NEW HAVEN, CT – Devin Suggs, also known as “JB,” 19, of New Haven, has confessed to a central role in a string of brazen shootings connected to the violent Exit 8 street gang. Suggs pleaded guilty today to a racketeering offense before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden, admitting to participating in a criminal enterprise responsible for at least three murders and sixteen attempted murders. The confession marks a significant, though grim, step forward in a multi-agency effort to dismantle the gang’s reign of terror.
Federal investigators, working alongside New Haven Police, have been tracking the escalating war between Exit 8 and rival gangs since 2018. The gang, named for the Interstate 91 exit in New Haven, has recently seen younger members adopting the moniker “Honcho,” a tribute to a murdered Exit 8 member. Court documents reveal a pattern of drug trafficking, firearms use, and calculated violence. Suggs’s guilty plea details his direct involvement in five separate shootings between April 2021 and January 2023 – acts that left multiple victims wounded, and one narrowly escaped with his life.
The evidence presented in court paints a chilling picture of the gang’s ruthlessness. On April 27, 2021, a rival gang member was shot in the leg. Less than a month later, on May 14, 2021, another rival suffered gunshot wounds to both the leg and torso. Just days after that, on May 20, 2021, two victims were hit – one in the back, the other in the leg. But the most harrowing incident detailed in the plea came on January 20, 2023. Suggs and other Exit 8 members allegedly stole an SUV from Scarsdale, New York, and used it to carry out a drive-by shooting, blasting a rival gang member in the head. Miraculously, the victim survived.
The investigation, a collaborative effort between the ATF, FBI, DEA, and New Haven Police Department, uncovered how Exit 8 members utilized social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube – to boast about their drug deals and celebrate their acts of violence. They also stole vehicles, even crossing state lines, to facilitate their crimes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, led by Vanessa Roberts Avery, and the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office, under John P. Doyle, Jr., have been working in lockstep to bring these criminals to justice.
Suggs now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He has been held in custody since August 3, 2023, awaiting sentencing. This case is part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, Project Longevity, and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) programs, aimed at curbing violent crime and dismantling organized criminal networks. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara E. Levens, Rahul Kale, and Jocelyn C. Kaoutzanis.
While Suggs’s guilty plea represents a victory for law enforcement, the streets of New Haven remain scarred by the gang’s violence. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities continuing to pursue other members and associates of the Exit 8 gang. The ATF, led by Special Agent in Charge James Ferguson, along with the FBI’s Robert Fuller and DEA’s Brian D. Boyle, have vowed to relentlessly pursue those who prey on the city’s residents. New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson echoed that commitment, emphasizing the need for continued collaboration to restore safety and peace to the city’s neighborhoods.
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Key Facts
- Agency: ATF
- Category: Organized Crime|Weapons|Violent Crime
- Source: Official Press Release
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