Brendan Rascius
The Charlotte Observer
(TNS)
As a police officer, Gina Mestre was sworn to protect New York City.
Instead, she secretly supported a gang that was wreaking havoc on the streets, federal officials said.
Mestre, who served on the city’s police force from 2013 to 2022, was arrested on Aug. 15, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
She is accused of aiding “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 in the release.
An attorney for Mestre, 33, could not immediately be reached for comment by McClatchy News.
Her alleged affiliation with the criminal organization, known as the Shooting Boys gang, began in June of 2020, officials said.
That summer, the city was gripped by a wave of violent crime not seen in over a decade, according to the New York Daily News.
While Mestre’s precinct was tasked with curbing gun violence, Mestre allegedly struck up a conversation with the leader of the Shooting Boys gang.
Following alleged chats on “secret social media accounts,” she began having an “intimate relationship” with the leader, Andrew Done, who was known as “Caballo,” officials said.
During their relationship, Mestre leaked confidential information to Done about a federal investigation into his gang, officials said.
She allegedly kept Done abreast of police operations, allowing him and the gang to stay ahead of the authorities. For example, Mestre reportedly leaked the identity of a witness cooperating with police, allowing the gang to attack and intimidate the witness, according to federal officials.
Then, several months into their relationship, Done allegedly committed a “cold-blooded” daytime killing of a rival gang member, officials said in the release.
While partaking in a manhunt to capture Done, Mestre reportedly sabotaged the police efforts by warning Done of their search, allowing him to escape, officials said.
He was eventually captured in the Dominican Republic in 2022, and confessed to his role in a murder and pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, according to the release. Done was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Mestre, who is no longer a New York City police officer, has now been charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, among other charges.
In total, the charges carry a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.
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