CT man sentenced to federal prison on racketeering charge for role in violent street gang

A man has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for his ties to a Bridgeport-based gang that authorities say distributes narcotics and has been responsible for at least half a dozen murders.

Harry Batchelor, also known as “Bookie,” 27, faced sentencing Thursday in federal court in Bridgeport, where a judge handed down a 50-month prison term followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The sentence comes after Batchelor in June pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, a charge that stems from his role in the East End gang, according to officials. Federal officials said he also admitted to distributing narcotics, that he knew the East End gang was involved in violent activity and that a firearm that belonged to him was used by one of his fellow gang members to shoot a member of the rival “Original North End” (O.N.E.) gang in October 2019.

Batchelor was sentenced Thursday after having been detained since May 2021.

The sentencing comes on the heels of the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Bridgeport Police Department investigating multiple Bridgeport-based gangs that have been involved in “narcotics trafficking, murder and other acts of violence,” federal officials said.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the East End gang Batchelor has been a member of started as a local gang based in the East End of Bridgeport but has since grown to include members and associates who are either incarcerated or living throughout Bridgeport and surrounding towns.

The East End gang has been known by authorities to have been aligned with other groups, including the PT Barnum gang, the East Side gang and 150 — which is a geographic gang based on the West Side of Bridgeport. These groups were aligned against rival organizations in Bridgeport, including the “O.N.E.” gang and the “Greene Homes Boyz,” (“GHB/Hotz”), based in the Charles F. Greene Homes Housing Complex in Bridgeport’s North End.

Federal officials said East End gang members regularly distributed heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and Percocet pills. They also shared firearms and were responsible for at least six murders and “other acts of violence against rival gang members and other individuals,” officials said.

Federal officials also said East End members boasted about their criminal conduct on sites like Facebook and YouTube. They also “committed acts of intimidation and made threats to deter potential witnesses to their crimes and to protect gang members and associates from detection and prosecution by law enforcement authorities.”