24 hours ago, in a hearing for the legalization of capture and charge imputation of ‘Tony’, a 32-year-old man from Barranquilla, the existence of ‘the gladiators’, a sinister hitman gang with roots on the coast, operating in Bogotá, was uncovered.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, at least 6 of its members had an active WhatsApp group where instructions were given to carry out the murder of a powerful gold businessman, whom they ended up confusing with Gustavo Andrés Aponte Fonnegra, the rice businessman murdered last February 11 at the exit of the Bodytech gym, on 81st street with Seventh, north Bogotá.
Isaac Rodríguez, the hitman
Elsa Reyes, the same prosecutor who advanced at record speed in the case of the assassination of Miguel Uribe Turbay and the thallium poisoning of the girls, revealed in the hearing that the captured, Leonel Enrique Llanos Paternina, alias Tony, is one of the gang members, who had clear roles to carry out the murder of the gold businessman Olimpo Antonio Oliver Peñaranda.
“These individuals, members of a criminal organization, a hitman office, intended to kill Mr. Olimpo Antonio Oliver Peñaranda and killed Gabriel Aponte instead”, former prosecutor Mario Iguarán, attorney for the Aponte family, told EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit.
And prosecutor Reyes gave details of the chats in which the gang members tracked their target so that the hitman Isaac Daniel Rodríguez, alias ‘Moyano’, could familiarize himself with the target’s routes and routines. The chats included instructions for the gunman to buy a two-piece suit and change in the bathroom of a nearby barbershop before carrying out the crime.
The idea was that, without raising suspicion, he would stay on the street for several minutes, talking on the phone with another gang member who was in the gym, so he would know when to attack.
The gang members
Additionally, according to EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit, concrete data about the gold businessman to be murdered for an alleged debt collection was shared in the messages.
Close to Oliver Peñaranda recalled that he has received threats for his complaints against illegal mining. In 2021, after his alerts, authorities carried out an operation that ended with the capture of several ELN members dedicated to illegal mineral extraction. Furthermore, to combat this practice, he formalized people that this guerrilla was instrumentalizing.
This information fits with the origin of several members of the criminal gang identified by prosecutor Reyes with their aliases: alias Zorro, ‘Bam Bam’, ‘Carepapa’, ‘JJ’, ‘Pequeño’, ‘Moncayo’ and the captured Llanos, known as ‘Tony’.
‘I do not accept charges’
After the condensed hearing for legalization of capture and charge imputation, the captured did not accept the crimes of co-authorship of double homicide and illegal possession of weapons, despite prosecutor Reyes reminding him that he knew, from the chats, that he was participating in the homicidal plan. In fact, two cell phones were seized from him for evidentiary purposes.
According to the file, Llanos’ role was to monitor the double murder and wait for the hitman to flee on a motorcycle.
Based on the information provided in the hearing, it is clear that more captures are coming in the case.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltimpo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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