Feds catch violent Chicago fugitive in Puerto Rico
An ABC 7 I-Team Investigation
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (WLS) -- Drug suspect Jason Arroyo is known as Chapo. He isn't nearly as famous as his nickname namesake, but was wanted for similar crimes. And like the real El Chapo, the Chicago "Chapo" Arroyo, was on the run.
He vanished from the Chicago area in 2013 after he was among 15 people charged in an FBI crackdown on a Humboldt Park street gang. Friday night he was back in custody after being found in Puerto Rico.
After Arroyo was charged four years ago with drug and gun violations, investigators said he went to San Juan, where he was living in Cantera and said to have aligned with a local street gang.
FBI officials in San Juan told the I-Team the 33-year-old fugitive was going by the name Jason Perez.
For four years he managed to evade detection and authorities, blending in to the urban, island streets of San Juan, a place where the drug and gun trade has prospered.
The I-Team investigated Puerto Rican crime following the 2003 murder of Chicago White Sox player Ivan Calderon. Calderon was shot in the head with a 45-pistol as he visited a local bar. That crime remains unsolved.
As authorities have tried to get the Puerto Rico drug trade in check during the past decade and stop the drug killings, San Juan has seen numerous counter-narcotics sweeps by police of high trafficking areas.
On Wednesday Arroyo was arrested on federal drug charges by U.S. Marshal Service deputies in San Juan. Friday he was at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, awaiting transfer to Chicago.
The heat was turned up on Arroyo New Year's Day when a local crime blog outed him as being in "old San Juan" and showed his picture along with guns and grenades attributed to his operation. The flyer also advertised a $2,000 reward for his capture.
According to the FBI in Chicago, Arroyo was an outstanding fugitive from operation lion's pride in 2013, a joint investigation by the FBI and Chicago Police. They said 15 targets were arrested and charged with federal and state weapons and firearms violations. But after Arroyo was charged he disappeared and was a fugitive, until this week.
