DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
District of Massachusetts

For Immediate Release

Thursday, March 23, 2017
William D. Weinreb
, United States Attorney
Contact: Christina DiIorio-Sterling

Boston Man Sentenced for Murder-for-Hire Plot

BOSTON – A Boylston Street gang member was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with attempting to hire a hit man to murder another gang member.
 
Jaime Rivera, 21, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release.  In November 2016, Rivera pleaded guilty to one count of using the mail or the telephone with the intent that a murder-for-hire be committed, and one count of distribution of cocaine.  His co-defendant, Frandys Ortiz, 24, was previously sentenced to eight years in federal prison and three years of supervised release. 
 
Beginning in October 2014, Rivera and Ortiz sold firearms, ammunition, heroin and cocaine to a witness cooperating with federal law enforcement agents.  On July 4, 2015, the two men were involved in a shooting with another gang member.  Shortly after the shooting, Ortiz told the cooperating witness that he wanted the other gang member to be murdered in retaliation for the July 4th shooting, stating that he would pay the cooperating witness, “if the [gang member] dies.”  During a separate recorded meeting, Rivera told the cooperating witness “there’s bread for you … if he dies.”  Ultimately, Rivera agreed to pay the cooperating witness $2,500 in exchange for murdering the gang member, cautioning the cooperating witness, “I don’t need any leg shots bro … if you gonna do leg shots, don’t even do it.” 
 
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb and Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Y. Hemani of Weinreb’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
 
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Boston Field Division