Feb. 06--The kidnappers' elaborate plan to abduct a drug dealer and hold him for ransom could not have been going much worse.
First, the man they were holding for ransom in a Northwest Side auto body shop was the wrong guy. Second, the FBI had tapped the alleged ringleader's cellphone as part of a separate investigation and had a front-row seat to the whole operation.
"There's a little situation," Armando Delgado allegedly said in a phone call with a fellow kidnapper as agents listened in. "They already got the dude, but it's the wrong guy because it's his brother ... that we're trying to get."
On Thursday, federal prosecutors announced kidnapping charges against the five reputed Satan Disciples gang members accused of hatching the botched plan last May. Antonio Salgado, 34; Armando Delgado, 36; Octavio Alejandre Jr., 33; Jaime Gutierrez, 22; and Munaf Abdulrazak Musa, 22; all of Chicago, are being held without bond pending detention hearings. They face up to life in prison if convicted.
Federal authorities had been listening in on Salgado's phone because of an unrelated narcotics investigation, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.
"They got lucky on this one," said attorney Joseph Lopez, who represents Delgado. "It just fell into their laps."
Last May 30, the victim was kidnapped in the afternoon at gunpoint outside his suburban Berwyn home and forced into a sport utility vehicle, according to the charges. He was brought to the auto body shop on Elston Avenue in the Avondale neighborhood, blindfolded and held while the kidnappers attempted to collect a ransom. The complaint alleged that the kidnappers threatened the victim at gunpoint and placed a knife on his fingers and threatened to cut them off.
Early the next morning, the victim's uncle received telephone calls from a man who identified himself only as "the Ugly Ones," according to the complaint. The man, speaking in Spanish, demanded 25 "playeras," or shirts -- code for kilograms of narcotics.
After realizing that night they had the wrong person, Salgado was recorded talking with Delgado about what they should do, the charges alleged.
"Beat the (expletive) out of the guy tonight and cut him loose," Salgado said, according to the charges. "Make this look as if this is a job from Mexico, and they'll know not to bull--. Put that (expletive) in a stolen car, and if push comes to shove, burn the car."
The next morning, the victim walked into a bus station in Chicago, apparently unharmed. He told police he'd just been released from captivity during the night, according to the complaint.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
