murder for hire plots caught on camera. >> you know we're talking about murder here. >> i know we are. >> in north carolina, a preschoolteacher asks a stranger to throw her husband into a power line. >> i know i'm a coldhearted [ bleep ]. >> if you listen to her story, preschoolteacher, married, kids, she's everyone's next door neighbor. >> and in new york, a businessman tries using murder to end his marriage. >> the only thing that 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 hadn't been caught on camera. >> you want him gone. >> you want him dead. got to be $20,000. >> caught on camera, presents the hitman tapes. >> let me tell you what i'm thinking about doing and you tell me if you think it'll do it. just catch him some time when he's out in the country and just shoot him with a high powered rifle. >> december 7th, 1992, 39-year-old phil lis is captured meeting with a stranger who promises to kill her husband. >> think about shooting him,

making it look like a hunting accident. >> i know there are undercover roles that are very complex and difficult to do. >> c.j. highman is the man seen in the surveillance video. at the time, he's a special agent with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. for otf. >> you don't want to blow one of these things that that person asks me why are you asking me that question. that question sounds like a police officer. >> on this particular day, the woman seated beside him 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. >> we're talking about murder here. >> i know we are. i know i'm a coldhearted [ bleep ], but life's life. >> in late 1992, phillys and her husband were married two years

and live just outside the city in the town of matthews where she 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. >> her 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 crowell, good hearted 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. >> darrell price, a detective's sergeant with the charlotte police department first learns about the plot from a street source. crowell's 22-year-old daughter. >> she was very young and i felt

very sorry for her in a lot of ways because she didn't have a lot of parental guidance. >> in the course of cultivating his source, detective price says he met the young woman's mother, phyllis, then in november 1992, the daughter tells price the mother is making inquiries about hiring a hitman. >> she decided that hey, she didn't want to see her mother murder her stepfather, and she didn't want her mother to go to prison for murder. >> but price launches an investigation, and contacts the atf about helping the police set up a sting. >> our person back at the time in 1992, it was nothing, there was no technology. so we utilized the atf technology, which at that time was top of the line, topnotch. >> phyllis's daughter gives her mother a phone number for c.j. highman, describing him as a willing assassin.

>> today, if i were about to hire a hit from someone, you can go online, you can run that person, you can see what have they been arrested for. if you've been in prison for murder, chances are you've done it before and you'll do it again. and 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 you're leaving then. >> detective highman is deliberately given limited information about his target. >> sometimes when you're walking into an undercover 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 the two have their first meeting in the parking lot of charlotte's east lynn mall.

while the support team positions itself nearby. >> the first meet was just hey, see what she has to say and see if she's really serious about this or if this thing has been blown out the of proportion. >> initially agents restrict their eavesdropping to audio surveillance. >> c.j. wore an old-style wire. tons of wiring in it, it's got batteries in it. the batteries will die, the reception's poor at times. you may or may not be able to record, you may or may not hear it clearly. >> okay guys, i'm pulling in the mall now. >> i was trying to get those verbal cues over the radio so people that were in surveillance could tell where i was and what i was doing. all right, i see what i think's the van, i'm going to go on 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 that she knew there. how much you thought about this thing? >> off and on for a year.

i have been trying to find someone to do it without being, raising a whole lot of suspicion. >> said he worked remote locations, out in rural north carolina, and worked alone. and that it would be easy to have access to him 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 dependent where if he died in an accident, that's why she wanted him murdered in a particular way. >> phyllis considers framing someone else for the crime, particularly her husband's ex-wife. >> i can give you her address, you shoot him and you want to plant the gun at her house. where it all goes to her. good to go. >> if there were a 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. >> phyllis tells the undercover 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? >> i was going to leave that up to you. i've been willing to go up to 100,000, that'd be half and half. >> i'd do it for that. >> yeah, 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 is quite adequate, even today's standards to have someone killed. but that figure really threw us off. >> what you got? >> collateral? >> any jewelry, anything like

that. >> she didn't seem surprised about wanting something up front. hey, i've got $30 in my wallet right now. >> she said this money's going to come through insurance and it'll take a little while. well, not many hitmen are going to go for that. they're not going to say okay, i'll do the job and you pay me when the insurance covers. >> are 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. 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, focussing their lens on phyllis as she expands on her plan. >> i've 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

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charlotte, north carolina, december 7th, 1992. >> if something comes up and 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 undercover agent about a time line for killing her husband, jimmy. >> i think we're both polite with each other, blame it on southern culture. i'm just a good old southern boy. >> cj hyman, atf special agent at the time, is posing as the hit man. >> you got two doors on the back.

