A former New York police officer has pleaded guilty to charges she tipped off her gangster boyfriend that authorities were after him in a coldblooded murder of a rival.
Gina Mestre, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact to murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison when she is set to be sentenced on March 21. The case involved a federal investigation into the Shooting Boys gang and a murder committed by the gang’s leader, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “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. My office will work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to uncover and prosecute such corruption.”
Ex-NYPD cop Gina Mestre, left, is accused in a federal gang racketeering case after authorities said she helped her boyfriend flee an arrest in the murder of a rival and was one of several officers who identified him as the perpetrator in a surveillance video. (Mestre photo from NYPD; surveillance video from U.S. the Attroney’s Office)
Her defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
As Law&Crime reported, Mestre, who had been on the force for nine years, was arrested in August.
It began in the summer of 2020 when NYPD’s 52nd Precinct started to focus on cutting gun violence, much of it attributed to members of the Shooting Boys. Authorities pegged the gang to drugs, guns, and violence against rivals in the area dating to at least 2017.
Mestre was one of the cops assigned to the unit charged with that task. In June 2020, through secret social media accounts and phone numbers, she began communicating with the gang’s leader, Andrew “Caballo” Done, with whom she had an intimate relationship, authorities said.
Mestre provided Done and other gang members with confidential nonpublic law enforcement information about the federal grand jury investigation into the Shooting Boys, prosecutors said.
Mestre warned Done and other gang members that federal investigators were preparing to bring a federal indictment against the Shooting Boys. Mestre also warned Done about impending law enforcement operations, enabling Done and other gang members to conceal their criminal activity, officials said.
Mestre disclosed the identity of a witness cooperating with law enforcement and providing information about the gang, which allowed Done and other Shooting Boys to assault and intimidate the witness to prevent the witness from further cooperation, authorities said.
On 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 were called upon to assist in identifying the person captured on the video. Mestre was one of several officers who identified Done as the perpetrator.
Mestre was a part of the search to apprehend Done. Mestre sent Done a copy of the video to his phone and secretly communicated with Done on the day of the murder and in the weeks afterward.
Mestre warned Done about law enforcement’s efforts to capture him, allowing Done to flee from the United States.
In March 2022, 10 members of the Shooting Boys were charged in a 15-count racketeering and murder conspiracy indictment. Done was charged with the murder of Victim-1 and caught in the Dominican Republic several months later. Done pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and admitted to his role in the murder of Victim-1. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Mestre had four out of 10 complaints substantiated against her during her time as a cop, according to the city’s oversight panel, the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
She and a colleague were featured by the 52nd Precinct in a post on X for Women’s History Month in 2021, “celebrating the women of today” who “mentor the officers of tomorrow.”
“With over 30 gun arrests combined, we salute their bravery and dedication day in and day out in keeping the community safe,” the post said.
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