Former Boston Red Sox player David “Big Papi” Ortiz has revealed shocking information regarding the 2019 assassination attempt he endured in 2019.
The Boston Globe reported that Ortiz, 46, hired former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis and former top-ranking CIA official Ric Prado to independently investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting in the Dominican Republic that damn near took the former slugger’s life. After a six-month inquiry was completed, Davis and Prado discovered a web of lies and deception.
Although Dominican authorities dismissed the shooting to a case of mistaken identity, Davis’ investigation determined that the suspect involved was a known drug lord, César “The Abuser” Peralta, that had paid Dominican government officials and police to turn a blind eye to his involvement in the assassination attempt.
The publication disclosed that Peralta hired a team of men to execute the hit because the man reportedly felt disrespected and was envious of Ortiz. And Davis said, “Peralta said he had David shot.” Big Papi was shot in the back at a club in Santo Domingo.
However, Dominican police maintain that the intended victim was Ortiz’s compadre Sixto David Fernández. His cousin, Victor Hugo Gomez Vasquez, allegedly ordered the hit because Fernández reportedly snitched on him.
According to Davis, the Dominican government failed to cooperate with the independent investigation. Peralta’s lawyer, Joaquín Pérez, said Ortiz and his client were “close friends.”
Ortiz denied the claim.
The Dominican Republic native also expressed that he felt torn after finding out the details of the alleged hit.
“I accept what Ed and Ric are telling me, but how come no one in the Dominican justice system has told me this is how it went down?” Ortiz told the Globe. “Instead, it’s the opposite.”
He followed up the statement with his communications adviser, Joe Baerlein, who said, “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.”
As Ortiz awaits the trial’s outcome, he said he was grateful to be alive.
Peralta is currently in federal custody in Puerto Rico after being extradited from Colombia to the U.S. territory for “conspiracy to import heroin and cocaine into the customs territory of the United States (Counts One and Two) and with distributing five kilograms or more of cocaine for purposes of unlawful importation into the United States (Count Three).”
