Gang member present at court house shooting pleads guilty to racketeering

BRIDGEPORT — A member of a Bridgeport gang that is linked to shootings and drug trafficking in the city — including a brazen attempt to assassinate rival gang members outside a state court house last year — pleaded guilty Friday to a federal racketeering offense.

Destine Calderon, 26, was a member of the Greene Homes Boyz, a gang based in the Charles F. Greene Homes housing complex in Bridgeport’s North End, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.

In the middle of the day on Jan. 27, 2020, Calderon was sitting in a car outside Bridgeport Superior Court when members of the Greene Homes Boyz and an allied gang tried to murder rival gang members and associates sitting in a black Chevrolet Impala, the attorney’s office said in a Friday news release, citing court documents and statements made in court.

Calderon was aware of the planning of the attack, which left 23 bullet holes in the Impala and wounded its four occupants, paralyzing one, the release said.

Calderon also admitted to participating in drug trafficking for his gang — whose members have distributed heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and Percocet pills — and has appeared in social media videos and posts promoting the gang, according to the state’s attorneys office.

Calderon, who has been detained since August 2020, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 28.

Calderon’s prosecution is part of several crime-prevention and reduction programs: the Justice Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, Project Longevity and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces.

An investigation is ongoing into multiple Bridgeport-based gangs whose members are involved in drug trafficking, murder and other violence.