LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ALFRED SOLER, a/k/a “Manuel Soler,” a/k/a “Alfredo Soler,” was found guilty this
morning of murder, after only two hours of jury deliberation
following a two-week trial before United States District Judge
RICHARD J. HOLWELL. SOLER, 57, was convicted of three counts of
murder in connection with the July 2, 1998 shooting and killing
of JOSE MARTINEZ in the Bronx. According to the evidence at
trial:
In the summer of July 1998, SOLER was introduced to
JUNIOR CUSTODIOS, a/k/a “Junior Montaz,” a/k/a “Junior Montez,”
a/k/a “Guancho Trompeta,” who hired SOLER to kill MARTINEZ.
CUSTODIOS and MARTINEZ had previously worked together robbing
drug dealers in Manhattan and the Bronx of hundreds of kilograms
of cocaine, but a dispute arose between them concerning the
proceeds of some drug robberies. MARTINEZ attempted to have
CUSTODIOS shot and killed, but CUSTODIOS survived the shooting.
CUSTODIOS thereafter hired SOLER to kill MARTINEZ. (CUSTODIOS is
charged in the Indictment with SOLER but remains a fugitive.)
On July 2, 1998, SOLER and another individual (“CC-1”)
went inside the parking garage on Freeman Street in the Bronx,
which MARTINEZ operated, to confront MARTINEZ. SOLER and CC-1
both shot MARTINEZ, who died from the 6 gunshot wounds to the
head, chest, and body. In 2004, ALCIBIADES MERCADO-GARCIA, a/k/a
“Angel Guzman-Rodriguez” — who had participated in the murder
and, among other things, introduced CUSTODIOS to SOLER — agreed
to plead guilty and cooperate with the Government. Thereafter,
an eyewitness to the murder identified SOLER from a series of
photographs.
SOLER was convicted of one count of killing of a person
while engaged in a drug conspiracy; one count of conspiring to
commit murder-for-hire; and one count of causing the death of
another through the use of a firearm during and in relation to a
drug trafficking crime. Each count of conviction carries a
maximum sentence of life imprisonment and the first count carries
a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment.
Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative efforts of the New
York City Police Department.
Associated United States Attorneys JILLIAN B. BERMAN
and DAVID LEIBOWITZ are in charge of the prosecution.
07-255 ###
