‘Most feared hitman’ kept killing despite arrests

Santo Domingo.- A man the National Police calls the east region’s "most feared drug trafficker and hitman,” after Juan Félix Cordero (Copelin), was arrested in San Pedro Wednesday night.

Julio de los Santos Bautista (Julito Kilo) was still murdering people on contracts despite being arrested at least three times in the last two years. Police says he’s the "ringleader of a gang of hitmen" linked to behind at least seven deaths in the region.

In September 2013 the authorities announced the arrest of seven alleged hired killers, ‘Julito Kilo’ among them. He was also charged on October 2012 in connection with the execution-style murder of a man identified as Juan Gabriel Salas.

Police spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete said a San Pedro court released "Julito Kilo" on bail in February, but arrested on suspicion of again heading a ring of "dangerous hitmen" in the east region, where several organized groups of assassins and violent drug-trafficking organizations operate.

The Police accuse de los Santos of murdering four people and injuring another in 2013, including the execution style killing of Luis Alberto de los Santos Marte (Cama Larga).