Massimo Marenghi, 56, attempted to hire a contract killer to murder his wife and unknowingly commissioned an undercover FBI agent to carry out the hit.
The Massachusetts man pleaded guilty Thursday March 16 and now faces up to 10 years behind bars to the murder-for-hire, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a release.
On New Year’s Day 2021, someone tipped authorities that Marenghi ‘had complained about his wife seeking a restraining order against him’ and asked them for help to kill her. Officials said.
The unnamed person was instructed by the FBI to introduce Marenghi to an agent who was pretending to be a contract killer.
Marenghi later met with the undercover agent on Jan. 20 and asked him to help ‘eliminate’ his problem as the pair ‘discussed a price of $10,000,’ the feds said.
The husband provided the agent with a photograph of his wife’s home and detailed how to evade surveillance cameras while carrying out the crime, they said.
Marenghi met the undercover agent again on Jan. 29, 2021 and gave the federal agent a $1,500 cash deposit for the murder and urged him to carry out the killing soon, authorities said.
Marenghi told the agent that the sooner the ‘demolition job’ occurs, the quicker the hired killer would be able to pay the rest of what he owed, officials said.
While attempting to set up the murder, Marenghi gave the undercover agent various details about his soon-to-be ex-wife, authorities said.
The undercover agent suggested to make the murder look like an accident.
‘I mean, we can make it look like an accident … it is your call,’ to which Marenghi replied, ‘Yeah, well, I mean obviously that’s the best way.’
He then provided a photograph of his wife, the color, model, and license plate number on her car and the hours of operation of her work.
Marenghi also provided a schedule that indicated when he would have custody of their children, which he said would be the ‘best time for the construction work to start,’ authorities said.
In addition to a sentence of up to 10 years, the charge of murder-for-hire includes three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
Marenghi is scheduled to be sentenced June 8.
