An Irish national linked to an overseas crew of grifters pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally selling four rhinoceros horns to a collector in Queens.
Federal prosecutors say there’s a thriving demand on the black market for the horns in China and Vietnam for medicinal purposes, and they sell for up to $ 30,000 per pound. Slattery is a reputed member of the Rathkeale Rovers, also known as “Irish Travelers,” notorious for pulling scams in Europe and raiding museums for rhino horns.
Michael Slattery, Jr., admitted he traveled from County Limerick to Texas, where he enlisted a straw buyer to purchase a black rhinoceros head with two horns from a taxidermy shop.
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Slattery, 23, returned to New York City and sold four horns for $ 50,000 to an unidentified collector at a tea house in Flushing. It was unclear where he obtained the other two horns.
“Today’s guilty plea highlights our commitment to protect endangered species, like the black rhinoceros, by prosecuting those who would profit from the rhinos’ extinction,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
Slattery wept openly in Brooklyn Federal Court, and told the judge he’s had some rough times in federal jail, including deflecting an accused murderer’s request to bunk with him.
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“Some days I wish I wasn’t born,” he told Federal Judge John Gleeson. “One guy said he’d spin my head off if I came near him again.”
“I’d stay away from that guy,” Gleeson advised.
Slattery faces up to 33 months in prison when he’s sentenced in January.
Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News
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