Former Brooklyn Patrol Leader Gets 2 Years, 8 Months In NYPD Gun License Bribery Scheme

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A former Brooklyn neighborhood patrol leader was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison Thursday, in what prosecutors described as a scheme to bribe officers to get gun permits.

Alex "Shaya" Lichtenstein, 45, also must forfeit $230,000.

"By engaging in an egregious scheme to trade cash for gun licenses, Alex Lichtenstein and his co-defendants in the New York City Police Department corrupted the sensitive process of evaluating gun license applications in New York City," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a news release. "Today's sentence shows that individuals who so brazenly abuse the public's trust in law enforcement – whether they are the officers receiving bribes or the citizens paying them – will be held to account for their crimes."

Last November, Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to bribing police to give him gun permits without doing background checks or providing justification for owning a gun.

Prosecutors alleged that Lichtenstein bought at least 25 licenses and resold them for thousands of dollars.