Puerto Rican boxing icon Héctor ‘Macho’ Camacho was shot in the jaw while sitting in the passenger seat of his friends car on November 20, 2012. He died in hospital four days later. He was 50-years-old.
This week five men appeared at a court in San Juan, where they were each charged with murder (per WQAD8). Three of those suspects were already serving federal sentences for unrelated crimes. Those men had been imprisoned in Florida and were flown into Puerto Rico as part of what police have named ‘Operation Knockout’.
A fourth suspect was arrested in Bayamon, PR; the city where Camacho was killed. A fifth suspect was serving time in a Puerto Rico prison on an unrelated matter.
Investigators believe two more suspects in this crime were killed in unrelated events in 2013 and 2015.
The five suspects who were charged were named as William Rodriguez Rodriguez, Luis Ayala Garcia, Joshua Mendez Romero, Jesus Naranjo Adorno and Juan Figueroa Rivera. Rivera is being held on a $1 million bond. Rodriguez, Garcia and Romero are being held on $800,000 bonds. Adorno is being held on a $300,000 bond.
According to police Camacho and his childhood friend Adrian Mojica Moreno were shot from a passing SUV while they were parked outside the Azuquita bar in Bayamon. Moreno was killed at the scene. He had ten bags of cocaine on his possession. One of those was open at the time of the shooting.
Camacho’s pro career ran from 1980 to 2010 and saw him earn a 79-6-3 record with highlight wins over Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. Camacho also had memorable battles with Julio Cesar Chavez, Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya.
Camacho won titles in three weight classes including the WBC super featherweight title, WBC lightweight title and WBO junior welterweight title.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015.
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