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Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz, 25, of Paterson, New
Jersey, was indicted in Newark on three federal counts,
including conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine and
possession of a firearm to traffic drugs, U.S. Attorney Craig
Carpenito said.
Each of the three counts carries a mandatory minimum penalty of
five years in prison.
Ferreira-Cruz is behind bars in the Dominican Republic in
connection with the orchestrated attack outside a nightclub
earlier this month, a spokesman for Carpenito said. Ortiz, 43,
was struck by bullets that were meant for someone else,
according to Dominican Republic Attorney General Jean Alain
Rodriguez.
Dominican authorities are also holding several other suspects in
connection with the shooting of Ortiz, a slugger beloved in
Boston for helping the Red Sox end an 86-year championship
drought in 2004. He also starred on World Series champion teams
in 2007 and 2013.
On Wednesday, Rodriguez told reporters the target was a man
named Sixto David Fernandez, who was sitting with Ortiz and was
similarly dressed.
The man suspected of planning the attack was Victor Hugo Gomez,
a fugitive from U.S. justice with links to Mexico's Gulf Cartel
drug gang, who believed Fernandez had betrayed him to law
enforcement several years ago, Rodriguez said.[nL2N23R02S]
Ortiz was listed in good condition after being hospitalized and
undergoing surgery in Boston, where he was transported a day
after being shot in the back, a Red Sox spokesman said.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely and Barbara Goldberg in New York;
Editing by David Gregorio)
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