Jul 25, 2006 9:20 pm US/Eastern
Alleged Radio Pirate Charged In DJ Uncle Al Murder
MIAMI (CBS4 News) ―
It's taken almost 5 years, but police finally know who silenced popular Miami DJ Albert "Uncle Al" Moss, and investigators say it was an angry pirate who pulled the trigger.
Police have charged Darnen Fabian Watson, an inmate at the Coleman federal prison, with gunning down the DJ September 10th, 2001. Leads in the case had gone cold until 2005, when investigators got a tip Watson was talking in prison about the murder.
Police say Watson confessed to the killing to two fellow inmates, and they moved to get an arrest warrant. Watson, who was serving a 12 year sentence on a drug charge, was moved to Miami Monday, and Tuesday, appeared on bond court on a charge of First Degree Murder.
Police say Moss's murder can be blamed on a fight between two stations competing for the same frequency in Miami's underground pirate radio scene. Watson who allegedly operated an illegal Jamaican-themed pirate station, reportedly told the inmates he thought Moss was the person who stole his radio transmitter, putting the station off the air.
Police believe he killed Moss in retaliation.
99 JAMZ radio personality 'Big Lip Bandit' told
CBS4's Tina Varona it is a relief knowing police believe they have solved the case.
"It was just a horrible feeling," he said. "Just to think that anybody could be killed tragically, the last person you'd thing of would be Al, because to know him was to love him."
Even though police believe Moss was killed in a pirate radio dispute, they believe the killing was especially tragic, because it appears Moss was shot in a case of mistaken identity.
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