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Mohegan Lake resident Gina Mestre, a 33-year-old former NYPD officer, has pleaded guilty to charges relating to her obstructing a federal investigation into the Shooting Boys gang and helping the group's leader evade justice for murder, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on Thursday, Dec. 7.
According to federal officials, Mestre, who served with the department between July 2013 to May 2022, was assigned to the 52nd Precinct’s Public Safety Unit. This unit had been focused on reducing gun violence in the summer of 2020, much of which was committed by the Shooting Boys gang, officials said.
The gang is a criminal organization based in the University Heights section of the Bronx with members who sold drugs, used guns, and committed numerous acts of violence against members of rival gangs since at least 2017. The group's recognized leader was Andrew Done, also known as "Caballo," officials said.
Around the time of June 2020, Mestre began communicating with Done over secret social media accounts and phone numbers, and the two soon began an intimate relationship. During this time, Mestre gave Done and other gang members confidential, non-public law enforcement information about a federal grand jury investigation into the Shooting Boys gang.
One such instance of this was when Mestre told them that authorities were about to bring a federal indictment against the gang, officials said.
Additionally, she also warned them about upcoming law enforcement operations to enable the group to hide their criminal activity and even disclosed the identity of a witness who had been providing information about the gang to authorities. This led to Done and other gang members assaulting and intimidating the witness to get them to stop cooperating, according to officials.
The gang's criminal activity grew worse when on November 5, 2020, Done shot and killed a rival gang member while he had been sitting in his car in the Bronx. Following the murder, members of the 52nd Precinct were called to help identify the suspect caught on security footage of the incident. Mestre had been one of the officers who helped identify Done as the suspect.
However, after this, Mestre told Done that authorities were looking for him and sent him the security footage that had identified him as the suspect. This led to Done avoiding apprehension and enabled him to eventually flee the country.
During the time Done was avoiding arrest, Mestre knew which cell phone numbers he had been using and communicated with him using these phones even though they could have been used to track his location. However, she did not share this information with law enforcement.
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.
Mestre has since pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact to murder in aid of racketeering. She faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison when she is sentenced on Thursday, March 21, 2024.
"As she has now admitted, Gina Mestre, a former NYPD Officer, abused her position of public trust and betrayed the oath she took to protect and serve the citizens of New York City by helping a gang member evade capture for a murder of a rival gang member that he committed in broad daylight," said US Attorney Damian Williams of the case.
"When law enforcement officers break the laws they are sworn to uphold, they do a disservice to their fellow officers, to the departments that employ them, and to the public they serve," Williams continued.
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