A private investigator hired by David Ortiz revealed that a Dominican drug trafficker had a hit put on him because he was jealous and felt disrespected by the MLB Hall of Famer, according to the report. The shooting was back in 2019 at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic.
Former Boston police commissioner Edward Davis was the private investigator and shared his information with the Boston Globe – information that contradicts the theory of the crime developed by Dominican prosecutors.
Cesar Peralta had the shooting orchestrated by placing a bounty on the head of Ortiz and sanctioning the hit squad that tried to kill him. Dominican authorities refused to cooperate with the private investigation.
Peralta is being held without bail in Puerto Rico on charged unrelated to the hit, being conspiracy to import cocaine and heroin. Peralta was designated by the U.S. Treasury as a drug kingpin in 2019 and was extradited to U.S. territory in December of last year.
Joe Baerlein, Ortiz’s spokesperson, told the Boston Globe that Davis’ findings were being withheld for the safety of the slugger until Peralta was in U.S. custody. Peralta has yet to be charged in relation to Ortiz’s shooting, and his lawyer claims that Peralta had nothing to do with the attempt on Ortiz’s life.
“As bad as Cesar Peralta is, it’s not even close to being in the ballpark to say he had something to do with this,” said Perez. He went on to argue that Ortiz and Peralta were “close friends,” while Ortiz counters that he only knew Peralta casually and that he was “sad, confused, angry, all kinds of emotions” after it was revealed that Peralta was behind the hit.
According to Dominican authorities, Sixto David Fernandez was the intended target of the hit, who happened to be sitting at the table with Ortiz at the time. Authorities said the hit men confused Fernandez with Ortiz, a mistake challenging to believe as Ortiz is one of the most popular Dominican ballplayers of all time.
A total of 13 people have been charged in relation to Ortiz’s shooting and are awaiting trial in the Dominican Republic. Baerlein said Ortiz is waiting to take further legal action in the Dominican and U.S. courts to bring clarity about why this happened to him.
The first-ballot Hall of Famer has maintained a home in the Boston area but had also been living part-time in the Dominican Republic. The shooting on June 9th, 2019 left him seriously wounded, as doctors in the Dominican Republic had to remove Ortiz’s gallbladder and part of his intestine. Further surgeries were needed once Ortiz was transported back to the U.S.
While Ortiz remains determined to reveal why anyone would want to do him harm, “the most important thing is, thank God I’m alive,” he says.