Alex Lichtenstein Arraigned For Alleged NYPD Gun Licensing Bribes

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man accused of bribing NYPD officers to get gun licenses was in court on Monday. The allegations were art of a federal corruption probe.

As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, Alex Lichtenstein left federal court in Lower Manhattan and let his attorney do the talking.

"We have no comment," he said.

Lichtenstein had just been arraigned on charges that he bribed officers in the NYPD Firearms Licensing Division.

Prosecutors said he bragged on an undercover wire that he managed to get 150 weapons for friends and associates in Boro Park, Brooklyn.

Only a small percentage of gun licenses get approved, but prosecutors said Lichtenstein did it by charging applicants $18,000 and offering cops $6,000 to issue the permits.

NYPD files show that in 2013, at least one man was given a permit with a record of four domestic violence complaints, ten moving violations, and an arrest for forgery.

Any one of those could disqualify an applicant.

The commander of the licensing division has been transferred, and two others have been stripped of their guns and badges following assignment to modified duty.