murder for hire plots, caught on camera. >> we're talking about murder here. >> i know we are. >> in north carolina, a preschool teacher asks a stranger to throw her husband into a power line. >> i know i'm a cold hearted pit bitch. but that's, that. >> a preschool teacher, she's everyone's next door neighbor. >> in new york, a businessman

tries to use murder to end his marriage. >> you know, the only thing i can walk away saying about him, he's a jerk and wanted his wife dead. >> now, go deep inside cases few could imagine. if they haven't been caught on camera. >> you said you want him gone, not walking the earth anymore. you want him dead, it's going to be $20,000. >> "caught on camera" presents "the hitman tapes." > . >> let me tell you what i'm thinking about doing, you tell me what you think. just catch him sometime when he's out in the country and just shoot him with a high-powered rifle. >> december 7th, 1992, 39-year-old phyllis crewell is

captured on a police under surveillance tape meeting with a stranger who promises to kill her husband. >> i'm thinking about shooting, make it lock like a hunting accident. >> i know there are under cover roles that are very complex and difficult to do. >> c.j.hyman is the man seen in the under surveillance video. at the time he's a special agent with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms or atf. >> you don't ever want to blow one of these things that asks a question and they think, why are you asking that question? that question sounds like a police officer. >> on this particular day, the woman seated beside hyman in a k-mart parking lot in charlotte, north carolina, is telling him more than he expects to hear. >> you really thought this thing through? >> seriously thought this thing through. >> you know, we're talking about murtd here. >> i though we are. i know i'm a cold hearted bitch,

but that's. in late 1992, phyllis and her husband had been married two years and live just outside the city in the town of matthews, where phyllis works in the preschool at the first baptist church. >> if you listen to her story, preschool teacher, married, kids, she's everyone's next door neighbor. >> phyllis' 40-year-old husband, jimmy, comes into the marriage with a job as a cable splicer at the telephone company as well as a life insurance policy. >> basically from her descriptions of jimmy, he was a good hard working guy, who other than the fact that she wanted the insurance money and wanted to be away from him had done nothing wrong. >> in '92, i was a detective with violent crimes task force. >> darryl price, a detective

sergeant with the charlotte mechlenburg police force, she heard from her daughter. >> she was very young. i felt very sorry for her in a lot of ways, because she didn't have a lot of parent am guidance. >> in the course of cultivateing his source, detective price has even met the young woman's mother, phyllis crowell. then in november, 1992 the daughter tells price, the mother is making inquiries about hiring a hitman. >> she decided that, a, she didn't want to see her mother murder her stepfather and, b, she didn't want her mother to go to prison for murder. >> but price launches an investigation and contacts the aff about helping the police set up a sting. >> our vice shooter at the time in 1992, there was just nothing. there was no technology. so we utilized the atf technology, which at that time was top of the line, top notch.

>> phyllis' daughter gives her mother a phone number for c.j.hyman describing him as a willing assassin. >> today if i were about to hire a hit person, can you go online, you can run that person. can you see what have they been arrested for. if you have been in prison for murder, chances are you've done it before, you will do it again, in '92, you had to take people at their word. there was not access to the internet. you would literally have to walk into a courthouse and look up c. j.'s information and what a trail your leaving then. >> detective hyman is deliberately given limited information about his target. >> sometimes when you're walking into an under cover job such as a murder for hire, if you know too much, you can actually mess up a lot easier than if you don't know too much. so basically what i would do is just give c.j. some background

on phyllis and let him take it from there. >> on december 3rd, the two have their first meeting in the parking lot-of-charlotte's eastland mall while the support team positions itself nearby. >> the first meet is we'll meet and see what she has to said and see if she is serious about this or if this is blown out of proportion. >> initially, they restrict the eaves dropping to audio under surveillance. >> c.j. wore a wire, the old style wire, tones of wires in it, batteries will die the reception is poor at times. you may or may not be able to record. you may or may not hear it clearly. >> okay, guy, i'm pulling into the mall now. >> ewas trying to give those verbal cues over the radio, so people in under surveillance could tell where i was and what i was doing. all right. i see what i think is the van. i'm going to go over there. >> she said, the only thing i'm

