Life sought for torture of dealers

Kidnapped, beat victims

A ruthless Lawrence kidnapping-crew leader whose members posed as police to torture “invisible and disposable” drug pushers for ransom payouts should be condemned to prison for life, federal prosecutors will argue today.

Danny “Maestro” Veloz “helped to create a climate of terror and lawlessness in Lawrence. ... Veloz should spend the rest of his life in prison,” assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Pohl said in his sentencing memorandum to U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns.

Pohl’s filing includes chilling photographs of one of Veloz’s “many” victims, an alleged Lawrence drug trafficker whose flesh on his right arm, right hip and a calf was seared off with a hot iron in 2012. After a night of terror he was able to flee his abduction by members of the Veloz Crew, who were armed and wearing T-shirts that said “police,” according to prosecutors.

It was his escape and willingness to turn to police for help that authorities credit for the FBI’s takedown of the gang.

Pohl said Veloz, 41, a former karate instructor, tracked prospective targets by attaching GPS devices to their cars. He then followed their movements through a laptop computer connected to a large-screen television in his apartment.

“When ready, Veloz dispatched his kidnap team (disguised as police officers) to subdue, abduct, transport and restrain — even torture — his victims until they paid him a ransom in drugs or money,” Pohl said.

Veloz purchased a black Cadillac CTS with the proceeds from one 2012 kidnapping in Lynn where Pohl said the Veloz Crew persuaded a drug dealer to cough up $50,000 cash, cocaine and pills in exchange for his life.

“Veloz knew his victims were often illegally in this country and were unwilling or unable to go to the police for help,” Pohl said. “He kidnapped them because they were invisible and disposable.”

The Veloz Crew was part of a sweeping 2012 FBI investigation into several Lawrence kidnapping crews the agency called “Joloperros” — Spanish for stickup men. Among the items the FBI seized from the Veloz Crew were a badge, zip ties, loaded guns, a black skeleton mask, a clothes iron with “human flesh on it” and a bloodspattered minivan.

Veloz’s attorney Mark Shea is asking Stearns to sentence Veloz for no longer than 24 years. A jury convicted his client of conspiracy to commit kidnapping on Aug. 21.

Shea argues in his sentencing memorandum that Veloz did not carry out any of the kidnappings himself and “did not target a vulnerable victim.” Besides, Shea said, “no one died.”