Road Rage, Not Betrayal, Was Behind Informant’s Killing, Authorities Say
The New York Times
Alpo Martinez, a former Harlem drug kingpin who became an informant, was killed not for snitching but because of a simmering feud over his erratic driving, a law enforcement official said.
When Alpo Martinez was shot and killed in the early hours of Halloween last fall, carrying a driver’s license with a fake name, rumors swirled about who might have finally come for him. In his decades-long Icarian arc, Mr. Martinez had amassed an extensive list of enemies — first as a ruthless drug kingpin in the 1980s, and then as a federal informant.
But his death was not a case of long-awaited payback for his infamous betrayal, a law enforcement official said.
Instead, the authorities believe Mr. Martinez was killed over a street beef, stemming from his penchant for careering dangerously down Harlem streets on his motorcycle.
