Mestre was booked into federal custody on Thursday, Aug. 17.
By Stacy M. Brown,NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia
Former New York Police Officer Gina Mestre is accused of giving the Shooting Boys Gang confidential information about a federal grand jury investigation, leaking the name of a witness to gang members, and helping a gang leader flee the U.S. after he killed someone.
Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Ivan J. Arvelo, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations, and Edward A. Caban, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, announced the unsealing of an indictment against Mestre for her involvement in a racketeering conspiracy with members of the Shooting Boys gang.
Mestre was booked into federal custody on Thursday, Aug. 17.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.
“The Indictment unsealed today alleges that the defendant abused her position as an NYPD police officer by, among other things, obstructing a federal grand jury investigation into the gang and assisting the gang’s leader in evading capture for a cold-blooded murder committed in broad daylight.”
Further, Williams noted that Mestre’s alleged conduct violates the oath she swore to protect the public and her fellow NYPD officers from the type of criminal activity she helped the gang commit.
“This Indictment makes clear that my Office and our law enforcement partners will remain vigilant in fighting all forms of police corruption,” Williams stated.
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban blasted his former officer’s conduct.
“There’s no place for any kind of corruption in the NYPD,” Caban railed.
“The arrest today of a former officer is built upon the steadfast work of our Internal Affairs Bureau, a team driven to root out such betrayals of public trust.”
The indictment alleges that the Shooting Boys gang is a criminal organization based in the University Heights section of the Bronx.
Since at least 2017, gang members allegedly sold drugs, used guns, and committed numerous acts of violence against members of rival gangs.
Further, the gang’s territory and base operations fell within the jurisdiction of the NYPD’s 52nd precinct, where Mestre worked.
Prosecutors alleged that Mestre developed a romantic relationship with Andrew Done, the recognized leader of the Shooting Boys gang.
Mestre served as an NYPD police officer from July 2013 to May 2022, assigned to the 52nd Precinct’s Public Safety Unit.
In the summer of 2020, a significant focus of the precinct and the Public Safety Unit was reducing gun violence attributed to members of the Shooting Boys.
Prosecutors said in June 2020, Mestre began communicating with Done through social media accounts and phone numbers that they hid.
The officer immediately began sharing confidential information with Done, warning him and other gang members about police raids and actions.
The officer even caused harm to police witnesses by telling Done and others who reported them to authorities.
In one instance, authorities said that on or about Nov. 5, 2020, Done shot and killed a rival gang member as he sat in his car on Cromwell Avenue in the Bronx.
NYPD Detectives investigating the murder recovered security camera video capturing Done’s commission of the murder.
Several members of the 52nd precinct was called upon to assist in identifying the person captured on the Video, and Mestre was among the officers who identified Done as the perpetrator.
Eventually, as federal authorities closed in on Done, Mestre warned him, and he fled to the Dominican Republic.
On Nov. 17, 2022, Done pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and admitted to the Bronx murder.
On Feb. 22, 2023, Done was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Mestre, 33, faces charges of one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, which has a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of accessory after the fact to murder in aid of racketeering, which has a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
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