NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A major cocaine supplier of a violent drug trafficking organization that transported narcotics from Puerto Rico to New York was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday.
José “Tony Zinc” Martinez-Diaz, 48, of Puerto Rico, previously pleaded guilty to participating in racketeering conspiracy for allegedly supplying over 5,000 kilograms of cocaine to the drug alliance, La Organización de Narcotraficantes Unidos (La ONU).
According to court documents, Martinez-Diaz was a high-volume cocaine trafficker who supplied thousands of kilos worth of drugs to La ONU, which was then distributed in New York – including out of a daycare center in the Bronx.
Members of La ONU would also engage in violent acts, including murder, to protect their enterprise, federal prosecutors said.
While it remains unclear if Martinez-Diaz directly participated in the violent acts, prosecutors said he would order the execution of some acts, and would regularly use the machinery of La ONU “to protect his narcotics trade.”
Prosecutors said he would also arrange for corrupt members of the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) to locate rival drug dealers and effect unwarranted traffic stops in order to control their movements or isolate them until members of La UNO could attack them.
Federal prosecutors said Martinez-Diaz ordered at least one shooting on a rival in 2007 and once paid a police officer $5,000 in connection with the attempted murder of a rival dealer known as “Taliban.”
Both of the victims in the attacks survived, according to prosecutors.
Martinez-Diaz also funded and assisted La ONU in its fight against its rival, La Rompe ONU, officials said.
He allegedly provided money to La ONU members to purchase firearms and helped created a fake PRPD patrol car, which was used to harass and intimidate members of the rival gang, and to conduct shootings.
Authorities said Martinez-Diaz smuggled cocaine from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, usually by boat, as often as once per week.
Officials added Martinez-Diaz and others were possibly able to avoid arrest because they worked with a corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent who would help conceal their activity.
In addition to the prison term, Martinez-Diaz was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $6.875 million.
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