In plea, man, 19, admits to 5 attempted murders

Gang member faces up to 20 years in prison

A teenage gangster faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to a racketeering indictment that accused him of five attempted murders, interstate car theft and the sale of guns and more than 100 pounds of drugs.

Federal authorities said 19-year-old Devin Suggs, of New Haven, was a member of the Exit 8 gang, named after the neighborhood near the corresponding exit off Interstate 91, and much of his and the gang’s violence was directed at other groups in New Haven’s Hill section. They said Suggs and his co-conspirators helped get themselves arrested by planning and bragging about their crimes on social media.

Exit 8 members are accused of at least three murders and 16 attempted murders. Federal prosecutors said Suggs admitted when pleading guilty in U.S. District Court that he was personally involved in five attacks in which the targets were shot but survived.

Suggs also sold about 130 pounds of drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana, oxycodone and Percocet pills, guns, and was involved in the theft of an automobile in Scarsdale, New York, which was later used in the drive-by shooting of a rival gangster in New Haven. The victim was shot in the head and lived.

Suggs and his colleagues were indicted and arrested as a result of an investigation by a team consisting of a half-dozen state and federal law enforcement agencies trying to crack down on gang-related violence. Such task force investigations have been underway in Connecticut cities for 30 years.