Harlem gang lord Alberto “Alpo” Martinez wasn’t executed for his betrayal of fellow drug dealers — he got shot because he drove like a jerk, the Daily News has learned.
Accused gunman Shakeem Parker, 27, nursed a monthslong grudge against the well-known kingpin following a road rage confrontation over the summer, according to an NYPD source with knowledge of the case. Martinez, who had a habit of aggressively driving close to pedestrians, struck Parker with his motorcycle, the source said.
Parker, who was on foot at the time of the minor crash, was still seething about the incident on Halloween at around 3:20 a.m. when he saw Martinez drive by in a red Dodge Ram pickup truck in Harlem, according to the source.
“There’s no indication that this was anything other than a crime of opportunity,” said the source.
Martinez’s wild past as a gangster-turned-cooperator had nothing to do with his demise, the source said. Martinez had daringly flouted the rules of the witness protection program by returning to his old stomping grounds, where many Harlem residents had not forgotten his testimony against underlings to avoid a life sentence.
The source added that in his final moments, Martinez, 55, tossed bags of heroin out of his truck, a sign that he was not quietly living life under a new identity as Abraham Rodriguez, of Lewiston, Maine.
Parker was so bitter that he kept pictures of Martinez and crime scene photos from news reports on his phone, prosecutors said.
The motive for the slaying was almost “disappointing” given Martinez’s history, the source said. The drug dealer was so famous that the rapper Cam’ron portrayed him in the 2002 film, “Paid in Full.”
“It’s just unfortunate,” said Thomas Abbenante, Martinez’s lawyer when he was a cooperating witness in the 1990s. “What can you say about a situation like this? I don’t think he should have been in Harlem in the first place. I am very sorry for him and his son.”
Investigators were able to track Martinez and Parker’s movements prior to the shooting.
Martinez had been partying that night at the Legends Lounge nearby, prosecutors said.
Parker, who is known as “Boonkie,” visited a deli in Harlem at 2:49 a.m., where he met up with his brother. He was captured on surveillance video chatting with friends before happening to notice Martinez driving by in the truck, the source said.
“It looks like they were standing there in front, like, ‘There he is,'” the source said.
Parker fired three shots into the driver’s side window of the truck, turned away, and then turned back and fired twice more, prosecutor Jung Park said at the suspect’s arraignment Friday.
Bullets struck Martinez’s arm, with one driving into his chest, piercing his heart.
Photos show Martinez’s bullet-riddled pickup truck with five bullet holes in the window.
Martinez lurched forward, throwing packets of heroin out of the window as he drove before crashing into another car and falling unconscious on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. near W. 145th St., the police source said.
“He leaves a string of heroin packages behind, a few feet apart, as if presumably he knows, ‘I’m shot, the cops are going to come, I don’t want to be caught with all that heroin,'” the source said.
The crime scene was strewn with .40 caliber shell casings.
The motorist in the car struck by Martinez called 911, sources said.
Cops and medics tried to revive Martinez, but he died just after reaching Harlem Hospital.
Authorities initially struggled to confirm Martinez’s identity. His truck had temporary Texas plates that could not be traced, and he was carrying a Maine driver’s license identifying him as Abraham Rodriguez.
An informant tipped off a detective that the victim was actually Martinez. A fingerprint check confirmed his identity.
By then, word had got around Harlem. The afternoon following the shooting, The News came upon residents drinking champagne and celebrating the snitch’s end.
Cops ruled out drugs as a motive after examining Parker’s movements hours prior to the killing, the source said.
Detectives reviewed Parker’s cell phone and found it matched his movements on the night of Martinez’s murder, Park said in court.
Cops with the Manhattan North public safety team arrested Parker on Nov. 6 after catching him with a loaded gun hidden in his jacket about 11:30 p.m. at Seventh Ave. and W. 149th St., not far from where Martinez was killed, according to a criminal complaint. Parker was charged with gun possession.
Taken to the 32nd Precinct stationhouse, Parker clammed up and asked for a lawyer. At one point, Parker asked a cop why he was being an “as—le,” court records show.
Parker was held on $1 million cash bond while authorities tried to link him to the murder. A Manhattan grand jury indicted Parker for Martinez’s murder Feb. 7, but he refused to appear for the court hearing. Prosecutors then obtained an order forcing his appearance.
Parker was remanded to Rikers Island on Friday after pleading not guilty to murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Parker also faces a separate gun charge stemming from a Feb. 16, 2020, arrest in upper Manhattan after cops spotted him with a pistol in his waistband, according to a criminal complaint.
His lawyer, Robert Harold of Legal Aid, declined comment.
“He’s a good kid from the neighborhood. They’re just trying to put dirt on his name,” a family friend of Parker’s said.
With Kerry Burke
