A notorious drug dealer from New York City who served decades in prison for murder — and was in witness protection for testifying against his associates — was slain on a Harlem street corner in his SUV Sunday morning, police sources said.
Alberto “Alpo” Martinez, a drug kingpin who was portrayed by Cam’ron in the 2002 movie “Paid In Full,” was killed in a drive-by shooting as he sat in his 2017 Dodge Ram at 147th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard around 3:30 a.m., cops said. He was shot five times.
Martinez, whose last known address was in Maine, was rushed to Harlem Hospital but couldn’t be saved.
A high-ranking police source said Martinez was in danger as soon as he returned to his old stomping ground.
“You were in the witness protection program because you testified against other drug dealers,” the source said.
“You’d make a lot of enemies who have a score to settle,” the source said. “When you return to the same area, word will get out very fast. He’s back in the zone.”
The source, who said Martinez’s vehicle had paper plates from Texas, said it wasn’t clear if Martinez had left witness protection entirely or was just back for a visit.
Photos from the scene showed his bullet-ridden, red SUV.
“It seems pretty intentional when you shoot somebody five times,” a police source said. There were no immediate arrests.
Martinez dealt drugs in the same neighborhood where he was killed in the mid–1980s before he was busted for dealing crack in Washington, DC.
Martinez was released from prison in 2015 while serving a 35-year sentence at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison in Colorado.
“Paid in Full” was based on the story of Martinez and his partners Rich Porter and Azie Faison.
He was profiled on a 2012 episode of the TV series “Gangsters: America’s Most Evil” and name-checked by numerous rappers, including Nas in “Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)” and songs by Jay-Z and 50 Cent.
First published in New York Post, https://nypost.com/2021/10/31/drug-kingpin-alpo-martinez-shot-dead-in-nyc-drive-by/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly&utm_campaign=1558146