‘I’m hit, I’m hit:’ Car designer to stars testifies at murder-for-hire trial in Miami
Alex Vega, a custom-car designer for celebrities, was talking on his cell phone with a banker about interest rates when he returned home from work on a summer evening.
As he pulled into his driveway, Vega wanted to finish the call so he chose not to park his black Range Rover inside the garage of his Kendale Lakes duplex because he would have lost the connection.
It almost cost him his life.
As the call ended, a young man wearing a mask and carrying a handgun appeared out of nowhere and fired off eight rounds through the SUV’s window.
“I started to hear this loud bang, bang, bang,” Vega, 50, testified on Monday during the Miami federal court trial of a business rival accused of plotting his murder on the evening of Aug. 27, 2019.
“I’m hit, I’m hit,” he told his wife, who rushed outside. “I didn’t want her to see me dying. I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was dying.”
Vega’s testimony set the stage for the jury trial of his former business-partner-turned-rival Rolando “Roly” Ramirez, 52, the owner of Exclusive Motoring Worldwide and Doral Collision. Another defendant is Ramirez’s close friend, Rasheed “Fresh” Ali, 40, a former University of Miami football player from Pinecrest.
Both are charged with conspiracy, murder for hire, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, interstate stalking, firearm offenses and witness tampering. If convicted, each faces up to life in prison.
The third defendant is Ali’s friend, Tamrat “Shifta” Mason, 41, a California music producer and recording artist. He is only charged with witness tampering.
On Monday, Vega testified that he and Ramirez had been business competitors and partners for years before they had a falling out over Exclusive Motoring Worldwide. Vega, who customized cars, had owned the business, but then Ramirez, who did auto body work, took it over in an agreement to resolve Vega’s outstanding debts to him.
But their rivalry over money and customers led to a bitter lawsuit in Miami federal court in 2011 that was resolved through a settlement the following year. Ramirez ended up paying Vega $5,000 and his insurance company paid him another $20,000 — but Ramirez kept the business, assets and trademark.
Worked with Usain Bolt, Marc Anthony
During his testimony, Vega said that after they reached the settlement on June 27, 2012, under the supervision of a magistrate judge, Ramirez threatened him to his face, saying, “In due time. I’m going to kill you.”
“I freaked out,” Vega testified on Monday.
But in a court affidavit filed soon after the settlement, Vega only left in the part, “In due time,” but left out the part, “I’m going to kill you.” In the affidavit, he said under oath: “I took Ramirez’s words as a threat of future harm.”
On the witness stand, Vega said he was advised by his civil attorney to leave out the part of Ramirez’s threat about killing him.
But Ramirez’s defense lawyer, Philip Reizenstein, questioned why Vega would leave out that part, raising doubts about his client’s intent to kill his rival.
“What happened when he said he was going to kill you?” Reizenstein asked Vega.
“Nothing happened,” Vega answered.
Reizenstein pointed out that seven long years would pass — exactly 2,615 days — before the hit was executed on Vega’s life.
“Why would he wait so long to kill you?” Reizenstein asked, mockingly.
“My testimony is that he didn’t like me and he’s the only one who threatened my life,” Vega said on cross examination.
After Ramirez and Vega parted ways, Vega went through a bankruptcy but rebuilt his reputation as a custom-car designer.
Vega, the owner of The Auto Firm in Kendall, has designed sports-car renovations for many celebrities, including Grammy-winning singer Marc Anthony, rapper Rick Ross and Jamaican Olympic gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt, to name a few. Vega was also featured in a New York Times profile and a reality TV series called “The Auto Firm with Alex Vega.”
Recruiting two New Yorkers
In an indictment, Vega’s rival, Ramirez, and former UM football player, Ali, are accused of recruiting two New York men to carry out the hit on Vega: Jaime Serrano, 49, a marijuana dealer, and Julian Jimenez, 30, the son of Marcos Jimenez — Anthony’s sound engineer and occasional property manager, according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege that Ramirez came up with having Serrano arrange the hit on his longtime enemy, Vega, as a way to pay off a $20,000 dope debt that Serrano owed to Ali and his friend, Mason.
According to court records, Serrano and Julian Jimenez flew from New York to Miami on an American Airlines flight on Aug. 21, 2019, rented a blue Nissan Rogue and stalked Vega. Six days later, in the early evening of Aug. 27, Serrano drove Jimenez in the Nissan to Vega’s Kendale Lakes home.
Jimenez, wearing a surgical mask and gloves and carrying a gun that Serrano gave to him after they had arrived in Miami, got out of the front passenger seat, approached Vega in his car in the driveway and started shooting, according to a statement filed with Jimenez’s plea deal. He fired eight shots, including three that struck Vega.
Hit three times
Vega testified on Monday that he suffered three bullet wounds in his shoulder, aorta and spine, as prosecutors showed photos of his surgical scars to the jury. He said the trauma “changed my life completely.”
A witness told FBI agents the men were offered $60,000 to carry out the hit, though that has never been confirmed.
Jimenez pleaded guilty to his part in the murder attempt and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy Altman to 35 years in prison.
Serrano, who was convicted at trial of arranging the shooting and the trip from New York to South Florida to carry it out, was sentenced by Altman to 50 years in prison.
A jury determined Serrano was not the shooter, but played an important part in planning the operation — including buying the airline tickets from New York to Miami, renting cars in Florida, and obtaining the .40 caliber handgun that Jimenez used to shoot Vega. Serrano was also the getaway driver.
Both Serrano and Jimenez, seeking to shave time off their long prison terms, were tapped to testify for the prosecution at the trial of Ramirez, Ali and Mason.
On Wednesday, Serrano took the witness stand and said Ali approached him in 2018 about the plot to kill Vega, then Serrano recruited Jimenez, who was broke. Serrano testified that Ali acted as an intermediary for Vega’s business rival, Ramirez, whom Serrano didn’t know.
During his testimony, Serrano referred to Ramirez as Ali’s “home boy” and that Ali’s friend approved the price tag for the hit on Vega — $15,000. Serrano said Ali paid him on two occasions before and after the shooting, and that he gave most of the money to the shooter, Jimenez, and kept some for himself.
Serrano said that Ali provided him with the weapon used in the attack on Ramirez’s rival. He said Ali had given it to him in a gym bag during a birthday party for Ali’s baby daughter.
‘Erasing drug debt’
Last week, federal prosecutor Abbie Waxman said Serrano did marijuana deals with Ali and Mason and that he owed them more than $20,000 from profits and a pot stash that had been stolen from Serrano’s residence in New York.
Ramirez’s plan was to “have Alex Vega killed in exchange for erasing Serrano’s drug debt,” said Waxman, who is handling the case with fellow prosecutor Michael Gilfarb.
Waxman also told jurors that while Ramirez and Ali have been held without bond at a federal lock-up in Miami, they plotted to kill Serrano because he was going to testify against them. She also said Mason paid “hush money” to Serrano while he was in custody so he wouldn’t testify against Ramirez and Ali — hence, the witness-tampering charge.
But last week, Ramirez’s other defense lawyer attacked the credibility of Serrano. “Serrano is their star witness, but you’re not going to be able to believe one word he says,” attorney Eric Schwartzreich told jurors.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
