October 11, 2012
NEW YORK (AFP) - A US man plotted from jail to have a hit man bring him the heads -- pickled -- of the judge and prosecutor who put him behind bars, officials say.
Joseph Romano, 49, was charged Tuesday with plotting to pay a contract killer $40,000 for the heads of Judge Joseph Bianco and Lara Gatz.
According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court on Long Island, New York, Romano and a former business partner in Florida tried to recruit the hit man, with detailed instructions "regarding the manner in which the murders should take place.
"Romano requested that the heads of both the Judge and the AUSA (prosecutor) be preserved in formaldehyde as souvenirs."
Senior prosecutor Loretta Lynch said "Romano thought he was buying revenge" against the judge and prosecutor presiding over his previous conviction and 15-year prison sentence for fraud.
However, the supposed hit man was an undercover cop and the grisly plan was thwarted, court papers say.
