Alleged assassin of notorious Harlem drug lord Albert Martinez arrested for the October 2021 hit
The alleged killer of former drug lord Alberto “Alpo” Martinez was arrested and charged in the Oct. 31 Harlem hit, police said Sunday night.
Shakeem Parker, 27, of W. 149th St.,who was already in custody on Rikers Island for a previous gun case, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
“Detectives gathered information that he was the shooter,” a police spokesman said.
Aside from the Nov. 2022 gun possession case, Parker has priors arrests for burglary, robbery and drug possession, police said.
Martinez, 55, was behind the wheel of a Dodge Ram on Frederick Douglass Blvd. near W. 152nd St. when several gunshots exploded through his driver’s side window just after 3:20 a.m., police told the Daily News at the time.
In the early morning ambush, police found Martinez gasping for air in the truck, shot six times in his arm and once in his chest, sources told The News. He also had a graze wound on the left side of his chin.
The drug lord turned federal witness was portrayed by the rapper Cam’ron in the 2002 film, “Paid in Full.” Mekhi Phifer played a character based on Rich Porter, 24, Martinez’s business partner and best friend who Martinez notoriously shot to death in 1990. Jay-Z was among the movie’s producers.
Martinez was a controversial figure on the streets of Harlem after he testified against underlings in his murderous drug-trafficking ring to avoid a life sentence — including his enforcer, Wayne Perry, who took a life sentence reportedly to avoid the death penalty in 1994.
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