November 11, 2021 — Slain New York drug lord Alberto (Alpo) Martinez moved into Washington D.C. and killed his way to the top of The District’s dope game in the early 1990s before joining Team USA and disappearing into the Witness Protection Program. The 55-year old Martinez was killed last week in Harlem, gunned down behind the wheel of his RAM truck during a drug deal gone wrong or possibly in a revenge hit. He had been living under an assumed identity in Lewiston, Maine for the past six years.
Using federal court records and hundreds of pages of FBI and DEA documents, Gangster Report breaks down the 18-month “Alpo Era” in the Washington D.C. crack trade:
After Martinez and his best friend and business partner, Richard (Money Rich) Porter took over the Harlem drug game in the late 1980s, they began scoping out expansion opportunities. Only one of them would live to see it to fruition.
As 1989 came to a close, Martinez and Porter had set their sights on D.C., viewing the area as wide open with the recent arrest of the District’s flashy and seemingly-omnipresent crack kingpin Rayful Edmond. But Martinez decided to kill Money Rich for the belief Porter was stealing from him — Oorter was shot to death on January 4, 1990 — and landed in D.C. solo in the weeks that followed.
The post Once Upon A Time In The District: Harlem World’s “Alpo” Martinez Conquered D.C. Drug Trade Prior To Downfall appeared first on The Gangster Report.