Police investigating the shooting death of a Bronx garbage worker want to talk to a reputed drug dealer linked to the operators of the carting company that employed the slain worker, law-enforcement sources said.
East End Sanitation Corporation employee Cresencio Perea was blasted in the head execution-style early Wednesday morning as he was making a stop at an Eastchester bar along his Bronx route.
Law-enforcement sources said Perea’s murder appeared to be the work of a hit man – and they are now trying to figure out who wanted the 46-year-old father of one dead.
Detectives believe the killing may be linked to a complaint Perea filed with the federal government, which charged East End with firing him for his support of the local Teamsters union.
Law-enforcement sources told The Post the leading theory in the slaying is that someone was afraid the complaint would bring added scrutiny to the sanitation operation, which was believed to be in the middle of a turf war with other carting companies.
Neither the owner, Donna Fleming – who was questioned by cops Wednesday – nor anyone from East End would discuss the killing.
“There were disputes over [garbage-pickup] stops,” said a source.