concerned about is being here in this parking lot. she just was scared she might run into somebody she knew there. >> how much you thought about this thing? >> off and on for a year i have been trying to decide what to do without being raising a whole lot of suspicion. >> he said he worked in remote locations, having rural north carolina and worked alone and that it would be easy to have access to carry out the murder. >> it don't really matter, too, if it's an accident, if you throw him into a power line, that's fine. >> what we didn't really realize is that the insurance policy had a double indemnity on it to where if he died in an accident, the insurance was double. so it was a why she wanted him murdered in a particular way. >> yet phyllis also considers framing someone else for the crime, particularly her husband's ex-wife. >> i can give you her address. if you want to plant the gun at

her house, where all this goes to her. good to go. >> if there were such thing as a perfect murder, it's a murder where someone else goes to prison for your crime and by making it appear that his ex-wife is the doer, then you're off the hook completely. >> fill is tells the under cover, she's the sole beneficiary of her husband's insurance policy and expects to receive $200,000 after the murder. >> well, what are you willing to pay on this. >> i was going to leave that up to you. i'd be willing to go up to $100,000. >> that would be half-and-half. >> i'd do it tore. yes. she made a pretty handsome offer. that kind of shocked us. we were thinking the offer was going to be more in the five or $10,000 range, which i think just quite adequate even today's

standards to have someone killed, but thatting the really threw us off. >> what do you got for chat ram? >> chat ram? >> jewelry? >> she didn't seem surprised i was going to need something up front. she said i have $30 in my wallet. she said this money will come through insurance. it will take a little while. well, not many hitmen are going to go for that, okay, i'll do the job, you pay me when the insurance covers it. >> you sure you want to do it? >> i'm positive i want to do it. >> we realized we actually did have a crime going on. we sat down with the prosecutors and said, look, this is what we have. at that point it was decided that what we really need a little bit more, we really need video and audio of this, this whole exchange. >> four days later, investigators will set up a second meeting in another parking lot. focusing their lens on phyllis

as she expand on her plan. >> i have been practicing getting all bent out of shape and everything. >> all right. >> she felt like she could just start crying at the drop of a ha hat. luminous collection. renews surface cells to even skin tone. in just two weeks, see pearlescent, luminous skin. regenerist luminous. olay. your best beautiful.

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. >> charlotte, north carolina, december 7th, 1992. >> if something comes up and it can't happen before christmas, i understand. >> phyllis crowell, a preschool teacher at the first baptist church in the nearby town of matthews talks to an under cover act about a time line for killing her husband, jimmy. >> i think we're both polite with each other, you know, blame it on southern culture. i'm just a good old southern boy. >> c.j.hyman is posing as the

hitman. >> okay, on the van, you got two doors on the back, the left door. >> that's the way you are brought up. whether you are talking about, hey, can you fix my roof or kill my husband, it's just natural. . >> we knew that if she did abc and d that we were going to make the arrest that day. >> cart, mechlenburg police detective sergeant darryl price is a part of the joint task force with the atf, monitoring the meeting from other parts of the shopping center. >> we had a pick-up truck parked with a camera shed on the back. there were several of us in the back of that truck with an old-style vhs type camera. we didn't have hollywood technology. it was just old school using what you had to make the best of a tough situation. >> as phyllis crowell waits in her van, hyman carefully

positions the vehicle in the sight line. >> we have contact with phyllis crowell in the k-mart supercenter. >> we pulled upper nextly so we could see the entire front of his vehicle. >> good afternoon. >> hey there, how are you doing? . >> i was calm, but i think i was a little thrown back when she was so forward, just like talking to your next door neighbor. just talking to a casual acquaintance, never stressed in her voice, a straight forward conversation . >> i still have no inhibitions about it at all. >> you always deal with the issues in cases where you are working under cover when trapment. is this really what you want to do? at that point there was no point in my behind she was serious is there authorities need the

