ALLEGED GANGSTER ARRESTED IN MASS.
June 22, 2001
BYLINE: By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff
BODY:
Eli S. Ruiz-Oquendo, 26, was arraigned yesterday at Fitchburg District Court
following his arrest Wednesday morning at a home on Normandy Road.
Ruiz-Oquendo allegedly belonged to a brutal
gang of drug and arms dealers who dismembered their victims and scattered the limbs
and heads in villages 50 or 60 miles from the slayings, according to Rafael
Escobar, a deputy US marshal in Puerto Rico.
The gang - called El Palo de Goma, or The Rubber Tree, after their meeting
place - allegedly dealt cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and weapons. The group is
linked to a string of murders dating to 1995, Escobar said.
Ruiz-Oquendo is being charged in a March 7, 1997, killing in Toa Baja, Puerto
Rico, Escobar said. The gang was based just west of San Juan.
Puerto Rican authorities began searching for Ruiz-Oquendo last month and traced
him to Fitchburg through public-record databases. Escobar said he did not know
how long the suspect has been living in Massachusetts.
"This was just good investigative work," Escobar said.
"Addresses were found in Massachusetts that had the same identifiers as the guy
we were looking for. We forwarded that information to the US marshals in
Massachusetts, they checked it out, and arrested him."
Escobar said authorities have good leads on four or five other suspects, and
that more arrests might be made in the next few days.
Ruiz-Oquendo is being held at the Worcester County House of Correction pending
extradition to Puerto Rico. US marshals who arrested the suspect were aided by
the State Police violent fugitive and gang units.
Another member aressted in Detroit