Aaron Hand is serving up to 25 years in prison for masterminding a $100 million mortgage fraud scheme, and he wanted to kill the witness he blamed for putting him there. Hand tricked his parents, who thought he needed money to bribe a prison guard, into paying the would-be hit man a suspiciously low down payment of $150, and Hand provided the instructions: “Boom. Lights are shattered … Rush in, boom, boom, boom. Run upstairs, downstairs, get it — just hit the road,” he told the supposed killer. “No samples. No DNA. Wear gloves. Wear something over your head,” Hand insisted. The man he was talking to was an undercover cop wearing a wire, and now Hand faces new charges of conspiracy, and first- and second-degree attempted murder. He’s claiming entrapment: “He never wanted to hurt anyone, to kill anyone,” said his lawyer, but Hand’s foul mouth says otherwise.
Prisoner in Mortgage Fraud Sought Hit Man, Charges Say [NYT]
Prison ‘whack’ a mole [NYP]
