A 42-year-old Bergen County woman was arrested by federal authorities Wednesday night, charged in a plot to hire a hitman to kill her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend, prosecutors said.
Nicole Faccenda, of Lyndhurst, N.J., was remanded to jail after appearing in Newark federal court Thursday. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if she is convicted.
According to the federal prosecutor's complaint, Faccenda contacted an acquaintance in Florida last Wednesday, looking for help in finding someone to kill her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend.
"She told this acquaintance she had a black dress ready to wear to the intended victim's funeral and would 'spit on the casket,'" the prosecutor's complaint said.
The unnamed acquaintance contacted federal authorities, who recorded a subsequent phone conversation between Faccenda and the acquaintance, who said he'd found someone to carry out the murder.
In later phone conversations with the acquaintance and the purported hitman -- who was actually an undercover agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- Faccenda said she would pay the hitman $5,000 in advance and $5,000 after the new girlfriend was killed.
"Faccenda said she wanted the new girlfriend to be gone and her boyfriend to be miserable," the complaint said. "She said she wanted the girlfriend shot in the head, that the boyfriend could be shot in the foot, and if something happened to the girlfriend's children, 'Oh well, I'm sorry.'"
Faccenda had a child of her own with her ex-boyfriend. The ex also had a child with his new girlfriend, authorities said.
Faccenda met the acquaintance at a gas station parking lot in Secaucus Monday, and gave him an envelope filled with $2,000 for the undercover hitman, prosecutors said. She told him the name, photo and license plate number of the intended victim.
On Wednesday, the acquaintance called Faccenda to tell her the victim was shot in the head and it was made to look like a robbery.
Faccenda was arrested by federal ATF agents at her workplace a short time later.
She was charged Thursday with using the mail and facilities of commerce with the intent that a murder be committed for payment.
“This was a cold and calculated plan to end the life of another person,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. “It failed because of the actions of a private citizen, who immediately contacted authorities, and the diligence and hard work of federal investigators. Because of their quick action, a life was saved."
There was no immediate comment from Faccenda's attorney.
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