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Police Officer Allegedly Hired Hitman To Kill Estranged Husband And Boyfriend's Daughter

Valerie Cincinelli, an officer with the New York Police Department, is accused of asking her boyfriend to help her find a hitman.

By Gina Tron
Valerie Cincinelli

A New York Police Department officer is accused of trying to hire a hitman to to kill both her estranged husband and her boyfriend’s school-age daughter. 

Valerie Cincinelli, who worked for the department for the past 12 years, was charged Friday on federal murder-for-hire charges, the Associated Press reports. The 34-year-old officer was ordered held without bail after a hearing on Long Island.

Cincinelli’s alleged murder plot was thwarted through an elaborate sting that involved a fake photograph of Cincinelli’s estranged husband’s murder. On Friday, a local detective went to her Long Island home on Friday to make the phony death notification, and that same day, “an FBI agent, posing as the hitman, sent a text message to the (informant) which included a photograph of the defendant’s estranged husband appearing dead in his car,” a criminal complaint obtained by the Associated Press states. The police officer is accused of giving that informant, who she allegedly believed was a hitman, $7,000 to get the job done back in February.

According to the New York Daily News, Cincinelli asked her boyfriend to help her secure a hitman to kill her ex, and he reportedly began working with the FBI once she tried to also put a hit out on his daughter, who is a minor. A motive for the latter alleged hit is not clear. 

Valerie Cincinelli

For the alleged hit on the girl, Cincinelli reportedly wanted her to be killed by being run over with a car, the Daily News reports. As for her estranged husband, she allegedly asked for it to be in the town he worked in because “it would not look suspicious because the murder would take place in ‘the hood’ or ‘the ghetto,” court papers say according to Newsday.

Even before her arrest for the alleged murder plot, the NYPD had put Cincinelli on desk duty after she reportedly broke a few different department rules. Since her arrest, she has been suspended without pay, reported The New York Times.

The officer’s attorney, Tracey Gaffey, declined on Friday to discuss the case with the Associated Press. Oxygen.com’s attempt to reach Gaffey was not immediately returned.

If convicted, Cincinelli could face about a decade behind bars.

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