New York:
A businessman was snatched from a New York City street in broad daylight, then held captive for more than a month in a warehouse where he was bound and burned with acid as he was held for a 3 million dollar ransom his family back in Ecuador did not have, authorities said.
Pedro Portugal, 52, was found this week by detectives who had been monitoring phone calls, noticed pizza deliveries to a deserted area in Queens and zeroed in on the warehouse, police said. Three men were arrested and charged with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment; one is still believed to be at large in the US; and three fled to Ecuador, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday.
Portugal, a father of six who owned a small accounting and tax firm in Queens, was burned with acid and spent the better part of a month with his head cloaked, authorities said. He remained hospitalised yesterday and authorities said he did not want to speak to the press.
Police said he was approached by three captors on April 18. One flashed what looked like a police badge and called out the victim's name, police said. He was forced into a sports utility vehicle where he was held at knifepoint and bound, then taken to the warehouse. His mother in Quito, Ecuador, got a call from a man calling himself "Tito" and demanding a 3 million dollar ransom, police said.
Kelly said the family had some property but nowhere near enough cash to come up with the ransom. Five detectives were sent to Ecuador to learn more about the victim and his family.
"It's something that we're still investigating to see why these people thought that 3 million might have been available," Kelly said.
Meanwhile, Portugal was burned, beaten, and threatened with mutilation and death, authorities said, including threats to cut off his fingertips if the family didn't come up with the money. The man "suffered physical injuries and has been deeply traumatised by the ordeal," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
On May 20, investigators who had been casing the area noticed a light upstairs in the otherwise dark warehouse in Long Island City, in Queens. They went in and discovered Portugal with his hands bound in a makeshift apartment.
"The person who was 'babysitting' him, as they called it, got away, but he was arrested very quickly," Kelly said, praising the detective work.
Luis Lopez, vice consul of Ecuador in New York, said police kept the consulate informed about the investigation.
Christian Acuna, 35, and Dennis Alves, 32, and Eduardo Moncayo were arraigned late Wednesday and were being held without bail.