José Figueroa Agosto

Criminal career

In 1999, Figueroa Agosto escaped from prison in Puerto Rico, where he was serving a 209-year sentence for murder and illegal weapon possession. He originally went to prison on murder charges in Puerto Rico but escaped and fled to the Dominican Republic, where he managed to obtain several alternate identities and continued drug trafficking for another 10 years. While in the Dominican Republic he was arrested in a minor stint as one of his alternate identities and then released for an unknown reason (his alter ego wasn't yet known to the authorities). Following a lead in late 2009 one of his many apartments was raided, and police found $4 million in cash and $1 million in watches. A car chase followed, but he managed to elude the police by fleeing his vehicle and hiding in a sewer. Eventually, he managed to return to Puerto Rico, allegedly by paying 1 million dollars to unnamed high-ranking military personnel. He was able to hide in San Juan, Puerto Rico for 10 months, until July 2010, when DEA, FBI, US Marshals and Puerto Rican police arrested Figueroa in Santurce, a neighborhood in San Juan, as he tried to escape from officers conducting surveillance. Figueroa was the most wanted fugitive by Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic authorities.

With the Caribbean's biggest reputed drug lord back behind bars, law enforcement authorities in the region are on alert for potential bloody feuds among rivals and lieutenants trying to take his place. Capture of Jose Figueroa Agosto in Puerto Rico's capital after a decade-long hunt was a big break, but it also means that members of his violent group may try to gain control of his share of the illegal trade. There are rumors that Figueroa Agosto has over $100 million in Puerto Rico.

Authorities say Figueroa-Agosto, worked as a drug-boat driver until 1993, when he carried out a hit on a truck driver who allegedly stole a shipment of Colombian cocaine. Puerto Rican courts convicted him of the murder and sentenced him to 209 years in prison. But in 1999, he walked out of the prison's front gates after presenting the guards with a falsified release order. He was on the run for the next 11 years, leading his criminal organization while living what U.S. Marshals described as a luxury lifestyle in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. He allegedly bought homes and cars under false identities. At one point, Figueroa-Agosto — or a man claiming to be him — called a popular Dominican morning radio show and offered an $800,000 reward for the murder of either of the country's two top police officials.

Arrest and imprisonment

Ending a 10-year manhunt and, like fellow smuggler Christopher "Dudus" Coke in Jamaica, Figueroa was arrested wearing a wig after having made various plastic surgeries. Figueroa was wanted for allegedly moving cocaine through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico with fellow co-worker Angelo Millones, into the United States. Figueroa Agosto has also been charged by U.S. authorities with passport fraud and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Other rumors are that Figueroa Agosto will be on the streets soon after all of this, if there is no proof by the federal agents they can't put him behind bars.

Dominican authorities have sought Figueroa Agosto for multiple violations including kidnapping, money laundering, drug trafficking and murder. He also has been linked to criminal activity in Colombia and Venezuela, according to the DEA, but they haven't charged him for narcotrafficking. He is now in a federal cell awaiting trial in Brooklyn, New York.

Sex tape

A sex tape starring Agosto has also proved to be a popular sell amongst DVD vendors in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.