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Matthew Glowicki | Courier Journal

What started as a federal undercover drug investigation in Louisville has led to the arrest of three men accused in a Jan. 20 homicide over the theft of heroin.

A federal affidavit outlines months of wiretapped phone calls and surveillance on the three Louisville men alleged to have carried out a $30,000 murder-for-hire plot to kill 24-year-old Vicente Rodriguez Ramirez.

The wiretaps began in December 2017 as part of an investigation into Javier Rodriguez, who Drug Enforcement Administration agents suspect led a local methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana trafficking operation.

Rodriguez, 27, would negotiate pricing and delivery of the drugs with suppliers in both the United States and Mexico, according to court records, and then would store them at homes of co-defendant Dwain Castle, 44. Castle would then distribute the drugs to lower level traffickers in Louisville, investigators allege.

But as federal agents listened in, they learned of a drug deal gone wrong and plans for revenge.

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In an intercepted call from Jan. 16, agents heard talk of a potential drug buy between Rodriguez and a man later identified as Ramirez.

Court records detail that Ramirez told Rodriguez he had a third-party buyer who wanted one kilogram of heroin for $70,000.

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Four days later, Ramirez was found shot dead inside a pickup truck off Poplar Level Road in Newburg.

In the following days, local police made a plea to the public for information. Meanwhile, federal agents in Louisville continued secretly taping Rodriguez's phone calls, piecing together what led up to the homicide.

Investigators learned through intercepted calls that when Rodriguez and Castle met Ramirez, the buyer and others in the 2100 block of West Kentucky Street, gunfire broke out.

Rodriguez claimed he had been robbed of $70,000 worth of "china white" heroin.

In other calls, court papers detail, Rodriguez and others talked about wanting to kill the third-party buyer because they believed he was responsible for the robbery.

On Jan. 19, the day before the slaying, Rodriguez and others not identified in court filings spoke of killing Ramirez, referred to as "Migo," "Nephew" and "El Gordo."

The DEA special agent's affidavit notes the wiretap expired Jan. 19 but was reauthorized Jan. 23.

Three days after the murder, in intercepted calls, Rodriguez and Castle admit to paying $30,000 to "Tookie," who investigators identified as Charles Cater, to kill the third-party buyer and Ramirez, investigators say in the affidavit.

In a Feb. 19 phone tap, Rodriguez and Castle are heard talking about a drug dealer who they feared knew they had Ramirez killed and would tell others, according to the affidavit.

"'I haven't told (him) we did it,'" Rodriguez told Castle, court records show, with Castle later saying, "'Can't nobody prove nothing... they ain't got the murder weapon, they can't connect us to them...'"

All three were arrested Feb. 23 and charged by criminal complaint in U.S. District Court with murder, conspiracy to distribute heroin and meth as well as use of a firearm in furtherance of a violent or drug trafficking crime.

The case is anticipated to go before a federal grand jury. Meanwhile, the men are in federal custody.

After his arrest, Castle told federal investigators he transported, stored and distributed large amounts of illegal drugs on behalf of Rodriguez, according to the affidavit. He also admitted he hired Cater to kill Ramirez on Rodriguez's orders.

He said the three defendants lured Ramirez to the 5600 block of Ailanthus Trail on the day of the killing.

Instead of meeting Rodriguez, Ramirez was approached by Cater, who fired multiple shots from the passenger side window, Castle said.

He and Rodriguez then picked up Cater and later tossed the murder weapon on the side of the road, the affidavit details.

Castle's public defender did not respond to a reporter's email Friday.

In Cater's interview, he admitted to being an associate of Rodriguez and Castle and while he said he knew of the plan to kill Ramirez and was present when it happened, he pinned the murder on Castle.

Cater's attorney, Ted Shouse, said Friday that the case "appears, at this point, to be based almost entirely" on Castle's statement, noting a lead agent in the case has called Castle the "right-hand man" of Rodriguez.

Rodriguez told investigators he trafficked drugs from multiple sources in the United States and Mexico, court records show, but when asked by Louisville Metro Police homicide detectives about the killing of Ramirez, he stopped answering questions and requested an attorney.

David Lambertus, his attorney, declined comment Friday.

The affidavit notes that cell phone location data of Rodriguez, Castle and Cater placed all near the fatal shooting on Jan. 20.

It also states that federal agents, during undercover controlled buys in January, bought crystal meth from Rodriguez and fentanyl from Castle, both of whom were seen by investigators leaving a home maintained by Castle.