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Former NYPD officer Gina Mestre, a 33-year-old Mohegan Lake resident, was arrested on Tuesday, Aug. 15 for her role in obstructing a federal investigation into the Shooting Boys gang as well as serving as an accessory after the fact to a murder committed by the group, the US Attorney's Office for Southern District of New York announced on Wednesday, Aug. 16.
According to federal officials, Mestre served from July 2013 to May 2022 with the NYPD 52nd Precinct, which was a base of operations for the Shooting Boys gang.
The gang, based in the University Heights section of the Bronx, is a criminal organization with members who sold drugs, used guns, and committed numerous acts of violence against members of rival gangs since at least 2017, officials said.
The recognized leader of this organization was Andrew Done, also known as "Caballo.”
Around June 2020, Mestre allegedly began communicating with Done through both secret social media accounts and phone numbers. Soon, the two began an intimate relationship, which was also when Mestre began providing Done and other gang members with confidential information about the federal grand jury investigation into the organization, federal officials said.
One such incident was when Mestre told Done and other gang members that a federal indictment would soon be brought against the Shooting Boys. She also allegedly warned them about impending law enforcement operations against the gang which enabled them to hide their criminal activity, according to officials.
Federal officials also added that Mestre even disclosed the identity of a witness who had been working with authorities to provide information about the gang, which led to them assaulting and intimidating the witness to stop them.
Months after the relationship between Mestre and Done began, on November 5, 2020, Done fatally shot a rival gang member as he sat in his car on Cromwell Avenue in the Bronx, which was caught on surveillance footage.
When members of the 52nd Precinct were asked to help identify the shooter captured on video, Mestre was one of the officers who helped name Done as the suspect.
After this, as Mestre helped join the manhunt for Done, she sent him a copy of the surveillance footage to his phone and secretly talked with him the day of the murder and in the weeks after, officials said.
She even allegedly warned Done about the efforts to apprehend him, which allowed him to flee from the US.
Two years later, in March 2022, 10 members of the Shooting Boys were charged in a 15-count indictment with various federal crimes such as racketeering conspiracy and murder. Done was also charged with the murder and was captured in the Dominican Republic months later.
On Nov. 17, 2022, Done pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and also admitted to the murder. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.
Following her arrest, Mestre was charged with the following:
- One count of racketeering conspiracy, which has a maximum prison sentence of 20 years;
- One count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, which has a maximum prison sentence of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, which has a maximum prison sentence of 20 years;
- One count of accessory after the fact to murder in aid of racketeering, which has a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
The case is now being prosecuted by the US Attorney's Office's Violent and Organized Crime Unit.
US Attorney Damian Williams commented on the case, saying, "Gina Mestre shamelessly exploited her position of public trust to assist gang members in her own NYPD precinct that were terrorizing the Bronx by committing robberies, murders, drug trafficking, and other acts of violence."
"The defendant’s alleged conduct violates the oath she swore to protect the public – as well as her fellow NYPD officers – from the type of criminal activity she helped the gang commit," Williams added.
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