the whole time there are shoppers in the parking lot. >> and she's plotting to kill someone. >> murder for hire in america. >> on your lunch break. tonight, an all new killer "20/20." "murder for hire." for the first time, the men hired to kill coming forward as a group. >> the sooner you could kill the better? >> yes. >> tonight david muir riding shotgun on real-life cases, jaw dropping surveillance cameras you'll only see here. husbands who want to kill their wives. the suburban soccer mom who wants the other woman off the earth. >> i wouldn't care if she was in a horrible, horrible, horrible car accident and mangled up. >> but here's the secret -- the

hitmen they're hiring are really undercover federal agents. so as you sit down with "20/20," how many of you are in disguise? >> tonight, "20/20," inside the elaborate plots, the makeup, and when they get what they think they paid for, dead spouses, watch them smile. >> done. >> what they really get is busted. >> she says she is living a lifetime movie? >> yeah. >> now she is living "20/20." >> and you'll see it all go down. "murder for hire." here's david muir and elizabeth vargas. tonight, a stunning network exclusive. for the first time a group of hit men coming forward together and sitting down with "20/20" and they have a giant secret to reveal. >> these hit men are actually undercover federal agents, and who's hiring them?

tonight exclusive surveillance video from the suburban soccer mom with specific instructions to the other case of a husband with a plot of his own. and you're about to see it all unravel. >> reporter: in every corner of america right now, people with criminal minds and black hearts are plotting, looking for someone to do their dirty work. a scorned lover, husbands who want their wives dead, women who want their husbands taken out. even children plotting against their own parents. >> she tried to hire a hit man to kill her father. >> reporter: tonight, we go inside the secretive and very real world of murder for hire. just listen to this wife. >> what do you want done? >> i want him more than hurt. >> i understand you want him dead? >> yeah. >> reporter: then there's this massachusetts husband who wants it done and quickly. >> i'm not playing any kind of games here. all i want is mission accomplished. you take care of business and we go our separate ways. >> reporter: and the michigan wife who wants her husband gone and doesn't care how ugly it gets. as long as it's not in the house. >> so you don't want it done in the house then? >> 'cause it would be messy in the house.

>> reporter: all of them ordering a hit like most of us order dinner tonight. in fact, listen to this number. in just the last month alone, more than 30 cases of murder for hire making national headlines, one a day. those are just the cases we hear about. and then there's guillermo vasco, the young husband who married a pretty doctor from massachusetts. and what you're watching is the surveillance video of him about to hire a hit man to kill his wife. >> my wife betrayed me. >> i'm gonna make it look like she disappeared. >> exactly. >> he wants her killed and buried ten feet under. >> how soon did he want her dead? >> as soon as possible. >> do you want it to be painful or do you want it done quick? for her. it's your money. >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: ken is the hitman hired by guillermo and tonight he's not the only one coming forward. a group of his comrades, all men hired to kill, boarding planes, getting into their cars and on their way to sit down exclusively with "20/20." but these men all have a secret.

they are undercover federal agents with the atf posing as hit men. they meet us at atf headquarters in washington, d.c., where we have makeup artists waiting. >> just this morning. >> they sit down to have their appearances completely changed. >> i'm feeling my feminine side coming out. >> oh, there's nothing feminine about the brows i'm about to give you. >> you're not going to want to wear that out tonight. >> reporter: prosthetic noses. cheeks. facial hair. the disguises the only way they can truly reveal what it is they do. jeanne marie laskas knows the stakes. she's reported on their hidden werld for "gq." >> this is really extreme cop work, heroic cop work that the public does not know about. >> you've got 30 minutes. >> reporter: our clock rolls and after more than three hours they are ready. we have never seen an entrance quite like this. walking in to sit down with us. gentlemen, good to see you.

welcome. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: the agents offer up first names only. jose? >> yes. >> reporter: and? >> i'm lenny. >> reporter: lenny? your real name? >> real name. >> ken. your real name? >> yes. >> your real hair? >> no. >> so just a show of hands. how many of you are in a disguise today? all but one in disguise. lenny the only one no longer working undercover. their appearances so transformed, so over the top, even these hardened agents are humored. i mean, when you look in the mirror with that getup, does it shock even you? >> yes. yes -- >> reporter: but -- but those are the stakes? >> right. >> reporter: did any of you send a photograph to your wife? >> i sent a photograph. >> yes. >> reporter: one agent tried to facetime with his wife and baby boy right before our interview. >> he just had this crazy look on his face like he didn't know who i was. >> who's my daddy. >> right, exactly. >> reporter: as for ken's wife? >> a cross between a biker and a lion.

