Career
On May 14, 1984, Gerena became the 386th fugitive to be placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation"s Top Ten Most Wanted s list. He remains at large, and on April 11, 2010, became the fugitive to have spent the most time on the list, surpassing Donald Eugene Webb, who was removed from the list on March 31, 2007, after 25 years, 10 months, and 27 days (no leads for many years, possibly dead). On the list for over 30 years (as of 2016), Gerena is believed to be living in Cuba.
According to law enforcement authorities, on September 12, 1983, Gerena dropped off his girlfriend at Hartford City Hall, where she was to get a marriage license for the couple.
He then went to work and spent the rest of the day with co-workers James McKeon and Timothy Girard. At some point, Gerena removed McKeon"s gun, handcuffed and tied up his two co-workers, and injected them with an unknown non-lethal substance in order to further disable them which did not work.
He put $7,000,000 in the trunk of a car, then left with the money. According to published reports, Gerena was transported to Mexico, where he boarded a Cubana de Aviación jet at Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, arriving at José Martí International Airport in Havana.
Years later, a cousin of Gerena accompanied journalist Edmund Mahoney to Cuba in an attempt to locate Gerena, but they did not succeed.
Mahoney published a story in 2001 titled "Chasing Gerena". The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a reward for information leading to Gerena"s capture of up to $1,000,000.