>> that's the way you're brought up, whether you talk about hey, can you fix my roof or can you kill my husband, it's just natural. >> we knew that if she did a, b, c, and d, we were going to make the arrest that day. >> charlotte, mecklenburg police detective sergeant darrell price is part of the task force with the atf, monitoring the meeting from the other parts of the shopping center. >> we had a pickup truck parked with a camper shell 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 puts the vehicle in the camera sight line. >> meeting with crowell in the kmart supercenter in charlotte. >> he pulled up perfectly to see

the entire front of the vehicle. >> hey there. how you doing? >> tired. >> 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 like talking to a casual acquaintance, never a stress in her voice, it was just a straightforward conversation. >> you thought about this thing some more? >> seriously, still have no inhibitions about it at all. >> you always deal with the issues in cases where you work undercover, is this really what you want to do. so at that point, there was no doubt in my mind that she was serious. >> authorities need the suspect to take some type of action to prove her lethal intentions. >> if you and i are sitting at a bar talking, you just made the

comment you know, i'd really like for you to kill my wife, is that a violation of the law? no, it's not, because you're probably just talking. they actually have to take that first step. >> at the prosecutor's suggestion, hyman asked for a piece of jewelry as a down payment. >> what do you think it is worth? >> two grand. >> she hands me the diamond bracelet, you're trying to think what would i really do if i was doing this, i don't know jewelry, i don't know if it is 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 get it looked at. >> yes. if you didn't, i would be unhappy with you. >> i almost laughed when she said hey, i'd be disappointed in you if you didn't get it checked, almost like she was trying to bolster me up to say hey, you're doing a good job. >> how many people in there. >> his 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 how weird would it be if one of my parents came to me and my siblings and said hey, i want to kill the other parent, and it just sounded like day to day hey, i'm thinking about renting a movie, i'm thinking about killing your dad. >> i'll tell you what i'm thinking of doing, tell me if you're comfortable with it. catching him sometime in the country, shoot him with a high powered rifle, just like that. an accident. >> i think that was the first thing cj threw out, it would have been the simplest, the easiest. no, she wanted other things. she wanted it to appear as on duty work accident for him, that would have increased the insurance money. >> among her suggestions, sneaking up on her husband while

he's alone in the country, working for the telephone company, and pushing him onto a live power line. >> what's wrong, sick or something? >> yeah, got the flu. >> taking care of him? >> of course, gave him tylenol and everything before he went to work this morning. >> she grins when she talks about taking care of him, giving him tylenol. at some point i looked a little flabbergasted she was saying all this. >> we have a school play thursday and honor roll meeting friday. >> what about wednesday afternoon? where you going to be? >> wednesday afternoon, i can be at my father-in-law's. no problem. >> his father? >> i would say that's pretty airtight alibi, huh? >> she wanted to know when it was going to happen, so she could be with the in-laws exactly when the news came in. >> i been practicing getting all bent out of shape and everything. >> all right.

>> she says i can play the role of a bereaved widow for three months or so, then i'll slowly come out of my shell, get ready to come back into society. >> you know we're talking murder here. >> i know we are. i know i am a cold hearted bitch, but life's life. >> i remember when that was said, all of us in the truck looked at each other like wow. >> there's a point i look away, chuckle. again, it wasn't a funny situation, but it was all kind of flooring me that she was so matter of fact about this that she was saying. >> but phyllis crowell is about to realize there are serious repercussions to her cavalier remarks. >> i would 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. so what about that stock? sure thing, right?

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>> how tall is he? >> little over six. >> how much he weigh? >> about 205. >> preschool teacher phyllis crowell sits in a kmart parking lot describing her husband jimmy. >> she was willing to pay me 100,000 to kill her husband. >> cj hyman is the special agent posing as the hit man. >> you want it done soon? >> soon. >> in training, they have you role play. for a moment i thought i was sitting against a role play, seeing if they could make me react, crack up or laugh. >> how about your daughter, how is she going to handle it? >> she will handle it really well. >> she thought her daughter was really on board with it, and her daughter wasn't on board with it. >> in fact, it is phyllis' daughter that first tells the police detective daryl price about the plot. not only does he know the young

woman as a street source, he's also met her mother. >> i think she kind of saw herself as being this person that would go out in the evenings and meet with a hit man and do these dastardly deeds. people can be junkies to that type of adrenaline. >> i'm good. >> i don't want you to get too cocky. >> i know. >> still phyllis continues to exude confidence about receiving the hefty insurance payment after the crime and writing the hitman a check. >> i'm going to get four $25,000 checks. >> i'd rather not have checks. >> then i could cash them easier. >> why don't you do that. i would rather have cash. >> all right. >> if i am a hit man, am i going to want a check? no. traceable, easy for the police