>> reporter: and while the disguises may look comical, the very real danger these men face is no laughing matter. 'cause you'll be back on the street tomorrow? >> yes. >> what do they want in a hit man? >> someone to carry out the job. i mean, you're not in the yellow pages. there's no phone number, no post on craigslist. it's a business like so many others that thrives on referrals. which brings us back to that husband, guillermo vasco, who -- while behind bars started asking around for a good hit man to kill his beautiful wife. but how does he want her killed? >> slowly. he wants her to suffer. >> he says that? >> yes. >> reporter: and why? it turns out guillermo vasco came all the way from ecuador to america to marry that wife, a massachusetts doctor he'd met while she was visiting his country. they would have a baby together. but authorities say when the wife started to see behavior that worried her and wanted out of the marriage for good, he

showed up at the door to win her back. when she says, "we're not getting back together?" >> he kneeled down in front of her and out of nowhere took a piece of duct tape and put it right over her mouth and had a knife. and he said, "you have to listen to me." >> reporter: sergeant sheila mcdaid says he attacks her, their 2-month-old baby right there. >> he had a five gallon can of gasoline with him and he said, "this house is where all our problems started and this house is where it's gonna end. we're - - we're all gonna die. we're gonna go to heaven today." >> reporter: she wasn't supposed to get out there alive? >> they were going to die that day. >> reporter: but she breaks free and escapes with her baby. guillermo is arrested. now sitting in prison a year after that arrest, and he is still working to kill her. she thought it was behind her, though, didn't she? >> yeah. she thought that he's going to be put away for a long period of time. but when asking around for a good hit man, guillermo makes a critical mistake and asks

another inmate, a snitch, who tipping off authorities with the atf. how do you get wind that he wants to hire this hit man? >> i had a confidential informant in the jail, someone provided reliable information in the past for us. initially wanted both the wife and the infant daughter killed. we developed a plan that we're going to have an undercover special agent pose as a hit man and go into the jail and meet with vasco one-on-onercl" face-to-face.dii;8st.gs ken, wearing a hidden camera, sitting right across the table from guillermo as that husband pulls out a letter he'd written using a special code in case it ended up in the wrong hands. he talks about his wife as a? >> old dog. >> and the infant as a? >> puppy. >> reporter: so he's talking about his family as a couple of dogs? >> yes, exactly. >> reporter: and he says the old dog is -- >> too old. won't be able to make the trip. nikki is very old and she's sick.

she won't survive the trip. we need to put her to sleep. >> reporter: and that's code for? >> kill my wife. >> kill my wife? >> yeah. >> reporter: and incredibly, listen as he offers instructions right down to how he wants her buried. >> if we can bury her out of massachusetts, would be just perfect. >> yeah, you know, probably go north. because maine, not many people up there, lots of woods. >> uh, so yes, uh, just make sure that the body be more than ten feet down. >> so she doesn't show up again. >> do not forget the cement. >> i'm going to make her go away and she is not going to show up again. do you really want her in cement? >> yes. >> to keep her down? >> yeah. >> reporter: when somebody hires a hit man, they're looking for someone who's going to encourage the job, go along with it. >> yes. if they say, "you know i want them, you know, their throats

slit and buried over here," you get that conversation, you may throw out another idea like, "well, what do you think about this?" i'm a hit man. i have to have ideas. >> what do you think about putting her in the water, though? in the water they disappear. she goes in, you load her into one of those drums, you know weigh them down, get them down they get eaten, there's not much left. you know? >> i think i like that. >> reporter: done. she'll be killed in the woods, stuffed into an old drum and dumped at sea. watch as the husband goes over pictures of the wife's house where she's now raising their baby. and then pulls out his own hand-drawn floor plan to help the hit man. and now, the money. what does he offer you? >> he offers me a rare coin collection that he said was worth thousands of dollars. >> reporter: and this whole thing is being recorded? >> yes. >> reporter: outside those prison walls, agent matt o'shaughnessy hears the plot, the payment, but it turns out he wants more. so, you're about to take this much further? >> yes. >> reporter: you won't believe who they are about to enlist for help. so you approach his wife? to put her husband away for good. she wanted to nail her husband?

