Three years ago, David Ortiz hired former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis to commission an investigation into the 2019 shooting that nearly took the Hall of Famer’s life.
Now Davis is sharing the results of his private investigation for the first time.
Davis said Saturday U.S. law enforcement and his team determined that international drug kingpin César “The Abuser” Peralta placed a bounty on Ortiz’s head. “Peralta said he had David shot,” Davis told the Globe’s Bob Hohler.
In a phone call from the Dominican, Ortiz told Hohler he was “sad, confused, angry, all kinds of emotions” when Davis told him the harrowing news.
Davis’ findings are the latest chapter in a nearly three-year saga that began when Ortiz was shot point blank at a Dominican nightclub in June 2019. Dominican law enforcement officials originally said an unspecified man with an unknown motivation targeted Ortiz, before chalking up the incident to a case of mistaken identity.
That theory immediately sparked suspicion, considering Ortiz is one of the most recognizable figures in his native Dominican Republic. Dominican police say the shooters were aiming for one of Ortiz’s friends, Sixto David Fernandez, who was sitting with him at the bar that night. Ortiz and Fernandez bear little resemblance.
Thirteen suspects are awaiting trial in the case.
Peralta’s lawyer told the Globe his client didn’t put out a hit on Ortiz, and was good friends with the iconic slugger (Peralta is currently being held without bail in Puerto Rico on unrelated drug charges).
“As bad as César Peralta is, it’s not even close to being in the ballpark to say he had something to do with this,” the attorney said.
Ortiz, who denies having anything more than a causal relationship with Peralta, is torn about the conflicting accounts from Davis’ team and Dominican authorities. “How come no one in the Dominican justice system has told me this is how it went down?” Ortiz said. “Instead, it’s the opposite.”
Ortiz hired Davis due to concerns over the integrity of the official investigation. Peralta is tied to several high-ranking officials in the Dominican government.
“I’m in a tough spot because we’re dealing with some dangerous people,” Ortiz told the Globe. “I’m pretty sure this guy is sitting in jail right now thinking about what he is going to say or going to do. I’m not planning on living my life in hiding.”
Peralta’s name was immediately raised in connection to the shooting, with the Daily Mail reporting in June 2019 he was upset over an apparent affair Ortiz was carrying on with his wife. Images of a supposed $85,000 check that Ortiz gave the woman to buy a new Lexus one day before the shooting surfaced online, though Ortiz’s representatives told the Globe the check was fake.
According to investigators, Peralta was jealous of Ortiz’s reverential status. When Ortiz retired in 2016, he started frequenting many of the same high-end Santo Domingo establishments as Peralta, the Globe says. They also lived in the same luxury apartment building.
Ortiz recovered last year from his fourth surgery since the shooting. Now working as an analyst for Fox Sports, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in January.
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