He Was Arrested In Latin Kings Raid
If not for the two minutes of beating he owed the Latin Kings, Reinaldo Arroyo never would have been at Tampa’s Caribbean American Club on the day authorities busted the gang’s leadership.
So says Arroyo’s wife, Jennifer Perdomo of Tampa, who says her husband had left the gang and only went to the club to submit to his punishment because gang members were threatening her family.
“They said they would hurt my kids unless he came to get the rest of his beating,” said Perdomo, 20.
She said that in the summer of 2004, after her first child was born, Arroyo vowed to get out of the gang. To do so, she said, he had to endure a five-minute beating. Perdomo said her husband was beaten for only three minutes.
About two weeks before the August raid, in which law enforcement officials say they nabbed 39 statewide gang leaders, the family began receiving phone calls demanding that Arroyo show up for the remaining two minutes of his beating.
Tampa police Sgt. Kenny Norris, head of the gang squad, would not confirm or deny Perdomo’s statements, saying he is unfamiliar with Arroyo’s circumstances.
Police spokesman Larry McKinnon said Arroyo should tell it to a judge.
“If that guy is what he says he is, that is something he needs to tell a judge,” McKinnon said. “Because we see him as a documented gang member. Whether he is an ex-member or not, his association now is in the middle of a major leadership conference with the Latin Kings.”
Teresa Perdomo, Jennifer’s mother, said she remembers the day her son-in-law returned from the beating at Al Lopez Park.
“He could hardly walk,” she said. “He could hardly breathe. I was proud of him for getting out. He has been a terrific father and a terrific son-in-law.”
Jennifer Perdomo said she and Arroyo married five years ago. They moved in with her mother and have had two children.
Arroyo, 22, is at the Orient Road Jail with bail set at $250,000. He faces one charge of conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
“My 3-year-old thinks that her daddy is working,” Perdomo said. “I don’t take her to visit him because I don’t want her seeing him like that.”
