MIAMI _ In the final episode of the motorcycle-gang series "Sons of Anarchy," the show's protagonist _ on the run from the cops and despondent over a series of tragedies _ kills himself by riding his motorcycle head-on into a truck.
Alejandro Aparicio chose the same path when he ended his life on March 17. To several people who knew Aparicio, it was a sad but almost predictable action for a man who was a fan of the show.
"He was so desperate," said one friend, who spoke to the Miami Herald on condition of anonymity. "He couldn't pay his lawyers any longer and he felt trapped. He saw no other way out."
Aparicio's fiery, violent death stunned and saddened friends who cared about him, relatives who loved him and even people who suspected him of being involved in the death of a beloved figure in Miami's real estate industry.
Through numerous interviews and email exchanges with people who knew Aparicio, a complex portrait emerges of a man known as everything from a loyal friend to a gold-digger, a railroaded victim to a manipulative con artist who preyed on successful business women.
Aparicio, 59, was facing felony counts of first-degree grand theft, organized fraud and uttering forged instruments in connection with the death of his longtime girlfriend Andrea Greenberg, a respected veteran in the real estate marketing field.
Greenberg, 54, died on October 10, 2017, in her Morningside home. Aparicio was in the house with Greenberg at the time of her death. He was arrested on Feb. 8, 2019 and charged by the State Attorney's Office with stealing money from Greenberg.
Aparicio was released on bond on Feb. 14 and ordered to wear a GPS ankle device until the trial, which was scheduled for June 3. He faced a potential maximum sentence of 65 years.
