Fugitive accused in 2007 slaying of Puerto Rico union leader extradited from New Jersey

Man sought in PRico union slaying is extradited

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — One of Puerto Rico’s most-wanted fugitives has been extradited from New Jersey to face charges that he killed a leader of a sewer workers union on the U.S. island.

FBI spokesman Harry Rodriguez says Jose Juan Viera Morales was flown to Puerto Rico on Wednesday and jailed at a federal detention center.

Viera is charged with killing Wallis Rivera Rodriguez in 2007. Prosecutors allege that a vacation complex manager now in prison hired Viera to kill Rivera because the union leader was going to reveal financial wrongdoing at the complex.

Viera also has been indicted on charges of conspiring to distribute drugs in Puerto Rico. He was arrested in September in New Jersey on money-laundering charges.