suspect to take some type of action to prove here lethal intentions. >> if you and i are sitting in a bar talking, you made the comment, i'd really like for you to kill my wife? is that a violation of the law? no, it's not. you are probably just talking. they actually have to take that first step. >> at the prosecutor's surks hyman has asked for piece of jewelry as a downpayment. >> you think it's worth? >> 2-grand. >> she hands me the diamond bracelet. you are trying to think, what would i do if i was doing this? i don't know jewelry, i don't know if it's the real thing or costume jewelry, so i felt like i should at least ask. is that real? >> it's real. >> you know i'm going to bring it to someone to look at it? >> if you didn't, i wouldn't be unhappy with you. >> i almost laughed when she said, hey, i'd be disappointed if you didn't get it checked. almost like she was going to bolster me up to say, hey, you are doing a good job.

>> how many people in there? >> my son, my daughter. >> how much does your son know? >> not enough to casual statements like, get me a gun, pete, i'll get rid of him. >> you're sitting there thinking, okay, how weird would it be if one of my parents came to me and my siblings said, hey, i want to kill the other parent. it just sounded like day-to-day, hey, i'm thinking about renting a movie. i'm thinking about killing your dad. >> well, let me tell you what i'm thinking about doing. you tell me if you are comfortable with it. just catch him sometime when he's out in the country and just shoot him with a high powered rifle. it will look just like a hunting accident. i think that was the first thing c.j. threw out, it would have been the simplest, the easiest. no, she wanted other things. she wanted it to appear as an on

duty work accident for him that would have increased the insurance money. >> among her suggestions, sneaking up on her husband alone in the country working for the te telephone company and pushing him on to a live power line. >> what's wrong with him there? hesion sick or something? >> yeah, he got the flu. >> you taking care of him? >> of course, give him tylenol and everything before he went to work this morning. >> she grins when she talks about giving him tylenol. at some point i turned to her and looked a little flabbergasted that she was saying all the. >> we have a school play thursday and our meeting friday. >> how about wednesday afternoon, where are you going to be? >> wednesday afternoon, i can can be at my father-in-law's. >> his father? >> that's a pretty tight alibi?

>> mm-hmm. >> she wanted to know when it was going to happen so she can be with the inlaws exactly when the news came? >> i have been practicing getting all bent out of shape and everything. >> she says, can i play the role of a bereaved widow for three months or so, then i'll start slowly coming out of michelle and be ready to get back into society. >> you know, we're talking about murder here. >> i know. i know i'm a cold-hearted bitch, but life's life. >> i do remember when that was said, all of us in the truck kind of looked at each other, like, wow. >> there's a point where i kind of look away and chuck him. again, it wasn't a funny situation. but it was all kind of just flooring me that she was just so matter of fact about all this that she was saying. >> but phyllis crowell is about to realize, there are serious repercussions to her cavalier remarks. >> i'd say go ahead and take

her. >> as soon as she saw me walk up, knowing what i do for a living. she knew what was up.

. charlotte, north carolina, 1992. >> a little over six. >> how much she weigh? >> 245. >> preschool teacher phyllis crowell sits in a k-mart parking lot describing her husband, jimmy. >> she was willing to pay me $100,000 to kill her husband. >> c.j. hyman is the special agent posing as the hitman. >> when do you want this done? >> soon. >> in training, they pit us in scenarios, for a little while, i almost felt like i was across from a roll player to make me see if i can laugh or crack up. >> how about your daughter, how is she going to handle it? >> she'll handle it real well. >> she thought her daughter was really on board with it and her

daughter wasn't on board with it. >> in fact, it's phyllis' daughter who first tells charlotte mechlenburg police detective darryl price about the plot. not only does he know the young woman's a street source, he's also met her mother. >> i think she kind of saw herself as being this matahairy person that would go out in the evenings and meet with a hitman and do these dastardally deeds, people could be junkies to that type of adrenaline. >> i'll do it. >> i don't want you to get too cocky. >> all right. >> still, phyllis continues to exude confidence about receiving a hefty insurance payment after the crime, writing the hitman a check. >> i'm going to get four $25,000 checks. >> but then i can cash them easier, too. >> why don't you do that, you will have cash for me.

