TRENTON>> A former Latin Kings gang member testified Wednesday he overheard Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete give a direct order to execute gang turncoat Alex Ruiz whose defection from a rival gang sparked a war.
Roberto “Bam Bam” Rodriguez, 40, recounted for a jury how he and three other gang members were sent Aug. 30, 2004, to the Chestnut Street home Ruiz shared with Jeri Lynn Dotson with the intent of beating him.
All that changed once they arrived.
Rodriguez, once the leader of the Latin Kings who is now free after serving a 12-year sentence in state prison the attempt on Ruiz, said he was within earshot of a phone conversation between Negrete and Esmeraldo “Esmo” Rodriguez, Negrete’s second in command.
Negrete, who is on his fourth trial for ordering the murder of Dotson and the botched murder of Ruiz, was on speaker phone when he instructed “Esmo” to have “Bam Bam” “take out” Ruiz.
Shortly after, Esmeraldo Rodriguez asked “Bam Bam” to take a walk with him. That’s when he communicated the hit on Ruiz.
Roberto Rodriguez went inside Dotson’s home, found a Christmas ribbon, which he later used to strangle Ruiz. He and other gang members piled into a car with Ruiz as Latin King Joey Martinez began driving.
Roberto Rodriguez positioned himself in the back seat behind the driver next to Ruiz. As Martinez drove, “Bam Bam” wrapped the ribbon around Ruiz and began choking him in the car while they drove toward Duck Island, where Ruiz’s body was dumped.
Roberto Rodriguez said Ruiz, who was still recovering from a beat down at the hands of the Netas, did not see the attack coming.
“The kid was messed up,” he said. “He really thought we were gonna help him out.”
When they arrived at Duck Island, Ruiz was unloaded from the car. Martinez and another gang member took turns kicking and stomping him. Martinez checked Ruiz for a heartbeat before he was dumped in a trash bin and left for dead, but survived.
Afterward, Esmeraldo Rodriguez called Negrete to let him know the job was finished. The gang members tossed Ruiz’s sneakers. Roberto Rodriguez had his fellow gang members drop him off but not before he threatened them if they ratted.
On cross examination, Roberto Rodriguez grew combative with defense attorney Jack Furlong, who pointed out inconsistencies in a statement “Bam Bam” provided police in February 2005. In that statement, Roberto Rodriguez denied strangling Ruiz and said he had an alibi, which he admitted on the stand was a lie.
Furlong also pointed to a portion of Roberto Rodriguez’s statement in which he said he was solely responsible for choking Ruiz because he grew tired of him “flip-flopping” gangs.
At one point, “Bam Bam,” growing frustrated with the questions, referred to Furlong as a “piece of shit” and told him to stop “playing games.”