NewsWhore
01-05-2010, 03:40 PM
Over the holidays, more details were made public on the case against Puerto Rican fugitive Jose David Figueroa Agosto, and that of murdered 37-year old former Police colonel Jose Amado Gonzalez Gonzalez. Gonzalez Gonzalez was murdered on 24 December. El Dia quotes National Police sources that indicate that Gonzalez Gonzalez had been forcibly retired along with 7 other unnamed officers with Order No. 047 of 2 October 2008. Forced retirement occurs when there is an investigation or an ongoing accusation. Figueroa Agosto escaped pursuit by Dominican drug agents on 3 September.
Police Officer Miguel Sanchez Diaz, head of Operations of the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) and head of La Romana airport, Army Colonel Manuel Diaz Medina are under investigation. As of 30 December, they were kept at the DNCD high security jail. Diaz Medina is mentioned for having arrived to Gonzalez Gonzalez's apartment half an hour after the murder. But in a report in Hoy, the family explains his presence shortly after the murder, saying that the late Gonzalez's brother Reynaldo Gonzalez asked Diaz Medina to accompany him to the scene of the crime. Reynaldo Gonzalez said that Diaz Medina is his personal friend.
The Police also acknowledged that it was investigating former Police Major Bienvenido Savinon Aybar, to whom the vehicle that was used for the murder of Gonzalez Gonzalez was assigned. The vehicle had an official Army license plate, despite the fact that Savinon was no longer officially a member of the army.
El Dia reports that on 30 December the US government showed renewed interest in the capture of fugitive Jose David Figueroa Agosto on the grounds that he was a key figure in the Dominican-Puerto Rican cartel responsible for the greater market share of cocaine sold in Puerto Rico. Figueroa had been requested in extradition, but US prosecutors inexplicably dropped the request. El Dia reports that he belonged to a group led by Angel Ayala Vasquez, better known as Angelo Millones, who is thought to have been involved in a shootout in a discotheque in Toa Baja, 26 kms from San Juan, where 7 people died and 20 were injured.
The newspaper reports that Puerto Rico federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said that Figueroa Agosto supplied the gang led by Angelo Millones. Reportedly, Angelo Millones backed several leading Hispanic reggaetton figures, including Don Omar and Wisin and Yandell. The killing in Toa Baja happened shortly after the arrest of the drug trafficker, who is thought to have ordered the killing of the discotheque owner because he had been betrayed.
Continuing with more background on Figueroa Agosto, El Dia reported that he had purchased cocaine from several suppliers in the DR and managed a drug distribution network. The story identifies him as a partner in the distribution group in the east led by Ramon Antonio del Rosario Puente (Tono Lena), who was recently arrested and extradited. Other group members include Colombian Luis Alberto Santacruz Echeverri (also described as one of the heads of the Cali Cartel that operated from the DR). This group had close ties with the so-called Cartel of the South that the report says has been dismantled with the arrest of Quirino Paulino Castillo, Ernesto Bienvenido Guevara Diaz and those linked to the killing of drug traffickers in Paya, Bani. Santacruz Echeverri was arrested when having lunch in a restaurant in Santo Domingo a few days after Figueroa Agosto's escape. He was known to import drugs into the north and northeast, making drops in several reservoirs. El Dia reports that Santacruz was in the Torre Alco Paradisso when Sobeida Felix Morel, believed to be Figueroa Agosto's lover, was arrested and US$4.6 million found inside a SUV parked in the building.
El Dia reports that Ramon Antonio del Rosario Puente (Tono Lena) posed a major challenge for Dominican anti-narcotics agents. Despite agents having managed to put together cases and prosecuted him on 5 occasions, he was able to secure his release due to the "benevolence of the judges in the east", even when he was arrested in possession of 10 kilos of cocaine.
Rosario Puente managed to disappear hours before his planned arrest, despite the secrecy surrounding the operation. He is regarded as the mastermind of the drugs purchased from Venezuela and through the Colombian-Venezuelan route. These drugs came on board small planes that landed in sugarcane fields and farming areas in the east.
