Tsarnaev's Gun Linked to Maine Drug Gang Boss

It's still unclear how Tamerlan Tsarnaev obtained the gun he used to shoot officers after the Boston Marathon bombing—but the weapon's trail points to possible ties between Tsarnaev and gangs in Maine, the Los Angeles Times reports. Tsarnaev's involvement with Maine drug trafficking may have funded a visit to Russia that fueled his extremist views, officials say; police have also reported evidence allegedly tying him to drug killings. And before it ended up in Tsarnaev's hands, the Ruger P95 was given to a gang leader in Portland, Maine.

The gun was initially legally purchased by a Los Angeles-born Portland resident named Danny Sun Jr.; he got it in a "multiple handgun sale" in Scarborough, Maine, at hunting and fishing chain Cabela's. Shortly after the Marathon attack, police busted Sun, 26, on a warrant tied to an existing traffic case. He eventually told authorities he'd given the gun to Biniam Tsegai, a 27-year-old Eritrean immigrant and gang leader known as Icy. But when police arrested Tsegai soon after on a warrant from a 2009 robbery, he wouldn't talk. He was later charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine; he's currently awaiting trial. And while a direct connection to Tsarnaev remains elusive, court papers filed in January noted that that cocaine for which Tsegai is charged "had been brought to Maine from Boston." (More Tamerlan Tsarnaev stories.)