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before we continue with tonight's "murder for hire" we want to go to our news desk. just coming in the very latest on the missing malaysian flight 370. >> thank you, david. i'm dan abrams at abc headquarters in new york with breaking news on the mystery of flight 370. the associated press reporting that a malaysian official claims a hijacking is not just a theory anymore, it is conclusive. they're saying one of the pilots or someone else with flying experience hijacked the missing jet. the malaysian prime minister speaking publicly pour the first time since the plane vanished seven days ago is expected to confirm this news in a press conference moments from now. u.s. investigators had already concluded that the plane was steered off course not by a catastrophic system failure, but by human hands. international search and rescue teams are still hunting for the missing plane. please stay with abc news for the full story there will be more coming up on "nightline"

with a special west coast edition and plenty more to report on gma in the morning. as always, we're online at abcnews.com. we now return you to david muir and "20/20." "20/20's" "murder for hire" continues. once again, david muir. >> reporter: already behind bars for trying to kill his wife, guillermo vasco is still trying to finish the job. he's hired a hit man, or so he thinks, to silence her for good, and he knows exactly how he wants it done. >> he wanted her to suffer before she was killed. and he wanted to know the last thing she said before she died. >> reporter: so, he didn't want this fast? >> no. >> reporter: he's going to pay for this murder with his coin collection. he wants her shot, stuffed in a barrel, dumped at sea, but he wants cement. he even brings up the laci peterson case, saying he doesn't want to make the same mistake as that guy scott peterson. >> but i don't want to have happen what happened with this guy peterson. >> nah, i know what you're talking about. >> he was an idiot.

that's not how i do business. >> i said, "do i look like an amateur?" "i am an expert." "the body will never be found." >> reporter: but that hired gun ken is actually working undercover for someone else -- the atf, along with agent matt o'shaughnessy on the outside, about to pull the trigger on a plot of his own even more colorful than guillermo's. so you approach his wife? >> we did. >> reporter: and what did you ask her? >> i told her of the plan that her ex-husband, or soon-to-be ex-husband, wanted her killed. >> reporter: was she surprised? >> shocked. >> how long was it before she said listen, i'm in. i'm going to help you. >> within minutes. >> she wanted to nail her husband? >> she did. >> reporter: so what did you do? >> we had hired a movie makeup artist to make her up like she had been shot, something straight out of the movies. >> reporter: so we go to the very same apartment in this quiet massachusetts suburb where the police have a small field office. none of the neighbors knowing that behind this door that wife was getting a makeup job she would never forget. detectives help us reconstruct

that day with a stand-in for the wife. so, as she's sitting in this chair, the makeup artist is crafting a bullet wound in her forehead? >> yes. >> and -- and what is her demeanor? >> very quiet, you know, just kind of going along with everything. >> she knew what she was doing? >> yeah. she had to do it. she really had no choice. for the safety of herself and her child, she knew that she had to do it. >> reporter: with a lifelike bullet wound right in her forehead, fake bruises and scratches on her hands mrs. vasco and sergeant mcdaid drive to the woods for a scene straight out of a horror movie. mrs. vasco looking so graphic they have her cover herself with a hood, afraid they would frighten other drivers. so, she wore a hood to cover up the make-up while you were driving? >> yeah. >> reporter: because people who looked in the car would think you'd just beaten her. remember guillermo wants his wife murdered deep in the woods, which is right where they're headed. >> we came down here.

walked down this path. >> reporter: so this was the area you had selected? >> yes. >> reporter: so you bring her out here, and you ask her to do what? >> well, she was asked to lay in different positions. >> reporter: again they help us reconstruct the screen with that stand-in. >> to make it look like a struggle. >> reporter: you actually took her shoe off? >> yes. >> reporter: and mixed her in with the leaves? >> mixed her in and -- and then she laid there and had her -- had her picture taken as if she had been killed. >> reporter: it was the performance of her life, but in the end too close to home. >> right when it was all done, she just let go and she cried and -- and really she -- she just released every emotion. >> reporter: and it's not over yet. now armed with those grisly photos of a dead wife, it's time for ken to go undercover again as the hit man. so, you've got these photographs now and you're headed back to the jail. how realistic do these images look to you?