El Dia reports that Rosario Puente had former Air Force colonel Jorge Luis Pena Segura at his service, who was arrested in October 2008 while receiving 95 kilos of cocaine shipped on an airplane that landed in a remote cane field in San Jose de los Llanos, San Pedro de Macoris. The situation was more scandalous, reports the newspaper, because when Pena Segura was arrested he was deputy director of the DNCD's Department of Sensitive Investigations (DITIS), the leading body for fighting drug trafficking in the country. Reportedly, most of the shipments that Tono Lena received were for the Figueroa Agosto network. They were later shipped to Puerto Rico for distribution by Angelo Millones.
As background, El Dia writes that Jose David Figueroa Agosto had escaped from a Puerto Rican federal jail in 1999. He made his "debut" with the Dominican anti-narcotic authorities in 2001, when he was accidentally arrested in a building on Av. Anacaona and identified as the Puerto Rican fugitive. "But strangely he was released 5 days later because of a decision by the Prosecutor General's Office." The newspaper reports that from then on he proved to have "great skill" for making friends in Dominican military circles. Reportedly, investigations by the authorities show that one of the people who opened doors in the police-military world was the late colonel Jose Amado Gonzalez Gonzalez, who provided him with connections to the Dominican elite and to opportunities for laundering his fortune.
Gonzalez is believed to have been the Puerto Rican capo's right-hand man, until their relationship reportedly went sour over a romantic dispute the beginning of the year. Reportedly, Figueroa Agosto appeared to be convinced that on the afternoon of 3 September his pursuit came as a result of being betrayed by his former "friend and ally" [Gonzalez Gonzalez] who sought to kill him and keep the fortune that would later fall in the hands of the authorities. The newspaper reports that Gonzalez Gonzalez had purchased the Mercedes Benz SUV where the US$4.6 million were found on 4 September, and apparently had a spare key. When Figueroa Agosto was located in the vicinity of the Torre Alco Paradisso, it is suspected that the money in the vehicle was for a drug transaction to pay for cocaine that Colombian Santacruz was due to deliver.
See: www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2009/12/29/15865/... (http://www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2009/12/29/15865/Agosto-mandaba-mayor-partecoca-vendida-en-PR)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
Police Officer Miguel Sanchez Diaz, head of Operations of the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) and head of La Romana airport, Army Colonel Manuel Diaz Medina are under investigation. As of 30 December, they were kept at the DNCD high security jail. Diaz Medina is mentioned for having arrived to Gonzalez Gonzalez's apartment half an hour after the murder. But in a report in Hoy, the family explains his presence shortly after the murder, saying that the late Gonzalez's brother Reynaldo Gonzalez asked Diaz Medina to accompany him to the scene of the crime. Reynaldo Gonzalez said that Diaz Medina is his personal friend.
The Police also acknowledged that it was investigating former Police Major Bienvenido Savinon Aybar, to whom the vehicle that was used for the murder of Gonzalez Gonzalez was assigned. The vehicle had an official Army license plate, despite the fact that Savinon was no longer officially a member of the army.
El Dia reports that on 30 December the US government showed renewed interest in the capture of fugitive Jose David Figueroa Agosto on the grounds that he was a key figure in the Dominican-Puerto Rican cartel responsible for the greater market share of cocaine sold in Puerto Rico. Figueroa had been requested in extradition, but US prosecutors inexplicably dropped the request. El Dia reports that he belonged to a group led by Angel Ayala Vasquez, better known as Angelo Millones, who is thought to have been involved in a shootout in a discotheque in Toa Baja, 26 kms from San Juan, where 7 people died and 20 were injured.
The newspaper reports that Puerto Rico federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said that Figueroa Agosto supplied the gang led by Angelo Millones. Reportedly, Angelo Millones backed several leading Hispanic reggaetton figures, including Don Omar and Wisin and Yandell. The killing in Toa Baja happened shortly after the arrest of the drug trafficker, who is thought to have ordered the killing of the discotheque owner because he had been betrayed.