>> okay. >> if i'm really a hitman, am i going to want a check? no, it's traceable. it comes back, it's easy for the police to follow. i want cash. >> i'll try to do it this week. >> sounds good. >> he'll be dead as good as probably thursday afternoon. >> all right. >> all right. >> all right. >> give me about three weeks afterwards and i'll call you. >> okay. >> don't screw it up. >> i will not skrou it up. >> all right. >> he did everything a real hitman would have done. >> i wanted to make sure i got all the things the prosecutor needed. if he can get her to say the full name so there was no question about, i was talking about somebody else, you misunderstood me, something like that. >> what's his full name? >> james fuller crowell. >> all right. >> she gives his full fame. it was almost like it was a relief for me, hey, i've checked

off everything she asked me to get. >> it will be done. >> okay. present it. >> she got out of the car. it was as if she just walked out of a mcdonald's and finished a big mac and said, thanks, i appreciate it. >> there is no doubt in my mind that when phyllis crowell got out of the car that day, she thought her husband was going to be dead by the end of the week. >> the under cover watches film liss walk away towards the department store. then signals the rest of the task force. >> i'd say go ahead and take her. >> i'm already preplanning getting to her before she gets to the door at the k-mart we're not talking about a big tactical take down. there are several agents, they just walked up and identified themselves and basically arrested her on the scone. >> i know as soon as she saw me walk up, knowing what i do for a

living, she knew what was up. >> authorities charge phyllis with solicitation to commit murder. a group of officers are now dispatched to deliver the news to her husband, jimmy. >> i was one of the ones that informed the husband. he did not believe us. he didn't want to believe us. he thought that we had set the whole thing up, that we had coerced her into saying all the things that were said. >> if it's an accident, if you throw him into a power line, that's fine. >> jimmy is so incredulous, he bonds out his wife for $35,000. while prosecutors begin examining the evidence in the case. >> you know, we're talking about murder here. >> i know we are. i know i'm a cold artied bitch, but life's life. >> the defense attorney probably looked at that tape and just told her, how will i defend this? how can i defend you sitting

there with an under cover atf agent telling him you want to throw your husband into a high powered line. you know you are a cold hearted bitch. you know you are talking about murder. i don't know a defense attorney in the country that could have defended that. >> instead of going to trial, phyllis crowell pleads guilty to solicitation to commit murder. in august, 1993, she is sentenced to six years in prison. by the time she emerge, less than four years later, she's estranged from both her husband and daughter. >> to this day, i never talked to her. never had contact with her. >> since her release, phyllis crowell has been convicted of a number of misdemeanor, including writing worthless checks. she did not respond to msnbc's interview request. >> i'll take care of it. >> of course. . >> watching the video, i get to

critique myself. i don't know i'd change a whole lot. again, not so much i did a great job, but so much of it she did herself. >> i have been practicing getting auto bent out of shape and everything. >> all right. >> sometimes the art is shutting up, letting the bad guy talk. >> you still have no inhibitions about it at all. >> coming up >> if long island, new york, a businessman is so eager to end his arranged marriage, he's ready to bring a hitman to his house. >> he was very excited within i said i'm going to twist the knife in her heart. honey, we need to talk about robot butler. look, i love the way he controls the lights and unlocks the door when i forget my keys... it's just that... i feel like he's always watching us. yes, that is why we should use wink. ...look, it can monitor and manage our house but it won't start to develop human emotions.

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businessman in the new york suburb of long island has brought along an unexpected guest. his three-and-a-half-year-old son. >> there is this disconnect. he's talking about leaving his poor child in the car with him without a mother t. coldness of it is just mind boggling. >> okay. i'll give you guys $200,000. two bills. >> you know, he was flashy. he kept trying to prove to me he had this money to pay me. because okay, as a hitman, i want to get paid. >> he is an under cover detective posing as the assassin for hire. >> he kept putting me down as a person like, well, you guys from the street, i'm better than you, i drive a $170,000 car. so if i was really a true hitman, i probably would have been having a problem. >> what i think is, you are not dealing with a guy that lives in a -- i'm living the dream. that's the lifestyle i live.