>> very realistic. they -- i mean, it looks like this person was tortured, beaten and murdered. >> reporter: ken is now back at that prison about to show guillermo what he's done. and when you show those images to him? >> i tell him, "well, listen, you know, it's done, and here it is." and i slide a picture across the table and show it to him. >> reporter: and just watch right here, the smile beginning to appear on gullermo's face. >> this sick grin comes across his face. no remorse, no nothing. it was just pure evil. it really was. there was joy and evil in his face at the satisfaction of knowing that she was dead. >> reporter: what did he say? >> he wanted to know that i let her know that this was for guillero. >> reporter: he wanted you to say that? >> yes. >> "this was for guillermo"? >> yes, and i told him that's exactly what i did. >> reporter: and take a closer look right here as that husband casually looks at the photos of his dead wife. at one point, we hear him ask about the hole in her head. >> what's this? >> so, how do you like the work? >> speechless. >> reporter: he wanted to know

if that was a bullet wound? >> yes. he nodded in approval. >> reporter: he nodded in approval that you'd shot her in the head? >> yes. >> okay, so this is a good day for you. everything is moving forward. i made sure she realize it was from you. >> thank you. i really appreciate the job. wish i could see it. i mean, be there. thank you. >> he gave him an undying respect and loyalty for what he had done. >> reporter: so, there was no question he was pleased? >> no question whatsoever. >> reporter: he thought his plan was carried out? >> yes. >> reporter: armed with everything they need, the undercover team about to return to that prison with their own surprise for guillermo. >> good seeing you, man. >> reporter: at first telling him his wife has disappeared. >> he denied any knowledge of where she could be. >> reporter: was he concerned at all that his wife was missing? >> no. he didn't show any emotion towards it. >> he kept saying he didn't do it. he didn't know what they were talking about, and so they decided to bring me in. >> reporter: and when you walked into that room with your badge hanging around your neck? >> you could just see his shoulders slump, his head kind of drop down. he was shaking his head.

tears started coming out. and he knew he had been had. >> where were the tears for his wife? >> there were no tears for his wife. those tears were for him. he realized he was going to jail for a long time. >> reporter: good work. and as for the wife who had long ago washed that gruesome make-up off her face, she was finally ridding herself of the husband who had hoped that bullet hole was real. >> she saw the video. i mean, she saw it, you know? >> she saw her husband? >> yes. >> reporter: look at those photos and smile? >> uh-huh. she did. >> reporter: still a doctor, still raising that daughter. >> i can't say it enough. she -- she really -- i mean, she's a hero and -- she's just an amazing woman, very -- very strong. >> reporter: she figured a way out? >> she did. >> reporter: when we come back -- caught on tape in broad daylight. the soccer mom -- right there in a supermarket parking lot -- shoppers walking right past her -- with no idea what she's plotting from inside that car. >> i know i've watched one too many lifetime movies.

i just want to make sure you're not like an undercover or a federal agent. >> reporter: what she wants done and how. >> do i want someone to just come up and take her out? do i want me to go into the house with my silencer and take them all out? >> reporter: and what she does that stuns the agents -- when we come back. sometimes for small audiences. sometimes for a full house. we perform solos, improvs, even miracles. with over 50% more awarded and highly rated appliances than anyone else, sears helps you perform your best by giving you the best. like kenmore, the most awarded brand in the industry. sears. performance starts here. but when we put something in the ground, feed it, and care for it, don't we grow something more?

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"murder for hire" returns with david muir. >> reporter: across the hudson river from new york city, the part of new jersey known for neon and noir. the version of jersey made famous by "the sopranos" and the mob boss who called the shots. but the plot we're tracking tonight is about to play out in broad daylight with a much different boss calling the shots.

right there on surveillance, that's nicole faccenda, a suburban soccer mom, and a scorned lover. sitting in a supermarket parking lot, unsuspecting shoppers pushing their carts right past her. so she's doing a little shopping, and then she's comes out to meet with the hit man. >> yes. >> reporter: because that's what most people have on their grocery list? >> she did. >> reporter: shopping for flowers, she says, but cops believe she's in the market for murder. >> hi, how are you? >> have a seat. >> reporter: plotting revenge on the other woman. >> so what can get done? you can just make her disappear? you could -- what could get done? >> when you say disappear, you want out of this [ bleep ] state or you want her, you know -- >> basically you're saying you could just go break her legs or you could go -- >> exactly. >> do anything? >> reporter: and who is she trying to hire? you'll remember our hit men who are, in fact, undercover federal agents, who've agreed to it down with us as a group for the first time ever. but to do it, they spend hours getting disguised, among them an agent we're calling jose. covered in a sort of goo before as he gets a brand-new appearance. they make a mold.

