MALDEN, Mass. – A Massachusetts man wanted to have his wife snuffed out. So to accomplish his goal he wound up hiring an undercover federal agent to murder her. The husband was arrested, pleaded guilty, and is now headed to prison, officials said.
The ignoble suspect was identified as 56-year-old Massimo Marenghi. After pleading guilty last Thursday to the murder-for-hire quest, he now faces up to a decade in prison to ponder his actions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a press release.
Marenghi “complained about his wife seeking a restraining order against him” when he met with an undercover FBI agent posing as a contract killer in January 2021, the New York Post reported.
The morose man sought the services of the undercover agent and asked him to help “eliminate” his problem as the pair “discussed a price of $10,000,” the feds said.
The discontent husband provided the undercover operative with a photograph of his wife’s home and detailed information about avoiding detection by surveillance cameras while carrying out the homicide. He also provided a photograph of his wife, the make, model, color, and license plate number on her car as well as the hours she spent at work, according to officials.
Massimo Marenghi gave an undercover federal agent a $1,500 cash deposit to murder murder his wife. (Facebook/Massimo Marenghi)
Marenghi gave the federal agent a $1,500 down payment for the murder during a second meeting, urging the “hitman” to carry out the killing soon. He told the hired gun the sooner the “demolition job” occurs, the quicker he would get paid for finishing the job, officials said.
Moreover, Marenghi provided the purported contract killer with a schedule that indicated when he would have custody of their children. He said that would be the “best time for the construction work to start,” authorities noted, according to The Post.
Marenghi was arrested in January 2021 after the meetings occurred. He now faces up to 10 years in prison for the murder-for-hire charge as well as three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 8.
