Former NYPD Cop Sentenced For Helping Murderous Gang Leader

MOHEGAN LAKE, NY — A town of Yorktown resident and former New York City Police Department officer will be going to prison for aiding a gang leader’s flight from justice.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Friday that Gina Mestre, 33, of Mohegan Lake, was sentenced to 70 months, or 5.8 years, in prison in connection with her involvement in obstructing a federal grand jury investigation into the Shooting Boys gang and serving as an accessory after the fact to a murder committed by a member of the gang.

She pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 7.

Williams said Mestre abused the trust placed in her by the NYPD and the people of New York.

“She swore to protect the public from criminal activity,” he said, “but instead participated in significant crimes of her own by passing confidential information to a gang leader and helping him evade capture for the murder of a rival gang member.”

Prosecutors said Mestre was an NYPD officer from July 2013 to May 2022 assigned to the 52nd Precinct’s Public Safety Unit. In the summer of 2020, a major focus of the unit was the reduction of gun violence, much of which was committed by members of the Shooting Boys gang.

Authorities said the Shooting Boys is a criminal organization based in the University Heights section of the Bronx. Since at least 2017, members of the gang have sold drugs, used guns and committed numerous acts of violence against rival gang members. The gang’s territory and base of operations fell within the 52nd Precinct’s jurisdiction, which was where Mestre worked.

The leader of the Shooting Boys was Andrew Done, aka “Caballo.”

In June 2020, Mestre began communicating with Done through secret social media accounts and phone numbers. They began an intimate relationship, during which Mestre provided Done and other gang members with confidential, non-public law enforcement information about the federal grand jury investigation into the Shooting Boys.

For example, prosecutors said Mestre warned Done and others that federal authorities were investigating the gang and preparing to bring a federal indictment. She also warned Done about impending law enforcement operations, enabling Done and others to conceal their criminal activity.

In addition, Mestre disclosed the identity of a witness who was cooperating with the feds and providing information about the gang, which allowed Done and other Shooting Boys to assault and intimidate the witness in an effort to prevent the witness from further cooperation.

On Nov. 5, 2020, Done shot and killed a rival gang member who was sitting in his car in the Bronx. NYPD detectives investigating the murder recovered security camera video catching Done in the act. Several members of the precinct were called upon to assist in the identification of the person captured on the video. Mestre was one of the officers who ID’d Done as the perpetrator.

During the manhunt to apprehend Done, of which Mestre was a part, Mestre covertly advised Done that authorities were looking for him and sent Done a copy of the video that showed him committing the murder — making clear to Done that the evidence against him was overwhelming.

In the weeks following the murder, Mestre continued to secretly communicate with Done and warn him about law enforcement’s efforts to capture him, which helped him avoid getting caught and fleeing from the U.S.

During this time, when authorities were trying to locate Done, Mestre was aware of the cell phone numbers being used by Done, communicated with Done while he used those phones and knew that the phone numbers could be used by law enforcement to track Done’s location. Despite that, she failed to share information about Done’s phone numbers with other law enforcement officers.

In March 2022, 10 members of the Shooting Boys were charged in a 15-count indictment with various federal crimes, including racketeering conspiracy and murder. Done was charged with the murder of a rival gang member and was taken into custody in the Dominican Republic several months later.

On Nov. 17, 2022, Done pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and murder of a rival gang member. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison Feb. 22, 2023.