Everett man pleads guilty in murder-for-hire scheme
An Everett man pleaded guilty Friday to a murder-for-hire scheme in Boston’s federal court. Joseph Burke, 52, is charged with using facilities of interstate commerce in commission of a murder-for-hire. If the court accepts his plea, he will be sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. His arrest comes after an extensive federal investigation in which an undercover FBI agent expressed his desire to hire Burke to murder an individual who works in the “club industry” at his office in New York. According to the criminal complaint, the investigation into Burke’s murder-for-hire scheme began on St. Patrick’s Day in 2015, when Burke told an undercover agent he needed money and asked the agent for information on wealthy people to rob. He then added that he would be willing to kill the husbands of wealthy women as well. “I’ll do this all day long,” he said, according to court documents.
The undercover agent expressed concern that Burke might go back to jail. Burke had previously served time for robbery and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
He then added: “So you might know somebody who wants to get rid of a husband… that I’ll do all day long. For a price, all day long. Not a problem.”
In September 2015, the undercover agent presented Burke with a target in New York. Burke told the agent to book him a hotel room under a pseudonym, adding that he had “no qualms with doing it.”
“I’m gonna f–king shoot him in the head… F–king gonna hit him right in the f–king derby. Three in the derby and three in the chest,” said Burke. Burke then told the undercover agent to purchase realistic-looking masks. Burke told the agent that he had already got a weapon and assured him it would be “quiet.”
“I’m going to walk up; I’m gonna stick it in his mouth; I’m gonna say, ‘Listen, this is for Mike,’” Burke said, according to the documents.
At the time of his arrest on Oct. 9, the undercover agent had given Burke $2,000 as an advance for the plot, and promised he’d receive more than $100,000 after the killing.
Burke is expected to be sentenced on November 15. His attorney Jessica P. Thrall was not immediately available for comment.
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