Red Sox great David Ortiz was the victim of a botched hit job carried out by a crew of would-be assassins paid about $8,000 to gun him down, authorities in the Dominican Republic revealed Wednesday
Police said they’ve now detained six people in the attempted slaying at a Santo Domingo bar Sunday, including the accused shooter.
“At this moment, [the suspects] are being interrogated and we will continue deepening the investigation to get to the truth about what happened,” Chief Prosecutor Jean Alain Rodríguez announced.
“Nobody involved in this lamentable episode will remain in impunity, not even the material or intellectual author [of the crime].”
Authorities said Rolfi Ferreira Cruz — a 25-year-old also known as “Sandy” — confessed to being the trigger man who shot the perennial All-Star in the back, the bullet slicing through Ortiz’s organs and exiting through his abdomen before striking the slugger’s pal in the leg.
Ortiz, 43, known to adoring baseball fans as “Big Papi,” survived the hit attempt, underwent surgery in the Dominican Republic and was later flown to Boston by the Red Sox for treatment at Massachusetts General.
Dominican National Police Director Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte said one of the other men in custody was the purported ringleader who was paid to arrange the hit but didn’t explain why anybody wanted the retired star dead.
“We don’t have a motive yet, but we are going to work without rest until the investigation is complete,” said Almonte.
The hit men were offered 400,000 Dominican pesos to kill the baseball legend — or roughly $7,832 US, he said.
Law enforcement sources told The Post that hiring a killer to off a celebrity like Ortiz could cost up to $100,000 in the Big Apple — but noted that $8,000 goes a lot farther in the poor Caribbean nation.
Also in custody are Joel Rodríguez de la Cruz — nicknamed “Squidward” after the “SpongeBob” character — Porfirio Ayendi Dechamps Vásquez, Eddy Vladimir Feliz García, Reynaldo Rodríguez Valenzuela and Oliver Moisés Mirabal Acosta, authorities said.
At the press conference, Almonte brandished the handgun Ferreira Cruz allegedly used in the attack — which saw the shooter roar up on the back of a motorbike and then ambush Ortiz in the bar.
Police said the gun — a Browning Hi-Power 9mm — was then passed on to Mirabel Acosta, and then to Dechamps Vásquez, who buried the weapon under his house.
On the night of the shooting, they say Mirabal Acosta was seen driving a silver Hyundai owned by his wife, while Dechamps Vásquez was behind the wheel of a different Hyundai alongside a woman identified only as “The Venezuelan.”
In court documents, prosecutors said Feliz García was spotted on security-camera footage speaking with people in two cars on a street near the Dial Bar and Lounge before the shooting.
“In one of the videos it was possible to observe both the accused and the shooter planning the commission of the incident right on Octavio Mejía Ricard Street, which is parallel to the place where the event took place,” the prosecutors said.
Witnesses say Feliz Garcia then drove off on a motorcycle with another guy — and moments later, a man was spotted getting off a bike at the club, walking over to Ortiz and opening fire, according to The Boston Globe. The gunman tried to get back on the bike but ran off when an angry crowd surrounded it. Feliz García “accelerated, lost control of the motorcycle and tumbled, leading people in the area to detain him and beat him,” prosecutors wrote. “The person who fired kept running with the gun in his hand and managed to escape.”
Feliz García was beaten by the crowd before being handed over to police. He was charged as an accomplice to attempted murder — although his lawyer insists he is just an innocent motorcycle taxi driver who had no idea what his passenger was up to. “He didn’t know what they were going to do. He’s a fan of David’s,” attorney Deivi Solano said.
Authorities say they’re still looking for four more suspects in the shooting — including Luis Alfredo Rivas Clase, who is also known as “The Surgeon.”
At least one of the men, Mirabal Acosta, has a criminal past. In 2017, he got five years in prison on firearms charges connected with the 2013 execution of four men in a case tied to a drug trafficking gang, newspaper Linstin Diario reported.
Meanwhile, Ortiz was still recovering at a hospital in Boston on Wednesday, where he was flown after the shooting. “Yesterday and this morning, David was able to sit up as well as take some steps. His condition is guarded and he will remain in the ICU for the coming days, but he is making good progress towards recovery,” his wife, Tiffany, said in a statement.
With Post Wires
https://nypost.com/2019/06/12/how-dominican-cops-rounded-up-crew-suspected-of-david-ortiz-shooting/
2019-06-13 03:22:00Z
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