The feds count the man known as “Tony Zinc” among the founding members of a murderous, international drug gang.
Not only did it funnel cocaine into the United States, its members seemingly killed with impunity. After a dancer at a party rejected the sexual advances of one of its leaders, he allegedly gunned her down in front of a barbershop in Puerto Rico.
Meanwhile, the feds say “Tony Zinc” had help as he tried to evade the law — in the form of Fernando Gomez, a onetime Evanston detective who allegedly joined the Drug Enforcement Administration to help the gang member duck prosecution.
Federal prosecutors connected Gomez, 41, to the gang known as La Organizacion de Narcotraficantes Unidos, or La ONU, through an indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan. The document accuses Gomez of participating in a drug conspiracy dating as far back as 2006, and using a gun to do so.
If convicted, Gomez faces life in prison.
The new indictment also accuses seven people of participating in the La ONU racketeering conspiracy and it ties the gang to six murders in Puerto Rico. Among those charged with the conspiracy is Jose Martinez-Diaz, the man known as “Tony Zinc.”
Gomez allegedly joined the DEA to help Martinez-Diaz avoid prosecution. The indictment also alleges that Gomez, while working as a detective in Evanston, got guns from drug dealers and delivered them to Martinez-Diaz in Puerto Rico.
How Gomez became connected to La ONU is unclear. He appeared briefly Tuesday in a courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in a blue shirt. He said little before a judge ordered him held until a detention hearing Thursday.
Gomez was arrested at 9:35 a.m. Tuesday, according to the feds. His attorney, Robert Rascia, later told reporters that Gomez also once served in the Marines.
DEA spokeswoman Sharon Santiago said the DEA “takes all allegations of misconduct and wrongdoing very seriously.”
“Particularly, when criminal allegations come forward, DEA aggressively pursues those allegations and fully cooperates with all investigating agencies.”
Reached Tuesday afternoon, Evanston Police Chief Rich Eddington told the Chicago Sun-Times he had just learned of Gomez’s arrest.
“We were alerted by the DEA that this indictment and arrest were coming down,” Eddington said. “That’s all we know at this point.”
Gomez left the force in 2011.
Federal prosecutors charged Martinez-Diaz for his role in the La ONU conspiracy earlier this year. When he was hauled before a judge in New York, they described him as “one of the founding members” of La ONU who “was present at its creation.”
Martinez-Diaz allegedly directed the transport of 100 to 150 kilos of powder cocaine per week from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. Then, he allegedly arranged for its sale not only in Puerto Rico but also in the continental United States.
He also allegedly supplied guns, money and “equipment used to create what appeared to be a police car” but was used for “acts of violence under the guise of local law enforcement,” according to a transcript of the hearing.
Among the gang’s victims was Crystal Martinez-Ramirez, court records show. The feds say she was murdered on April 9, 2005, by Luis “Cabezon” Blondet. She had been invited to dance at a La ONU leadership party but “received unwanted sexual advances from Mr. Blondet,” according to another court transcript.
Martinez-Ramirez rebuffed him in front of other senior leaders of the gang, federal prosecutors have said. So he allegedly felt compelled to act so he could “maintain his status in authority.”
Blondet’s response began with a simple assault, the feds say. But within minutes, he gunned the woman down in front of a barbershop.