Continuing with more background on Figueroa Agosto, El Dia reported that he had purchased cocaine from several suppliers in the DR and managed a drug distribution network. The story identifies him as a partner in the distribution group in the east led by Ramon Antonio del Rosario Puente (Tono Lena), who was recently arrested and extradited. Other group members include Colombian Luis Alberto Santacruz Echeverri (also described as one of the heads of the Cali Cartel that operated from the DR). This group had close ties with the so-called Cartel of the South that the report says has been dismantled with the arrest of Quirino Paulino Castillo, Ernesto Bienvenido Guevara Diaz and those linked to the killing of drug traffickers in Paya, Bani. Santacruz Echeverri was arrested when having lunch in a restaurant in Santo Domingo a few days after Figueroa Agosto's escape. He was known to import drugs into the north and northeast, making drops in several reservoirs. El Dia reports that Santacruz was in the Torre Alco Paradisso when Sobeida Felix Morel, believed to be Figueroa Agosto's lover, was arrested and US$4.6 million found inside a SUV parked in the building.
El Dia reports that Ramon Antonio del Rosario Puente (Tono Lena) posed a major challenge for Dominican anti-narcotics agents. Despite agents having managed to put together cases and prosecuted him on 5 occasions, he was able to secure his release due to the "benevolence of the judges in the east", even when he was arrested in possession of 10 kilos of cocaine.
Rosario Puente managed to disappear hours before his planned arrest, despite the secrecy surrounding the operation. He is regarded as the mastermind of the drugs purchased from Venezuela and through the Colombian-Venezuelan route. These drugs came on board small planes that landed in sugarcane fields and farming areas in the east.
El Dia reports that Rosario Puente had former Air Force colonel Jorge Luis Pena Segura at his service, who was arrested in October 2008 while receiving 95 kilos of cocaine shipped on an airplane that landed in a remote cane field in San Jose de los Llanos, San Pedro de Macoris. The situation was more scandalous, reports the newspaper, because when Pena Segura was arrested he was deputy director of the DNCD's Department of Sensitive Investigations (DITIS), the leading body for fighting drug trafficking in the country. Reportedly, most of the shipments that Tono Lena received were for the Figueroa Agosto network. They were later shipped to Puerto Rico for distribution by Angelo Millones.
As background, El Dia writes that Jose David Figueroa Agosto had escaped from a Puerto Rican federal jail in 1999. He made his "debut" with the Dominican anti-narcotic authorities in 2001, when he was accidentally arrested in a building on Av. Anacaona and identified as the Puerto Rican fugitive. "But strangely he was released 5 days later because of a decision by the Prosecutor General's Office." The newspaper reports that from then on he proved to have "great skill" for making friends in Dominican military circles. Reportedly, investigations by the authorities show that one of the people who opened doors in the police-military world was the late colonel Jose Amado Gonzalez Gonzalez, who provided him with connections to the Dominican elite and to opportunities for laundering his fortune.
Gonzalez is believed to have been the Puerto Rican capo's right-hand man, until their relationship reportedly went sour over a romantic dispute the beginning of the year. Reportedly, Figueroa Agosto appeared to be convinced that on the afternoon of 3 September his pursuit came as a result of being betrayed by his former "friend and ally" [Gonzalez Gonzalez] who sought to kill him and keep the fortune that would later fall in the hands of the authorities. The newspaper reports that Gonzalez Gonzalez had purchased the Mercedes Benz SUV where the US$4.6 million were found on 4 September, and apparently had a spare key. When Figueroa Agosto was located in the vicinity of the Torre Alco Paradisso, it is suspected that the money in the vehicle was for a drug transaction to pay for cocaine that Colombian Santacruz was due to deliver.
See: www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2009/12/29/15865/... (http://www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2009/12/29/15865/Agosto-mandaba-mayor-partecoca-vendida-en-PR)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)