Business leaders, politicians and friends mourned the death of Thomas Cuevas, a prominent borough entrepreneur fatally shot as he left his Port Morris beer distribution company last week.
"It's a great loss to the business community and a great loss to the Bronx," said Ralph Declet, who helped Cuevas found the National Puerto Rican Business Council about two years ago.
Cuevas was on the way to the bank Wednesday evening with the day's receipts when he was slain, said Lt. Michael Bramble, commander of the Bronx Detectives Squad at the 40th Precinct. As he stepped out of House of Beers at 14 Bruckner Blvd., he was attacked. He died at Lincoln Hospital. The shooter escaped with a bag containing more than $17,000, Bramble said.
Police did not have a suspect description as of Saturday, Bramble said. He asked anyone with information to call 1-800-577-TIPS.
Bramble said here was no sign of a struggle at the scene and police were considering the possibility that someone familiar with the workings of the business killed Cuevas.
"We haven't pinpointed anything," Bramble said. "It's a possible inside job."
Just two months before his death, Cuevas had finished installing television surveillance cameras as an extra security measure, said Antonio Bassatt, manager of the business.
"All the security and precaution was taken, but no one thought that as you walked out, they'd be there," said Bassatt, noting that the business had been robbed before.
Borough President Fernando Ferrer asked Mayor Giuliani to offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter, said Ferrer's spokesman, Clint Roswell.
"The city has a long way to go to protect the city's homeowners and businesses," said Roswell. "This was a respected businessman who has been operating his business in the South Bronx for 35 years. It is tragic and very troubling."
As the Bronx Beat went to press Saturday, business leaders were preparing to offer their own reward to be announced later in the day at Jimmy's Bronx Cafe.
Cuevas, 56, was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the borough as a young child, said Bassatt. The two men grew up together, playing stickball and eventually entering business together, he said.
Bassatt accompanied Cuevas in his first entrepreneurial adventure -- a laundromat in Melrose. According to Bassatt, the laundry was a disaster, but led to many successful projects, including 310 1/2, a salsa club on Westchester and Prospect Avenues was a popular neighborhood hot spot more than 20 years ago.
"He was in an era that was proper for a Hispanic to get into business," Bassatt said.
Eventually, Cuevas ventured into the real estate business, buying tenement buildings on Simpson Street and rehabilitating them, Bassatt said. This led him to start a construction company. By the 1970s, he had opened House of Beers, distributing Balantine, Tecate and Country Club Malt Liquor to nearly 1,000 outlets throughout the city.
Cuevas also contributed to the economic health the borough, said Neil Pariser, senior vice president of the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation. On Bruckner Boulevard, Cuevas turned an old, vacant building into a vibrant business -- House of Beers. His success helped to stabilize the area near the Third Avenue Bridge, Pariser said.
"He anchored that corner for many years," he said. "When people went to Manhattan, his building was the last thing that they saw on the left side of the street."
Although Cuevas rose to a position of wealth and prominence in the community, he kept in touch with his roots in the borough, said Bassatt, who remembers him dressing as Santa Claus for Christmas and distributing gifts to neighborhood children.
"That was in his heart," he said. "Everything else came, but with that he was able to help anyone in the community."