MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – After he spent more than three decades on the run, Miami-Dade police arrested a 66-year-old man at the Miami International Airport Wednesday night in a 1987 murder case.
Venezuelan national Ricardo Calderon was arrested on first-degree murder and kidnapping charges for his alleged involvement in the shooting death of Flavio Castellanos.
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According to a 1987 warrant written by Detective Pat Diaz, who worked in the homicide bureau of the then-Metro-Dade Police Department, Castellanos and another man were acting as brokers in a 17-kilo cocaine deal on Aug. 18, 1987.
Calderon and an associate, referred to only by the last name of “Zinguer,” supplied the cocaine to buyers arranged by Castellanos, Diaz wrote.
Police said another associate, referred to only by the last name of “Ortiz,” was selling the cocaine.
According to the police report, after Ortiz took the cocaine to Fort Lauderdale to complete the deal, things went south: the buyers stole the cocaine.
Calderon and Zinguer became “angry” over the loss of the cocaine and blamed Castellanos and his associate, police said.
Calderon and his associates then ordered the two men into a van and then took them to a home in southwest Dade for questioning, Diaz wrote.
The next day, the victims were taken to a home in Fort Lauderdale, where they were tied up with a vacuum cleaner cord, placed in separate rooms and interrogated further, according to police.
Then, it was back into a van and back to what was then known as just Dade County.
Police said as Castellanos and his associate were being driven in the van, they overheard Calderon and Zinguer discuss a plan to kill them.
After dropping Calderon off, the surviving victim said Castellanos got up in the van and attacked Zinguer.
Diaz wrote that the surviving victim heard a gunshot and then saw that Castellanos had been wounded, with Zinguer holding a gun in his hand.
Castellanos’ associate escaped without being shot.
Police found Castellanos’ body at Northwest 117th Avenue and 22nd Street on Aug. 20, having been shot “multiple times,” Diaz wrote.
Calderon and Zinguer fled to Venezuela the next day, police said.
Calderon was residing in Caracas when police issued the warrant on Sept. 23, 1987.
35 years later, he was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
As of Thursday afternoon, it wasn’t clear whether any others had been arrested or convicted for their involvement the case.