New York bank manager Reshma Massarone's failed murder-for-hire scheme exposed with startling plot twists
Bank manager accused of hiring hitman to kill brother-in-law; plot foiled when hitman warned victim. Manager arrested.
A bank manager from New York is accused of hiring a hitman to kill her brother-in-law, but her plan was foiled when the hitman warned the intended victim a day before the planned murder.
Reshma Massarone, a 39-year-old mother of two employed at Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union, was apprehended on Monday. She faces charges of racketeering and murder-for-hire, as per federal court documents disclosed on Tuesday.
She agreed to pay $10,000 for the hit, and sent $2,500 as a deposit from a Walgreens store in Orange County, New York, the documents claim.
Massarone, whose maiden name is Bhoopersaud, was ordered to remain in custody on Tuesday, as a judge deemed her a danger to the community. Her husband Jeffrey told The Daily Beast, “You have to talk to my lawyer,” before hanging up.
The case against Massarone began on July 20, when she contacted a police officer from Guyana on Facebook Messenger. The officer was a friend of Massarone’s brother-in-law and had provided security for him and his family when they visited Guyana, the documents say.
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Massarone told the officer that she wanted her brother-in-law dead, and that “because of the preexisting friendship between [the officer] and [Massarone’s brother-in-law], Massarone believed that [her brother-in-law] and his wife would never expect that [the officer] would murder [the brother-in-law],” according to the documents.
The officer told Massarone that he could not do the shooting himself, but that he knew a hitman who “could get the job done,” the documents say.
They communicated over Facebook and WhatsApp, and Massarone sent him a photo of her brother-in-law as well as money via Western Union.
“You take care of business and you be a rich man,” Massarone wrote to the officer, according to screenshots included in the documents.
“I do hope that when we get rid of [your brother-in-law] for you, you don’t roll us over,” the officer replied. “It’s all about trust.”
“Swear on my kids,” Massarone wrote back.
July 24 saw Massarone's brother-in-law and his spouse visiting the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana. During this visit, he alerted authorities that Massarone had allegedly enlisted a hitman to end his life. He revealed, “learned of the hit because [the officer] had told him about it, and that the hit was supposed to take place the next day, July 25, in Guyana,” the documents say
The documents do not specify a motive for the murder plot, but they say that the brother-in-law told embassy officials that he and Massarone “had an ongoing civil litigation matter pending in New York.”
In a phone call on July 25, the officer told Massarone that everything was ready, that he had hired the hitman, and that he had secured a car for the job. He then inquired once again if she solely wished to kill her brother-in-law.
“Just he, just he,” Massarone replied, according to a transcript included in the documents.
The officer told Massarone that the hitman was ready to kill her brother-in-law as soon as he left his house.
“They shoot him from the road, you understand. So why I call you back, you understand, to make sure I let you know everything goes as planned and there is no turning back,” the officer said.
“Right,” Massarone said.
“No turning back.”
But the plan was not executed, because the hitman never pulled the trigger. On July 27, the complaint says Massarone and the officer talked again, trying to figure out what to do next.
“So, who there with them?” Massarone asked.
“Nobody there with them,” the officer said.
“Everything stick the plan. Everything set for today. Everything planned already.”
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The officer told Massarone that the hitman would stage the murder as a robbery, the complaint says. He also told her to act normal after the hit and to “watch the town.”
Again, nothing happened, according to the complaint, which says Massarone and the officer, who seems to have been cooperating with the police, “continued to communicate” until August 16. The complaint says the officer gave his communications with Massarone to U.S. law enforcement.
Five days later, Massarone was arrested. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. She will appear in court again on Sept. 5.