you're not dealing with a broke [ bleep ]. >> he was make friends with me, insulting me the only thing i can walk away saying he's a jerk and he wanted his wife dead. >> here's the photo santosh provides of his between-year-old wife tina, an accountant at a long island media company. >> they were actually an arranged marriage when they were both teenagers as is very common in the indian culture. curl chourlly, they were identical. >> his bank accounts did show a good amount of money. he did have a mortgage company at the time. they were buying and selling houses. it was '06, so there were a lot of propertys to be bought up and resold pretty quickly. >> apparently, santosh paul wants more. he is caught on tape saying his goal is disposeing of his wife and collecting on a million dollar insurance policy. >> he had an encounter with

someone who introduced him to the whole content of voodoo and took steps to bury certain things in his back yard, that was supposed to help lead to his wife's death. it never went anywhere. he didn't leave it at that. he went to try to find someone else who could kill his wife. >> apparently, he paid a person $2,000 to have him kim his wife and that person scammed him for his money. >> the first guys that he was going to hire, said they were going to spray her with special spray that's going to kill her. i never heard of any such spray and few want somebody dead, you are going to have to kill them. >> santosh continues making inquiries. >> actually, somebody we knew as a police officer when i was getting my haircut came up and told him somebody approached him about killing their wife. so i called my supervisors and told him to set up a meeting.

>> on december 18ing, 2006, the under cover arranges to meet santosh in this mcdonald's parking lot on busy heavenstead turnpike while the support team watches nearby. >> it's like being a set director, like doing a hollywood set, but you only get one take at this, one shot. >> detective leiutenant gregory detweiler oversees the sting. >> the under cover is like an actor. he's the guy that has to sell this. there are street lamps that mcdonald's has at nighttime and there was enough to illuminate the area. i was in a van where we were shooting the video from across the street. >> the informant is told to make the introductions. then let the undercover do most of the talking. >> it had been prearranged the detective was going to sit in

the back seat. that gives him a little bit more control. two of them are in the front. he has a little better handle on what, if anything, would be going on with the two of them >> do you want to have her shot? >> no. >> you want her to be run over in. >> no. >> you want a car accident? >> yes. >> he believed a car accident would be less suspicious than a gunshot. it would be clean and no questions would be asked of him or anyone else. >> but if you hammer her with the car, she could be a vegetable in the hospital for the next ten years, you know what i mean, people go into a freakin' coma. >> have you ever done this before? 12k3w4r6r7b89 . >> we didn't prep it to say there would be a few bodies, he now that was the right verne

kna vernacular to use. >> it's not like i live in a basement with my parents. i have a $600,000 home. i have a $300,000 car. you want me to show you my tax return? >> that is the world that santosh paul lives in, you prove your worth. he does emergency, i have to know you can afford this. >> from the beginning, santosh has been arrogant but fidgety. then about 30 minutes into the meeting, he turns paranoid. >> so your not a cop or anything? >> no, i'm not a cop. >> oh, man, i don't know, i'm getting very nervous. are you wearing a wire? >> no. >> everything's cool. >> for some reason paul said, how do i know your not wearing a wire, let's step out. >> he stepped out of the car and i lifted my shirt.

he saw the wire t. wire was on my person. we don't leak to disclose what we use or what it looks like. >> one of the very experienced detectives said to him, you can't have your gun in a holster. bad guys don't keep their guns in these nice shiny holsters. you take it out and stick it in the front of the pant like a bad guy does, when he picks the shirt up, that's what the defendant sees. >> the under cover has temporarily placated the suspect, whose behavior will remain erratic and unpredictable. >> he gets out of the car, because he has to relieve himself. then his son gets out of the car. it was very bizarre when i saw that. i will take beauty into my own hands...

