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Posted by Robert
Rap News Network
12/17/2004 5:44:15 AM
Tags and topics realted to this article include Akon and Fat Joe.
Rappers Fat Joe and Noriega were at the hospital bedside of a Jersey City man murdered outside a Tonnelle Avenue bar yesterday, and after losing two family members in as many months, the victims' relatives were wrestling with grief last night, officials said.
At 2:15 a.m. yesterday, rap promoter Robert "Tito" Montanez, 31, of Baldwin Avenue and Fleet Street, Jersey City, was with rapper Capone when he was shot twice in the chest in the parking lot of the Ringside Bar at Tonnelle and Manhattan avenues, officials said.
The dispute began over an item of jewelry, officials said.
Police had to disperse an unruly crowd of about 100 people in the parking lot before an ambulance could get to Montanez and take him to the Jersey City Medical Center and into emergency surgery, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.
Family members said Montanez was revived numerous times on the way to the hospital and he was in intensive care when his heart stopped twice more and doctors said there was nothing they could do. He was pronounced dead just after 6 a.m. yesterday, DeFazio said.
The shooter is believed to have fled from the area in a car parked at the White Mana, a hamburger restaurant across the road from the Ringside. Investigators are looking at surveillance tapes from a number of cameras in the area to determine if they captured any of the events leading to Montanez's death, DeFazio said.
"I love him like a son," said Ringside owner Mario Costa last night.
Costa said he is offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of Montanez's killer.
"It's just terrible what happened. He was a good kid," said Costa.
A second victim, Shea Harvey, 30, of New York City, ran for his life when the gunfire broke out and was shot in the leg from behind, DeFazio said, adding that he was taken to the medical center, treated and released.
Montanez, who spent three years in prison on manslaughter charges, had three small children and worked promoting several rap bands, family members said. He was also road manager for rapper AKON, who was at the Ringside the night he was killed. Montanez was CEO of the Block Records label, which had acts including Fury, KAI and Crook, family members said.
William "Willie" Montanez, 27, Robert Montanez's brother, died in early November when a car he was riding in slammed into the rear end of a stopped tractor-trailer on Harrison Avenue in Kearny, officials said. The driver, Jose Pichardo, 24, of Reservoir Avenue, Jersey City, was charged with death by auto, officials said.
Robert Montanez's sister Luz said her family is pulling together to try to work through the tragedies.
"I don't think we will get over it, we'll just learn to live with it," said Luz. "I hope they catch him."
Robert Montanez's brother Louis was with him at the Ringside where they were videotaping Capone in the bar for a promotion.
He said that later, in the parking lot, he watched as "three guys came and bumped into them and the guy was about to take Capone's necklace and he stepped in," Louis Montanez said of his brother.
"The guy pulled out a gun and shot him twice," Montanez said through tears last night. "He fell and he was unconscious, foaming from the mouth and his eyes were rolling back. I knew it was a bad deal because that gun was so loud. As soon as he was hit, he was down."
DeFazio confirmed that a confrontation over an item of jewelry apparently led to the shooting, but said no definite motive for the shooting had been determined. Robert Montanez's body has been taken to the Regional Medical Examiner's Office in Newark for an autopsy, DeFazio said.
The prosecutor said that numerous shots were fired and the shells have been recovered by investigators. DeFazio also said that the gun was not recovered and that there was no indicatio
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