NYPD Officer From LI Arrested In Murder-For-Hire Plot: FBI

A New York City Police officer from Long Island was arrested today and charged with trying to hire a hitman to murder her estranged husband an an underaged girl.

Valerie Cincinelli, 34, of Oceanside, was arrested by the FBI after an investigation showed that she and her boyfriend were allegedly trying to hire a hitman to kill her estranged husband and her boyfriend's daughter, according to the New York Post.

Cincinelli has been an NYPD officer since 2007, but the Post said she had her badge and gun removed in 2017 after she ended a relationship with a man she met on the job, who then told police she was spending time at his house while supposedly on duty.

According to the FBI, Cincinelli's plan began in February, when she asked her boyfriend, whom the FBI only identified as a confidential source, to hire a hitman to kill her husband and her boyfriend's daughter, who is less than 18. Her boyfriend told her he knew someone who would do it for $7,000, the FBI said. On Feb. 18, the FBI said Cincinelli withdrew $7,000 from a TD Bank in Wantagh and gave it to her boyfriend, who then went to a dealership in Massapequa Park and had it converted into gold coins to pay a hitman.

Between February and May, the FBI said that Cincinelli and her boyfriend continued to discuss the murder plot, both in person and over the phone. On May 8, the FBI said that Cincinelli's boyfriend told her that the hitman was going to carry out the murders over the weekend, and he was concerned about both people being killed at the same time. Cincinelli told him to tell the hitman to kill the daughter over the weekend, and then wait a week or month to kill her husband, the FBI said.

The FBI said that Cincinelli also routinely checked the daughter's social media to see where she was, so the hitman could be informed.

On May 13, Cincinelli and her boyfriend met again to discuss the murders, the FBI said, and the conversation was recorded by her boyfriend at the direction of the FBI. Cincinelli was told that the hitman would kill her husband by his place of work in Holtsville, the FBI said, and Cincinelli thought it was good because it would take place in "the hood" or "the ghetto." She also said it would look like he was killed for money he made selling fireworks, the FBI said.

Later that day, the FBI said that Cincinelli's boyfriend told her the hitman requested an extra $3,000 to kill the daughter, and that he wouldn't do it near a school. The two discussed their alibis for the murders, the FBI said, and Cincinelli allegedly claimed that she would be home at the time, which would divert investigators away from her.

The two then talked about how the murders would take place, the FBI said. When told that the hitman didn't want to murder the daughter near a school, Cincinelli said, "[r]un her the f*** over, how about that," according to the FBI.

On Friday, the Suffolk County Police Department, at the direction of FBI investigators, visited Cincinelli's home and informed her they were investigating the death of her husband. Almost immediately after the police left, Cincinelli and her boyfriend began discussing their alibis, according to the FBI.

Soon after, an FBI agent posing as the hitman sent Cincinelli's boyfriend a picture purportedly showing the husband dead in his car. Cincinelli then told him to delete all of their pictures and messages from their phones so they wouldn't be found.

The court ordered Cincinelli to be held in prison, citing the FBI's concerns about the safety of her husband and the daughter, as well as her attempts to obstruct justice by deleting evidence on their phones.