and from there, they build new features for his new face. the same agent who would sit in that car with that scorned lover. >> i don't want to keep beating around the bush. but hurt or dead, either or. >> reporter: and it turns out, it's not just her first time. this is his first time as a hit man. and he takes us to where it all began. we rigged a car to avoid showing his face. how did she get to this point where she wanted to kill another woman? >> she was angered at the fact that he was leaving her, and she wanted her dead because she wanted to get back at him. >> reporter: nicole's bad breakup, smiling here with that limo driver boyfriend, but that boyfriend with a double life. a few exits down the parkway, he has another girlfriend named jennifer, a nurse. and it turns out another family. two children with her. >> she's just a [ bleep ] who's been involved -- i think she's like 30 years old. she's got two kids there. you don't want to hear the whole [ bleep ]. >> reporter: but she wants the boyfriend to live? >> she wants him to live because she wants him to grieve. >> reporter: she wants to watch him suffer? >> yes.

>> reporter: nicole in the lonesome corner of a love triangle. and nobody puts nicole in a corner. a little grocery shopping, a little homicide, just the cure for a broken heart. >> i've played every scenario through my head a million times. do i want the car to go off the highway? do i want someone to just come up and take her out? do i want me to go into the house with my silencer and take them all out? like, i go to sleep every night thinking of these things. >> reporter: she goes to sleep at night, wrestling with how to murder the other woman. but wide awake, just a few cars away in that supermarket parking lot, federal agents listening to her every word. among them, agent angela mullins. so she has no idea that as she's talking to the hit man you're right here in the same parking lot, listening to the whole thing. >> no clue. >> reporter: and what are you listening for? >> to show that she wants to carry this through. >> reporter: so you're listening to make sure she really wants to kill this guy? >> absolutely. >> reporter: for days, every secret meeting, every phone call, every text message intercepted, and all of it given exclusively to "20/20."

so the whole time there are shoppers in the parking lot, and there's a murder being planned. >> she's plotting to kill someone. >> reporter: murder for hire in america? >> on your lunch break. >> reporter: but nothing in that car is what it seems. the guy in the backseat right there, he is the man who introduces nicole to the hit man. so she's thinking of the darkest person in her life, the person who might know a hit man out there. >> yes. >> reporter: ironically, the guy she relies on for help is a relative of her ex-boyfriend. and she asks him what? >> she asks him if he knew someone that is willing to kill someone for her. >> reporter: he knows right where to find her a hit man, because what she doesn't know is that he's long been an undercover informant for the feds. >> you just tell him the scenario and he'll get it done, no [ bleep ], que sera sera. >> reporter: what's going through your mind when the person across from you wants someone killed? >> you just wanted to yell at her, "what's wrong with you? and you, you have to sit there with your poker face. and, "okay, if this is what you want done, this is what i'm going to do." >> reporter: suddenly the first test for that first time hit

man. she thinks he looks more like a cop than a killer. >> she told me i didn't look like a hit man. so my question to her was "what's a hit man look like?" >> reporter: you look like one today. >> yeah. today i do. >> reporter: nicole, appearing very nervous, leaning far away from jose, only her hand in view at this point, and jose tries to reassure her. >> okay. scott said you had a problem with somebody and i'm here to take care of your problem, but what is it you want me to do with your problem? >> okay. i don't know. fix my problem, i guess. >> how do i fix your problem? you tell me what you want me to do and i can see to it that it gets taken care of, but -- >> how is it going to get taken care of? >> reporter: and watch right here as jose is about to be interrupted, soon looking down at his phone. >> she's going to do something to you, so you want to do something to her in return? >> reporter: he's reading a text, and it's actually help from those agents listening from a nearby car, now coaching him. but listen to how he explained it to that suburban soccer mom, saying it's just his friends texting.

>> asking to go out for beer. >> we listen in as jose goes down his mental checklist -- right here offering the standard hit man disclaimer, her out. >> you've got to be serious about this [ bleep ] too. you know what i mean? because once it's done, it's done. there's no turning back. you understand that. >> reporter: and while nicole may be new to this life of crime, she's a quick study. because as it turns out, she's seen a lot of tv. >> i just want to make sure you're not like an undercover or a federal agent. >> okay. >> and like all of a sudden, cars are all over. if i get arrested, i'm -- i'll lose my job. >> reporter: and just listen to what she says next, fearing she's a star in the making. >> and i know i've watched one too many lifetimes. i'm in a horrible, horrible -- >> lifetime? >> i've watched too many lifetime movies. >> this is about tv now? >> reporter: so she says to you she feels like she's living a lifetime movie? >> yes. >> reporter: now she's living a "20/20." >> yes. >> reporter: are you worried at this point this thing could go down the tubes because she is so suspicious? >> she's looking around, looking for cameras, and at first that is a little bit unsettling.

