The Dominican Baseball Factory The Rising Baseball Star, a Fatal Car Crash and the Fixer by Gus Garcia-Roberts, photography by Christopher Gregory-Rivera for ProPublica September 10, 2026, 5:02 am

The Dominican Baseball Factory The Rising Baseball Star, a Fatal Car Crash and the Fixer by Gus Garcia-Roberts, photography by Christopher Gregory-Rivera for ProPublica September 10, 2026, 5:02 am When an accident involving top prospect Oneil Cruz left three dead on a darkened road in the Dominican Republic, secret payoffs helped rescue his career and launched a shadowy business empire https://www.propublica.org/article/oneil-cruz-pittsburgh-pirates-santo-caraballo-car-crash-payments-dominican-republic?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature Reporting Highlights A Deadly Crash: Six years ago, Pittsburgh Pirates star prospect Oneil Cruz rear-ended a motorcycle, killing all three of its passengers and jeopardizing his career. Making It Disappear: Cruz’s parents brought in a fixer to pay off the victims’ families so they wouldn’t sue and wouldn’t demand that prosecutors pursue the case. Behind the Scenes: In making the case go away, that fixer, Santo Caraballo, saved Cruz’s career and launched his own as one of the most powerful figures in Dominican baseball. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-dominican-republic-baseball-factory-traps-players-mlb-santo-caraballo?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=toc