By Ross Jones and Sid Saraf, FOXSports.com
Aaron Hernandez has denied having gang ties, but a deeper look at one of his associates raises some questions about those who surrounded him.
Carlos Ortiz was allegedly with Hernandez the night of the apparent murder of Odin Lloyd, in a car that police say is directly involved. Ortiz has since been arraigned in Connecticut and then extradited to Massachusetts at the Hartford Correctional Facility on $1.5 million bond. He has been charged with carrying an unlicensed firearm .
A look at Ortiz’s Facebook page reveals some details about his relationship with Hernandez and a Connecticut group said to be involved with gang activity.
Last December, Ortiz posted a picture of Hernandez, Hernandez’s fiancée and newborn baby on his Facebook page and titled it “Angels”. In the comments section, Ortiz wrote, “I love u A. . . Always my n**** u know we here . . . . .”
Ortiz’s Facebook account has the New England Patriots logo as its avatar. Ortiz also belongs to a Facebook group called DooWop, which has 157 members.
So, what is DooWop?
It’s a group of people known to congregate and live around the area of Davis Drive, a street in Bristol, Conn., a Connecticut law enforcement official confirmed to FOXSports.com. The official also said that certain members of the group consider themselves a gang.
Members in the group repeatedly reference Davis Drive, or “Double D,” in the Facebook posts. Since 2008, multiple crimes – including murder and drug offenses – have been committed on this street.
The Facebook group was created in January 2013 and has since been posted to 63 times. In some of the photos, members flash hand signs, which are similar to the ones Hernandez was flashing in a photo that was leaked on TMZ last week.
Aaron Hernandez — The Signs of a Gang Member http://t.co/cKJjLohMgI pic.twitter.com/t4Kdl2127y
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 27, 2013
From the Facebook group DooWop, these pictures can be seen:
In one of the photos, Ortiz is shown making the same hand signal. In another photo, Ortiz is showing wearing a custom New York Yankees hat with the words “DOO WOP” stitched in.
How did Ortiz and Hernandez meet? It’s not known, but Ortiz is friends on Facebook with Aaron’s older brother D.J., who is currently an assistant coach at the University of Iowa.
It should be noted that Hernandez and Ortiz didn’t go to the same high school. Hernandez attended Bristol Central High School (Bristol), while Ortiz attended New Britain High School (New Britain, Conn.).
Although Hernandez is associated with people who may be involved in a gang, it doesn’t necessarily mean, of course, that he was aligned with the group. Hernandez has denied any allegations that he was affiliated with gangs, according to Bristol County (Mass.) Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. Since his arrest, Hernandez has undergone an assessment done by Dartmouth County’s Gang Intelligence Unit, which inspected his tattoos. A request to the Bristol Police Department to answer questions about Hernandez was not immediately returned.
In 2010, when Hernandez was entering the NFL many teams avoided the tight end because of problems in his past. Whether Hernandez has any affiliation to any gangs is still being investigated.
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