>> reporter: and nicole is not only suspicious, in that supermarket parking lot, she demands a price check. >> and so do you have like a price list? >> if you want her dead, it's going to be five up front and five at the end once it's completed. >> that's it, ten? >> yeah, give me ten. she thought my price was too low. >> reporter: she thought you were a cheap hit man? >> yes, she actually did. she raised the money. it was funny. >> reporter: you guys got to talk about your rates -- >> i know, really. >> reporter: watch as nicole leaves the car with a smile on her face, laughing, after the deal she got at the supermarket. when we come back, you'll hear from the soccer mom now describing exactly what she wants done, stunning even the agents. >> i want to go [ bleep ] on her grave. i want to go to her funeral and spit in the casket. >> reporter: and then the most critical moment of all and suddenly she's missing. and you're waiting and you're waiting and she's not here. agents fearing, has she done something on her own? when we come back. activia tummies,

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once again -- david muir and "murder for hire."

>> reporter: a sunny afternoon in broad daylight, and at the top of one shopper's list, the murder of the other woman. "20/20" given exclusive access as federal agents listen in just a few cars away as nicole faccenda plots the murder of her romantic rival. but so far, she is cautious and careful with her words. >> you know what i want. i want to be dressed in black. i'm not saying it. >> say what? >> i'm not saying it. >> reporter: the hit man, really that undercover federal agent, now wondering, does the suspect, suspect? >> and i'm sorry that i'm crazy, watching too many lifetime movies. >> that's all right. >> reporter: but they keep going, and two days later, another parking lot, another conversation. >> see i, like, would think that she disappears and is never found, like these people that are never found. that would be one good thing.

i wouldn't care if she was in a horrible, horrible, horrible car accident and mangled up and, you know, i don't care, like, gone. i want to [ bleep ] on her grave. i want to go to her funeral and spit in the casket. i will be happiest when this woman is dead, buried and six feet under. >> reporter: but nicole is now digging her own grave. and when asked, what to do with the ex-boyfriend? it turns out, kill the woman, keep him. she says get rid of the woman? >> you know, shoot him in the foot or something. >> i don't want him hurt, but if he's limping around, if he has a cast on, who cares? >> reporter: she wants to see him suffer, she wants to see him at the other woman's funeral. but perhaps darkest of all, listen to this, when asked what to do if the other woman's children get in the way. >> i don't give a [ bleep ]. okay, let me tell you, and don't think i'm a bad person -- >> okay. >> but if something happened and one of the kids got killed, oh well, i'm sorry. you know what? >> reporter: so if the kids get in the way? >> take 'em out. >> reporter: take 'em out. kill 'em. >> yep. >> reporter: she agrees to pay $20,000 for the murder. and look at this, authorities

giving "20/20" the photo she texted to make sure they get the right woman. and then she texts the picture of the girlfriend? >> yeah, it doesn't get any more serious than that. >> reporter: and you'll remember the husband in the last case, he wanted proof, a picture of his wife shot in the woods. in this case, they offer nicole the same thing, a photo, but she doesn't want any kodak moments. she wants something else. >> i can get him to give you a picture of her dead, finished. >> i don't want a picture. we're gonna get busted with a picture. i don't want any pictures. i'm going to go to the funeral. >> reporter: she wants to go to the funeral. >> she wants that satisfaction, knowing what she's done, and kind of savor it, which is quite sick. >> reporter: now, they need just one more thing to nail her, the cash. they set a meeting place. you're right here at the olive garden, people are having dinner, like most people would at the olive garden and you're waiting for her to show up with the cash. >> right. >> reporter: and you're waiting and you're waiting, and she's not here. >> and she's not here.

