‘The Gladiators’. That was the name of the WhatsApp group through which at least 6 individuals planned the crime of a powerful gold businessman, last February 11 at the Bodytech gym, on 81st Street with Seventh, north Bogotá.
They conducted surveillance and monitoring. But at the last moment, the hitman made a mistake and ended up killing the rice businessman Gustavo Aponte and his bodyguard. This was just revealed by prosecutor 100 of the Life Unit, Elsa Reyes, in the hearing to legalize the capture of one of the suspects: Leonel Enrique Llanos Paternina.
The evidence
In the charge hearing, prosecutor Reyes stated that in the chats under the aliases Zorro, ‘Bam Bam’, ‘Carepapa’, ‘JJ’, ‘Pequeño’, ‘Moncayo’ and Llanos, known as ‘Tony’, had the mission to assassinate Olimpo Antonio Óliver Peñaranda.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the order to kill him was due to a debt.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO investigated and established that the target of the hit was a well-known businessman in the gold sector, with investments in several companies, including one in Panama.
People close to Oliver Peñaranda recall that he has received threats due to his complaints against illegal mining. In 2021, following his alerts, authorities carried out an operation that ended with the capture of several ELN members dedicated to illegal mineral extraction. Additionally, to combat this practice, he formalized people that this guerrilla group was using.
Sources close to the case told EL TIEMPO that the businessman has already been informed to take the appropriate security measures.
Who is Isaac Rodríguez?
During the hearing, Isaac Rodríguez was also mentioned. According to investigations, he was the man who fired the shots and is known as ‘Moncayo’.
In the hearing, alias Tony, the person who drove the motorcycle so the hitman could escape, did not plead guilty.
Mario Iguarán, lawyer for the Aponte family, confirmed that the businessman was killed by mistake. And sources familiar with the case stated that one of the members of the WhatsApp group ‘the gladiators’ may have already been killed.
(Consult all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit here)
At the hearing, the victims were represented by criminal lawyer Miguel Ángel Morales, from the office of former prosecutor Mario Iguarán-, who assisted the Prosecutor’s Office in legalizing the capture and the seizure of the cell phones carried by Llanos Paternina.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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