How Not To Hire A Hitman; The Dalia Dippolito Trial

I was spending a few days in Florida visiting my mother.  While there, I became transfixed with the Dalia Dippolito trial.  Dalia Dippolito was a newlywed who was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill Michael Dippolito, her husband.  Now the funny part, for me anyway, not Dalia, was that the whole hiring process was caught on tape by the Boynton Beach Police Department.  Apparently, Dalia tried to hire an undercover cop, not an officially licensed hit man.

The story gets better.  Michael and Dalia met when Michael’s previous wife was out of town.  Michael decided that to relieve the boredom of not having his wife’s company, he would hire an escort.  Now, I don’t know about you, but when my wife goes out of town, I’ll hang out with the guys, not lower the toilet seat, race my car on the highway, you know, guy stuff. Anyway, Dalia shows up.  Dalia must have had great escorting skills, because as soon as his wife comes back, he immediately files for divorce.  Nice guy.  Plus he has some criminal stuff in his background; like doing two years in jail for fraud.  Real nice guy.

A couple of months into the marriage, Dahlia wants out. Instead of going the normal route like hiring a divorce lawyer, she decides that it would be less messy to kill him.   So she tries to hire a hit man.  Now, where exactly does one go when they want to hire a hit man?  I checked the classified section of the Palm Beach Post.  There were no listings.  I also couldn’t find anything in Craigslist.  I Googled “how to hire a hit man or woman,” but the web sites looked kind of sketchy.  She ended up asking her boyfriend; yes she was carrying on an affair, to hire someone to kill her husband.  He reports this to the police, who then stage and videotape a sting operation. 

Are you following this?  It gets better, not only do the police have videos of her negotiating the hit, but also her reaction when they tell her that her husband is dead.  She seriously could have won an Oscar for her performance.  The defense claims that she didn’t intend to have him killed, the whole thing was an elaborate ruse to get their own reality show!  What? A reality show. Gives new meaning to the Deadliest Catch.  Anyway, not surprising, she was found guilty and given twenty years in prison.  Then her attorney successfully gets her bail so he can appeal the conviction.  I guess, as with anything, especially escort services, you get what you pay for.