>> reporter: and no sign of her. >> no sign of her. >> reporter: suddenly, stood up by their dinner date, concerns racing theriault heads. has she changed her mind? does she now want out of that lifetime movie? or worse, has she taken action on her own? they finally get her on the phone. >> hey, where are you? >> reporter: and where had she been? her son's soccer game. so you get her on the phone. >> get her on the phone. >> reporter: and where is she? >> she's over at the exxon. >> reporter: over here. they learn she's just a few 100 feet away. >> okay, he's moving. he's going to go now. >> reporter: the agents scrale. their wires, their cameras out of position. >> listen, he's going to have to walk over to the exxon station. >> reporter: but the informant, the bagman, gets to the gas station to fill 'er up. she hands you the envelope and what's inside? >> her down payment, cash. >> reporter: how much cash? >> $2,000. >> reporter: basically it's a down payment on murder? >> it's a down payment on murder. >> reporter: you've got her. >> yep. >> 8:36 p.m., special agent alongi. this concludes the undercover meet. >> reporter: two days later, the informant calls nicole to tell

her the other woman is dead. >> listen to me. listen to me clearly. jennifer is dead. >> no way. >> jennifer is dead. >> reporter: but the other woman, of course, is very much alive, and now in protective custody, told by agent mullen someone wants her killed. >> pulled over her vehicle and informed her that there had been a threat against her life. >> reporter: and what did she say? >> and the first thing, as she was shaking, that came out of her mouth was that -- is it nicole? >> reporter: she knew who it was? >> she knew who it was. >> reporter: the other woman? >> the other woman. >> reporter: agent mullen takes us to the hotel restaurant where nicole manages the catering, in charge of the baked goods, having no idea what they've baked up for her. she has no idea you're about to move in. >> no, no clue. >> reporter: they send the confidential informant in first, wearing a tiny camera, and watch right here, her reaction. >> not cool. >> reporter: and outside she lets loose. >> i can't believe you did this to me, don't show up here. that's not cool.

>> reporter: she was actually annoyed that the man who was helping her kill the other woman had now shown up at work. she says she can't believe it, and she doesn't believe he did the job. >> i don't believe either one of you. at this point, i don't believe either one of you. >> reporter: moments later, she is arrested. so after you lock her up, you talk to her. >> yes. >> reporter: does she have any remorse? >> none at all. >> reporter: and the tears in the backseat of the police cruiser, were they for the girl she tried to have murdered? >> they were only for herself. >> reporter: and tonight, from a federal prison in west virginia, where that soccer mom is now serving ten years after pleading guilty, she is reaching out to "20/20" in an e-mail, accusing the feds of baiting her. "i was at an emotional low point in my life and they took advantage of that." she says, "i am not, and never have been, a violent person. i was a woman destroyed by emotions and i am paying for it dearly." but that hit man, reminding us, in that car, in that supermarket parking lot, he gave her several outs.

>> i want to make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into when you want this done. >> reporter: and when you look back on that rookie case? >> she got honestly what she deserves. >> reporter: when we come back, could you ever do this? the job no one would take, and the one undercover hit man about to say yes. trading his family and his home for what could be months behind bars. the only thing protecting him, those surveillance cameras. and you won't believe what happens to him when those cameras suddenly go dark. when we come back. ♪ ♪ wow. [ female announcer ] sometimes all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special. now discover the smooth, creamy side of werther's

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>> reporter: ask any of these hit men, these undercover agents, and they'll tell you by the time it gets to this -- >> you want him dead? >> reporter: time is running out. in many cases, the clock is ticking. >> the clock is definitely ticking. >> reporter: because you know that person's life is in danger. because if they don't hire the fake hit man, they'll hire a real one.

in every case, these men putting their own lives in danger. but, there was nothing quite like this -- as i understand it, several agents turned this job down. >> they did. i don't blame them. >> reporter: because to save the next target, lenny has to give up his gun and do something extraordinary. but, not before doing trading his wife and two children at home and instead moving in some place else, the warren county lock-up in eastern virginia, posing as an inmate. his new home, overcrowded. and filled with criminals. >> murder, rape, robbery, arson. >> reporter: and all of a sudden, you're in prison with all these guys. >> now i'm in prison. >> reporter: you were prepared to be there for how long? >> months. >> reporter: and here's why. the moment that started it all. look in the driver's seat there. a drug dealer about to be busted. >> all right, got a white suv on location. >> that's him. >> reporter: the person getting in on the other side, a federal informant dave jackson who is buying drugs and helping the

