A private investigator claims that a drug kingpin ordered a hit on David Ortiz, contradicting the official report that he was shot in a case of mistaken identity.
Ortiz was nearly killed when he was shot at an outdoor table at a restaurant in the Dominican Republic in 2019. Dominican authorities say that Victor Hugo Gomez assembled a hit squad to kill Sixto David Fernández, who was suspected of being an informant against the Gulf Cartel. Ortiz was dining with Fernández when he was shot at point-blank range.
Thirteen people are currently facing charges related to the shooting.
Ortiz didn't buy the theory that the assassination attempt was a case of mistaken identity and hired former Boston police commissioner Edward Davis and Ric Prado, a former high-ranking CIA official, to look into the shooting.
Davis and Prado told the Boston Globe that the investigation revealed that César "The Abuser" Peralta put a bounty on Ortiz's head. Davis said that Peralta was jealous and felt disrespected by Ortiz.
While there were rumors that Ortiz was having an affair with Peralta's wife, the future Hall of Famer has denied the allegations.
"Even if there was no affair, just the fact that one of Peralta's women was attracted to David or was flirting with him, that could be seen by Peralta as an affront," Prado said.
Peralta is currently being held in Puerto Rico on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and heroin. He has not been charged in relation to the brazen assassination attempt. His lawyer denied the new claims made by Davis, saying that Ortiz and Peralta were "close friends."
"As bad as César Peralta is, it's not even close to being in the ballpark to say he had something to do with this," Peralta's lawyer, Joaquin Perez, said.
Ortiz said that he was "sad, confused, angry, all kinds of emotions" when Davis told him the results of the six-month investigation.
Ortiz's communications adviser, Joe Baerlein, told the Globe that "while David appreciates the thoroughness of [Davis's] report, he awaits further legal action in the Dominican and U.S. courts to bring final clarity and answers on why this happened to him."
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