Bronx auto shop worker charged with ordering hit on rival worker

A man who "took over and corrupted" a Bronx auto body shop stole from insurance companies and ordered the killing of a rival tow truck operator, federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams alleges that for years, Christian “Coco” Lugo was the ringleader of a criminal enterprise that scammed car owners and used violence to gobble up business for Certified Auto in Mott Haven. The indictment claims he and henchmen would seek out drivers whose cars were wrecked after crashes to steer them to the car repair shop. The practice, known as “chasing,” is illegal but commonplace in the cutthroat world of New York City auto repair.

Lugo, 37, made false statements to insurance companies about “the extent of the damage and amount of labor and parts needed to repair” cars he and his crew worked on, the indictment states.

The indictment also alleges Lugo ordered the murder of Gloria Ortiz, who worked for a rival tow truck company and was killed in a hail of gunfire outside of Certified Auto in 2022. Police arrested Jason Rivera, 27, and charged him with Ortiz’s murder that May, according to the NYPD.

Lugo faces charges including racketeering conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering. If convicted, he would serve a minimum sentence of life in prison and could face the death penalty, according to prosecutors.

"We hope that these charges bring some measure of comfort to Ms. Ortiz’s family and make clear that this office and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to prosecuting those who allegedly commit senseless violence in the name of increasing their power in a criminal enterprise," Williams said in a statement.

According to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, it has never licensed Lugo and Certified Auto, but the department has received five complaints about the business since 2020. One of those cases was resolved in mediation, and in some other cases the customers failed to provide more information when the department reached out.

In 2021, the NYPD encountered Lugo operating a vehicle on behalf of the company, and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection issued Certified Auto a summons for towing without a license, towing without a department plate and letting an unlicensed driver operate a tow truck, according to the department.

The behavior alleged in the indictment is the latest example of violence allegedly connected to the city’s towing and auto shop industries.

A Queens woman was shot by a tow truck company worker in 2021 after rival crews got into an argument over who would tow her damaged vehicle, police said at the time. The following year, a man was reportedly injured after he was shot in the head while sitting in a tow truck waiting for his car to be taken to an auto shop. Shots also flew in Sunnyside in 2022 in what police said was another towing dispute.