feds nab the bad guy. >> all right, by the time you get back, i'll be calling you. >> reporter: the drug dealer is arrested, and now behind bars, he is fuming. he wants that snitch in the passenger's seat wiped off the earth. if he can get the federal informant killed, then he's scot-free? >> he's scot-free. he gets out of jail. >> reporter: the bad guy needs a hit man to get the job done. and when the feds hear that that drug dealer now behind bars is asking other inmates does anyone know a hit man, that's when they decide to send lenny in as a fake inmate, a fake hit man. and just look at the photo we brought our the interview. so this is lenny, huh? >> that is lenny. >> reporter: they laughed. but, most wouldn't if they ran into someone who looked like this. his beard grown. wearing shackles and wearing his new uniforms. here in his orange jumpsuit and posing as a hit man serving some time, but to be go free. the story is, he'll soon be

available to kill again. lenny will never forget what they did to him moments after that door slammed shut. because, remember, even the guards don't know lenny is not a criminal. >> as we were getting ready to do the strip search, that's when i thought, "i didn't think this through. i didn't think this all the way." >> reporter: you didn't sign up for that. >> i didn't think this through. >> reporter: 20/20 going behind those walls, through the locked doors, straight to the cells where lenny was thrown in with the criminals. do you still remember the moment you walked into this place? >> yes, i do. >> reporter: what was going through your mind? >> as soon as that door closed you know, i was in it to win it at that point. >> reporter: you booked him? >> i did book him. he was just normal. >> reporter: he was normal, a normal criminal. there is no bed for lenny, and he has to steal a bunk from another inmate. so you have 40 or 50 inmates sharing the space with you? >> exactly. you can hear the inmates just over the wall here. and you had to find your own bed? >> yeah, i just had to displace somebody else and take their bed to make theirs mine. >> reporter: displace somebody

else? >> right. >> reporter: remember, lenny is here because that drug dealer somewhere in here wants to hire a hit man. but lenny knows in order to nab him, he must now live the life of an inmate. so, this is where you were showering? >> this is exactly. >> reporter: give me an idea of where you're going to the bathroom. >> i'm using a communal toilet like this one right here. roar the toilet is right here on camera. >> right here on camera. >> reporter: in front of everyone. including the security guards watching on surveillance. inside we see some of the inmates have calendars scratched on the wall, crossing the off the days until freedom. the whole time, lenny wondering, when his freedom would come. >> you're hoping you're not going to end up the little spoon in a weird situation. >> reporter: as a metaphor. >> yeah, as a metaphor. >> reporter: his worries soon replaced with adrenaline. word comes that the bad guy, the drug dealer jr hackley, knows there's now a hit man behind bars right there with him. and just listen to what he's been told than hit man. >> this guy has got bodies hanging on him. >> reporter: this guy's got bodies hanging on him, means you -- >> means i've killed people in the past.

>> reporter: and hackley says? >> hackley immediately contacts me. >> reporter: and what does he say? >> i need this guy taken out. i'm like, "well, what do you mean by taken out?" "i need him gone forever; i need him, you know, eliminated." >> reporter: and you're thinking -- >> i'm thinking this is a home run. >> reporter: but, in this high stakes game, a sudden curve ball. because, while all the guards and inmates believe lenny is a real criminal, he knows the one thing protecting him are the surveillance cameras. but, then a huge storm hits. everything, every one of those cameras knocked out. suddenly these cameras go dark. >> so i'm in here without cover, without any backup. >> reporter: but, incredibly even in the dark, listen to how quickly things move. he meets the criminal. he plays the role of hit man, and he's hired for the job. how is he going to pay you? >> with a motorcycle. >> reporter: and within hours that cover team gets him out. now all that's left is the murder. he's off to the murder scene. and right there waiting, the guy he's supposed to kill.

the federal informant that was once sitting in that passenger seat buying the drugs, nailing the drug dealer, now talking to "20/20." in order to convince him that you were dead, they concocted a plan? >> they came to me and said, "look, we're going to fake your death." >> reporter: but, even before federal agents can give him the script, direct the scene, he turns out to be quite an actor. >> i said, "i -- i got this." >> reporter: he tells them what a drive-by shooting should look like. >> i was laying down, something like this. >> reporter: and this is the photo they took, proving the hitman had done his job. the snitch snuffed out. and look at this. as proof that they killed him. they take that photo and insert it, putting it on to the front page of a real newspaper, giving it a headline. "unidentified man found shot to death." and they're about to take that newspaper to the criminal who wants him dead. and just listen to what he says when he reads it. >> i owe you my life, you know i do. >> reporter: a proud drug dealer staring at a headline, now staring at 25 years in prison because of it.

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