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long island, new york, december, 2006. as a hidden camera records him in a mcdonald's parking lot, 31-year-old businessman santosh paul tries coming up with a time table for his wife's murder. >> oh, tomorrow is perfect. she's at a party at her job. >> where? where? >> i can find out tonight. >> all right. you got my number. >> yeah, dude, tomorrow's the best time, dude. >> the more we interacted with him, is the more he really showed how bad he wanted her to die. >> gladstone clark is the under cover detective assigned to be the hitman.

santosh claims his motive is simple, sophieing a million dollar life settlement. he promises to pay the hitman when the money arrives and wants him and the informant to drive to his home to look at the policy. >> you want to come to my house. you can see. why don't you come and see? >> you are very anxious. >> i have been trying to do this for a while. >> it will get done this woke. you got to calm down. when you act like that, you make me nervous. >> i will calm down. >> convinced he's finally close to realizing his goal, santosh arranges to continue the conversation with the under cover the next night, without the informant in the same mcdonald's parking lot. >> santosh paul begins to walk away and almost runs back an leans in the passenger window talking to the detective. it almost seems he's afraid they're going to drive away and it's not going happen. >> all right. >> all right. >> the importance with having as

many meetings as you can have, is to establish that this is clearly the intent of the person that you are pursuing, will they have the same conversation the next day? or will they come back and say, you know what, i don't know what i was thinking. i don't want this to happen. >> santosh's resolve remains unshakeable. >> the target is on the set, silver mercedes. >> but when under surveillance cameras catch him driving his mercedes into the lot for the second meeting, police are shocked to discover he's accompanied by his three-and-a-half-year-old son. . . i said, now the kid knows what i look leak, that's a problem. i said, there better be no problem with my money. >> you shouldn't have him see me, bro'. >> he's only three-and-a-half.

>> you have to look at it. we're at pittsburgh donald's, we're together. >> the two quickly reach a consensus, santosh leaves the boy in the mercedes and enters the detective's voke to discuss the murder. for much of the interview, cars pull in and out of the lot, blocking the lens. >> the best thing we had going was the audio feed. it comes through live. so every detective whose in the area in his own car is actually hearing what's going on. >> if you can get this thing done for me, i request always help you out. i got connections. i got connections on wheat. >> he's trying to convince the man, this is the best relationship he entered into. >> this is my plan. tell me how you feel about it. i'm going to follow her a couple days, see her schedule. if i can catch her in the car, walking, i'm driving, 50, 60, miles per hour, i let her and i take off. that's one way. the second thing that i'm

thinking about doing is run ul on her like i'm trying to get her pocketbook, jump in her car, drive off, that's a robbery gone bad with a car jacking. >> she's going to see your face. >> she's going to be dead, i don't care, you know, dead people don't talk. >> suddenly, santosh comes up with what he thinks is an even better idea, assaulting his wife during a day trip to new york city. >> she's going to manhattan, downtown, manhattan! >> all right. that's even better. >> yeah, new york city. >> it is kind of apudzing when he was so excited to remember she was going to manhattan, suddenly, he had figured it out. that's the place to do it. all the bad things happen, not out here. >> i'm going to stick her in the heart. 'cause that way she can't live, that way, she won't live long enough to talk. >> he was very excited when i

said i will twist the knife in her heart. he's like, why? i said, that way, she'll bleed out fast. he was really excited about it. >> this is the deal, usually i charge up front. now you show me your bling the highs car. >> i'm not a showoff, man. >> i didn't say. he is. he is a showoff. if you listen to him on the tape, half the time, he's telling me, about his stuff. . >> don't call me bro', listen to me, bro', listen. >> i hate being called bro'. you know, he kept calling me bro'. so i finally had to address that with him. >> you call me bro'. >> because you just called me bro', man. >> but he wasn'try taining with bro' stuff. because he's just he wanted ob somebody to be friend with. i'll just say that. >> still, the under cover maintains his composure and police believe an arrest is

imminent. until santosh paul does something no one anticipated. >> he put the brake lights on. i can see him shift the transmission. >> a guy was coming, yelling at that point. >> you can't let him get away. you got to take him.

