Infamous drug lord Alpo Martinez shot five times and killed in New York City drive-by

Drug kingpin Alpo Martinez was shot five times and killed in Harlem on Sunday morning (Pictures: Facebook/Handout)

An infamous drug kingpin who was in witness protection for testifying against his associates was killed in a drive-by shooting early Sunday morning in New York City.

Alberto ‘Alpo’ Martinez, whose cocaine empire stretched from New York to Washington, DC, was shot five times in the chest, chin and arm while sitting in the driver’s seat of a Dodge Ram in Harlem, police told The New York Times.

Police responded to the scene around 3.30am after receiving 911 calls reporting gunshots. Martinez, who was 55, was transported to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Martinez confessed to 14 murders before becoming a government witness, last living in Maine under the name of Abraham Rodriguez. He had been released from ADX Florence federal prison in 2015.

Police responded to reports of gunfire Sunday morning where Alpo Martinez was killed in a drive-by shooting (Picture: Yuan Tang)

In 1999, Martinez described shooting a childhood friend, Richard Porter, nine years earlier when he suspected him of cutting in on drug deals. That relationship was later portrayed in the 2002 movie ‘Paid in Full.’

Martinez’s legacy has also been the subject of well-known hip hop songs by artists like Jay Z and 50 Cent.

A high-ranking police source told the New York Post that Martinez was in danger as soon as he returned to his old territory.

‘You were in the witness protection program because you testified against other drug dealers,’ the source said. ‘You’d make a lot of enemies who have a score to settle. When you return to the same area, word will get out very fast.’

Alpo Martinez was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital (Picture: Yuan Tang)

Photos of the scene show Martinez’s red Dodge Ram with the driver’s side window splattered with bullet holes.

Martinez was killed in the same part of New York that he was raised, and grew up to play a prominent role in the violent turf battles over dealing cocaine and crack cocaine in the city during the 1980s.

He was later arrested in 1991 after expanding his drug business to Washington, DC, where he was charged with 14 counts of murder, including the murders of DC and New York drug dealers.

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