videos of the illegal goods.
“How many u want? I’m already lined up. 3 joints when I get back,” one of the texts read.
Days later, on April 9 at 11:24 a.m., Vern Joly met the officer near Canal and Forsyth Streets in Chinatown. At approximately 1:27 a.m., he sold the cop 10 firearms and ammunition, including a semiautomatic pistol with a flashlight attachment. The sale came to a total of $10,800.
The next week, on April 21, Vern Joly, just after noon, allegedly met with the cop in Chinatown again and made another sale worth $10,500, this time including a Glock 23 .40 caliber pistol with a machine gun conversion device attached. Vern Joly then told the detective that his father, 53-year-old Daniel Joly, would make the next sale.
The father then became implicated when police say, on April 23, he left a container holding eight guns near East 21st Street and Woodruff Avenue in Brooklyn. Over the next month, cops met with the father-son duo and continued to buy the deadly weapons.
“Last Thursday alone, 20 firearms were purchased after the son took a commuter bus from his home just out of Atlanta to meet an undercover in Lower Manhattan. At the same time, investigators were arresting his father and recovered three additional firearms from his car,” Kenny said. “While all this was happening here in New York, NYPD and ATF personnel worked with local law enforcement partners in Georgia to execute two search warrants at the homes of two additional defendants, recovering 10 more firearms. They are now awaiting extradition to New York.”
According to court documents, the younger Joly would transport guns to the Big Apple via a bus from Georgia. Bragg stressed that this is particularly concerning since an ATF study showed that from 2017 to 2021 approximately 93% of guns recovered in crimes committed in New York City originated from out of state. Many of the weapons in this case were fitted with attachments to make them even more deadly.
“Multiple recovered guns were equipped with devices designed to inflict increased harm. Had these firearms fallen into the wrong hands, they could have fueled violence that seriously injured or even killed New Yorkers. Every illegal gun removed from our streets is a potential tragedy prevented,” Bragg said.
“All four involved in the gunning were arrested on June 17, 2026. The father and son were arraigned in state Supreme Court the same day. Vern Joly was remanded, while his father remained on bail.
Meanwhile, 37-year-old Johnny Philogene and 25-year-old Deashawn Ross were cuffed in Georgia and will undergo extradition proceedings.
