Authorities in New York have a baffling mystery on their hands. On May 2, around 10:20 a.m., a Kingsborough Community College student called 911 to report a body had washed ashore on Manhattan Beach near the college.
The body was that of a 6-foot-1 male wrapped in black plastic garbage bags, the type contractors use. The head was completely covered with grey duct tape. Because the body had been submerged for so long, the fingers had fallen off.
But it was the cement shoes that caught investigators eyes. Despite the occasional references to cement shoes in mafia movies, no NY detective had ever seen one on a body before.
The victim’s feet were encased in a five-gallon black plastic bucket filled with poured concrete up to the shins.
“I’ve actually never seen cement overshoes before,” a police commander told the Daily Beast blog.
Police are convinced the murder was not the handiwork of a professional hit man or the mafia.
Air pockets were trapped within the set concrete. It was not a “practiced pour,” according to investigators.
“This isn’t the wise guys,” said a Brooklyn detective. “They do concrete better than this. This is a bullshit job!”
The reason detectives had never seen cement shoes on a body outside of a movie or crime novels is the level of difficulty required to keep the victim’s feet immobile until the concrete sets. The victim would have to be sitting or standing until the poured concrete set.
“You could actually stand him up like a statue if you wanted,” the commander said. “Not that you would want to.”
The deceased was identified as 28-year-old “Petey Crack” Martinez, a high-ranking member of the notorious East Flatbush street gang G Stone Crips — the same organized crime outfit that jailed rapper Bobby Shmurda belonged to.
Martinez’s girlfriend reported him missing on February 5. She said she last saw him heading off to get his hair braided. Investigators believe he made it as far as the salon.
“His hair is perfectly braided still,” the commander said. “It’s like he just stepped out of the salon. His fingers fell off, but his hair is beautiful still.”
The air pockets in the cement may have helped keep the body aloft while strong currents dragged the corpse onto the rocky shoreline.
The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation, according to a coroner’s report. He likely suffered a slow death after his head was tightly wrapped in duct tape.
“Like mummy style,” the commander said.
Police are settling on a motive. The NY Daily News reports Martinez had money problems.
Martinez “owed a lot of money,” his distraught girlfriend told police on Tuesday.
Martinez had been arrested 31 times since 2008 for a multitude of charges including reckless endangerment, weapons possession and writing bad checks.
His pregnant girlfriend identified his body through large tattoos of the Virgin Mary and an 8-ball on his back.
