Ex-NYPD Cop Helped Gang Leader Boyfriend Flee Murder Rap, Feds Say – Patch

Gina Mestre, 33, also warned the Shooting Boys gang led by her boyfriend about a federal probe and identified a witness to them, feds said.

Aug 17, 2023 2:40 pm EDT | Updated Aug 17, 2023 3:27 pm EDT

NEW YORK CITY — A former NYPD cop’s tip off to her secret gang leader lover helped him flee the U.S. before authorities could arrest him in a brazen broad daylight Bronx murder, federal prosecutors said.

Gina Mestre, 33, led a double life as both police officer and a corrupt conspirator who helped the violent Shooting Boys gang in The Bronx, according to a racketeering indictment unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.

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Her covert romantic relationship with Shooting Boys leader Andrew Done led her to provide the gang confidential information about a grand jury probe, leak the identity of a witness and help Done escape the country while he was wanted for murder, said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

“As alleged, 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,” Williams said in a statement.

Mestre — assigned to the 52nd Precinct in The Bronx — was roughly seven years into her NYPD career when she started communicating with Done on secret social media account in June 2020, authorities said.

During their intimate relationship, Mestre gave Done and the Shooting Boys information about a federal investigation and the identity of a witness, who they later assaulted in an effort to prevent further cooperation, prosecutors said.

And even after Done shot and killed a rival gang member along a Bronx street on Nov. 5, 2020, Mestre didn’t stop helping him, authorities said.

Within her precinct, Mestre was one of several cops who identified Done as the shooter from surveillance footage, prosecutors said. Outside the precinct, Done received a text from Mestre that included the video and warned him not to stay in one place too long, the indictment states.

Done eventually fled the U.S. and was only apprehended in the Dominican Republic several months after federal officials indicted Shooting Boys members in 2022, prosecutors said. Done pleaded guilty to the murder and is serving a 35-year prison sentence, records show.

Mestre faces charges of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct justice, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and one count of accessory after the fact to murder in aid of racketeering.

She faces up to 20 years in prison.

Mestre’s name appears in three civil suits, court records show.

A pedestrian who said a group of cops threatened to shoot him while walking down the street filed suit against Mestre in Bronx Supreme Court in 2019.

A cyclist filed a federal lawsuit against Mestre in 2020 contending said he was beaten by cops who didn’t identify themselves as NYPD officers.

A driver who sued the cop in Bronx Supreme civil court in 2021 said he was sexually assaulted during a strip search after Mestre arrested him without cause.