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so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business and get the fastest wifi with the most coverage. comcast business. built for business. december 19th, 2006. undercover detective gladston clark poses as a hitman, gives new york business man santhosh paul to back out of the murder for hire plot. >> it is up to you, man, you can walk. >> let me tell you j, g, whatever your name is, you can do this. this will be the biggest score you ever made. >> when you hear his voice, it

becomes very clear that this is not a situation where he is being led down a path he does not want to go down. he is very emphatic about what he wants. >> for the second night in a row, santhosh has been trying to engineer the death of his wife, tina, a 29-year-old accountant. the meeting takes place in the undercover's vehicle in a busy mcdonald's parking lot, while the couple's three and a half-year-old son plays nearby in the suspect's late model mercedes. >> listen, i'm, i'm for real. >> you're the real deal. >> if i didn't know you, you like straight up like a cop. >> we always tell the undercovers inevitably in these cases, they always ask if you're a cop, or you look like a cop, and they just kind of have to react to it. >> i look like a cop. you're the first person to say that, bro. >> soothed by the detective's

response, santhosh changes topics, boasting he has the resources to finance the hit. >> i want you to know i am a credible person, you're dealing with a credible guy, not some schmuck. >> well, he was, he was a schmuck. he sold himself like he is so respectable, he's this community guy. but the bottom line is he's just a dirt bag. >> even the undercover is startled by the suspect's next move. >> what are you going to go to the car? >> tells me he has to pee, starts paying on the bush right next to the turnpike. you know, a cop is driving by, now we are going to be stopped, talked to, now we're together. i'm looking at this guy, this guy is such an idiot. >> and his son gets out of the car, it was very bizarre when i saw that. >> it was incredible, you know. i didn't shake his hand after that, i tell you that, too.

>> santhosh drives away, promising to come right back with a down payment for the execution. >> we did follow him. he did go to the citibank, and another small corner store to use the cash machine there also. >> still, santhosh promises there will be an even larger payment once he receives his wife's life insurance settlement. to substantiate his claim, he drops his son off at home and returns to mcdonald's with the policy. >> this was the final nail so to speak in the coffin as far as closing this case. >> but santhosh's unpredictable nature will thwart their efforts. with the rest of the support team helplessly looking on, the undercover enters the suspect's mercedes, as santhosh drives out

of camera range. >> i had to get in the car with him at one point, which we really don't like to do, but i felt i was safe and i was in control of the situation, so you know, the boss wasn't happy i had to go in the car, but i did. >> he moved out of the parking lot onto the side street and parked basically in front of my vehicle. we have an obstructed view of the vehicle through the camera lens. but we had plenty of detectives surrounding the area to watch every move. >> you can't make a mess. >> i could see him shift the transmission as if he was going to pull away again. i have an undercover detective in the passenger's seat. we don't know if santhosh pulls on at this point, this is the time to make the arrest. >> get your hands up, now! shut it off, shut it off!

>> they blocked him in, before they were in the car, i was out of the car and gone, like houdini. it felt good we got a job done. but i felt even better when i drove that nice car of his back. really enjoyed that. it was a nice car, really was. >> santhosh paul is charged with solicitation and conspiracy to commit murder. >> we knew about the one insurance policy, the one he brought to the detective. in the weeks after his arrest, we found out there were actually three more additional policies, and he was going to come into $4 million, instead of $1 million we originally thought. that for me capped the greed. this was all about money, nothing else, money. >> nonetheless, after learning of the charges, tina paul chooses to surround herself with her husband's family, rejecting all overtures to help the prosecution.

>> in this case we didn't need her to go forward, we had the crime committed on the tapes. >> you didn't rob her, somebody else had to get beat up, too, you know what i mean? >> rather than face a jury, santhosh throws himself on the mercy of the court, pleading guilty to solicitation and conspiracy to commit murder, receiving a sentence of 5 to 15 years. >> there's always a fascinating dichotomy of someone that's done so well in life yet to be so stupid to think they can get away with something like this. >> from prison, santhosh paul said he wasn't interested in speaking to msnbc unless we paid him. we declined his offer. >> very anxious. >> in all the undercover work i've done, he was one of the most irritating persons i had to work with. just want to put that out there. >> you see again -- >> sometimes people think they're smarter than the person they're dealing with, but i guess this case shows who's the

smart one, and that's it. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. i don't pray with bibles, i pray with false idols, smith & wesson and being suicidal, i have no enemies, just deceased rivals. >> no matter the circumstances that brought them to jail. >> i was walking my dog, had a pistol at my head.