Authorities identify possible mastermind in Ortiz shooting - remain mute on motive

According to CNN's Patrick Oppmann and Emanuella Grinberg, Dominican authorities may have identified the alleged mastermind in the shooting of David Ortiz. The police identified Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota as the individual that supposedly paid for the hit on Big Papi, but it is still unknown if another person recruited Mota to distribute the $7,800 hit money. It has also been disclosed that the handgun used in the shooting was a Browning 9mm Hi Power semi auto.

CNN obtained Dominican court documents that reveal new details in the shooting, including the name of the person accused of paying for the attempted hit, identified as Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota.

Rodriguez Mota met with another suspect, Gabriel Alexander Perez Vizcaíno, to discuss a plan one week before Ortiz was shot, according to the indictment.

Perez Vizcaíno was the go-between for Rodriguez Mota and another suspect accused of helping orchestrate the hit from a Dominican prison, identified as Jose Eduardo Ciprián. According to court documents, Ciprián and Carlos Alvarez helped coordinate the shooting and distributed a $7,800 payment to the would-be assassins from prison.

On the day of the shooting Ciprián is believed to have texted from his prison cell a photo of Ortiz to Perez Vizcaíno, who is also known as "El Hueso" or "The Bone," according to the court documents.
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On Monday, Perez Vizcaíno was given a year of pre-trial detention at a court hearing, according to Jose Hoopelman, lawyer for David Ortiz.
It is not clear why Rodriguez Mota would have paid nearly $8,000 to kill Ortiz or if he was acting on someone else's behest.

Rodriguez Mota is the latest suspect to be identified in a sprawling investigation that has rocked the Dominican Republic.
Ortiz was sitting on a crowded bar patio in Santo Domingo the night of June 10 when a gunman walked in, pulled out a Browning Hi-Power 9mm and shot him once in the lower back.

This is an extremely complex and convoluted investigation. Expect that the investigators are hearing varying tales from the many suspects now in custody. Sorting through truth, lies, rumors, hearsay and attempts by suspects to lessen blame on themselves has to be mind-boggling.

The same holds true on the true motive for the hit. Authorities have indicated they would identify the kingpin and motive sometime this week. We await further info on the possible implication of a higher link in the suspect chain and a motive for the armed attack. Stay with CelticsLife for updates.

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Photo via Elise Amendola/AP