Former Police Officer Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Attempting to Hire Hitman to Kill Husband

A former New York City police officer has been sentenced to four years in prison for her role in a failed murder-for-hire plot. 

Valerie Cincinelli, 37, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with a murder plot.

She asked her boyfriend DiRubba, to hire a hitman to kill her estranged husband and his teenage daughter. 

How It All Began

It all started when Cincinelli began dating DiRubba around 2017.

She was the daughter of a former NYC officer and had been a police officer for about ten years. 

She even worked in a domestic violence unit in Queens.

DiRubba said he was a house flipper, and the couple quickly became inseparable. 

They even got matching "’til death" tattoos on their left hands.

Cincinelli and her boyfriend DiRubba

Cincinelli's friends and family were suspicious of DiRubba. 

They described him as a manipulative con artist who claimed to be a former FBI agent. 

Their relationship became rocky, and by late 2017 to early 2018, both of them had asked for protective orders against each other.

In 2017, Cincinelli faced disciplinary action from the police department for sharing confidential information with DiRubba.

At the same time, Cincinelli was going through a tough divorce with her estranged husband, Isaiah Carvalho Jr. 

They both had restraining orders against each other too.

Soon, she became worried about Carvalho possibly claiming her pension. 

She also started feeling bitter towards DiRubba's teenage daughter, seeing her with jealousy and hostility.

Prosecutors said it was at this point that Cincinelli asked DiRubba to find someone to kill both her estranged husband and DiRubba's daughter.

In February 2019, she withdrew $7,000 from a bank and gave it to DiRubba, who converted it into gold coins for the supposed hitman. 

Instead of carrying out the plan, DiRubba told the FBI about it and started recording their conversations secretly as a confidential source.

In these recordings, Cincinelli detailed her desire for the murders and discussed ways to avoid detection by law enforcement. 

To make the plan look successful, authorities created a fake crime scene and told Cincinelli that Carvalho was dead. 

An undercover FBI agent, posing as the hit man, sent a staged photo of the crime scene to DiRubba, who showed it to Cincinelli.

When the police comfronted her, Cincinelli tried to hide her actions by telling DiRubba to delete their text messages. 

She was arrested later that day and accused of using interstate communication to hire someone for murder. 

Cincinelli was suspended without pay following her arrest and later resigned from the police force 

Court Proceedings 

In a deal with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty and the murder-for-hire charges were dropped.

Federal prosecutors pointed out the violent and specific details in Cincinelli's messages with her boyfriend. 

Unknown to Cincinelli, her boyfriend had secretly recorded their conversations for the FBI.

Cincinelli's lawyer, James Kousouros, claimed she never meant for the plan to happen.

He said that her boyfriend, John DiRubba, manipulated her and reported her to authorities out of revenge. 

Prosecutors stressed that Cincinelli had frequently encouraged DiRubba to commit the murders, countering her claims of being manipulated.

In her statement to the court, Cincinelli apologized for any harm she had caused.

Cincinelli was ultimately sentenced to 48 months in prison which is four years.

After the sentencing, her lawyer said he was happy with the result. 

He mentioned that it showed the judge understood the troubled relationship between Cincinelli and DiRubba her boyfriend.

Federal prison records show that Cincinelli was released on October 12, 2022.

Husband Still Watches Over His Shoulder

Her estranged husband has come forward to share his troubling experience of being the target of the murder-for-hire plot. 

Carvalho played a crucial role in the investigation.

He helped the FBI by faking his own death, which eventually led to Cincinelli getting arrested.

In an exclusive interview with "Inside Edition," Carvalho shared how the ordeal has affected his life deeply.

Valerie Cincinelli's husband, Carvalho

Reflecting on the traumatic experience, Carvalho described the careful planning that went into faking the death.

"The FBI instructed me to sit in the car. They scattered broken glass all over the floor and told me to hunch over into the passenger seat," he explained. 

The scene was created to make Cincinelli believe her scheme had worked.

Put a picture here 

Despite the arrest and conviction of Cincinelli, Carvalho confessed that he is still scared. 

"I look over my shoulder constantly. There's not a day that goes by when I'm not afraid for my life," he admitted. 

The experience has left him in a state of perpetual vigilance, haunted by the memory of the attempted plot.

Check out the story of a woman who passionately kissed her husband in an elevator before poisoning him to death. Click here to read more about it.

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