to follow. i want cash. >> i am going to try to do it this week. >> sounds good. >> he'll be dead as good as probably thursday afternoon. >> fine. >> all right? >> fine. >> give me about three weeks afterwards and i'll call you. >> okay. >> don't screw it up. >> i will not screw it up. >> all right. >> he did everything a real hit man would have done. >> i wanted to make sure i got all of the things the prosecutor needed, if he can get her to say his full name, so there's no question about i was talking about somebody else, you misunderstood me, anything like that. >> what's his full name? >> gentleman -- james crowell. >> she gives his full name. it was almost like it was relief for me, hey, i've checked off everything she asked me to get. >> it will be done. >> okay. appreciate it. >> she got out of the car, it was as if she walked out of a

mcdonald's, just finished a big mac, said thanks, i appreciate it. there's no doubt in my mind when phyllis crowell got out of the car that day, she thought her husband would be dead the end of the week. >> the undercover watches phyllis walk away, toward the department store, then signals the rest of the task force. >> i would say go ahead and take her. >> i'm already preplanning getting to her before she gets to the door of the kmart. >> we are not talking about a huge tactical take down. there were several agents as she's walk to go the entrance of the store, they walked up, identified themselves, basically arrested her on the scene. >> 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

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 coerced her into saying all the things that were said. >> if it's 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 am a cold hearted bitch, but life's life. >> a 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 undercover atf agent, telling him you want to throw your husband into a high powered line and you know you're a cold hearted bitch and you know we're talking about murder. i don't know of 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's sentenced to six years in prison. by the time she emerges less than four years later, she's estranged from her husband and daughter. >> to this day, i've never talked to her, never had contact with her. >> since her release, phyllis crowell was convicted of a number of misdemeanors, including writing worthless checks. she did not respond to msnbc's interview request. >> taking care of it. >> of course. gave him tylenol and everything before he went to work this morning. >> watching the video, i get to critique myself. i don't know that i would change a whole lot, and again, not so much that i did such a great job, but so much of it she did herself. >> i been practicing getting all bent out of shape and everything.

>> sometimes the art is letting them talk. >> still have no inhibitions about it at all. coming up. >> very anxious. >> in long island, new york, a businessman is so eager to end his arranged marriage, he is ready to bring a hit man to his house. >> he was very excited when i said i'm going to twist a knife in her heart. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you have enough money to live life on your terms? i sure hope so. with healthcare costs, who knows. umm... everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor.... can get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today.

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hi here's the hour's top stories. investigators stopped looking for bodies with the germanwings plane crash last month. 150 people were on board. the search for personal belongings and debris removal, that still continues. new york and connecticut governors lifted bans on state-funded trips to indiana. this was after a new version of abe's religious freedom law was signed.

the original law allowed discriminations against gay people. the new version does not allow that. now back to "caught on camera." let me tell you, jay, g, whatever your name is, telling you one thing. if you do this, this will be the biggest score you ever made. >> december 2006, a 31-year-old arrives to plan the murder of his wife. >> stick her in the heart that way she can't live no matter what, so she won't live long enough to talk. >> but a successful businessman in the suburb of long island has brought along an unsuspected guest. his three and a half-year-old

son. >> there is this disconnect. he's talking about leaving his poor child without a mother. the coldness of it is mind boggling. >> okay, i'll give you guys $200,000. two bills. >> he was flashy, tried to prove he had this money to pay, because as a hitman, i want to get paid. >> this undercover detective is posing as assassin for hire. >> put me down as a person like you guys from the street, i am better than you are, drive $117,000 car, you know, if i was really a true hitman, i would have been having a problem. >> you're not dealing with a guy that lives the dream. >> he was trying to make friends with me, he was insulting me, he was all over the place. the only thing i can walk away saying about him is he's a jerk and he wanted his wife dead.

>> here's the photo santhosh provides of his 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. their families were very close, culturally they were identical. >> his bank accounts did show a good amount of money, that he did have a mortgage company at the time. they were buying and selling houses. it was '06, there was a lot of properties to be bought up and resold quickly. >> apparently santhosh paul wants more, is caught on tape, saying his goal is disposing of his wife, and collecting on a million dollar insurance policy. >> he had an encounter with someone who introduced him to the concept of voodoo, and took steps to bury certain things in his backyard, that was supposed

to help lead to his wife's death, it never went anywhere, and 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 kill his wife, and that person scammed him for his money. >> the first guys he was going to hire said they were going to spray her with a special spray that's going to kill her. i never heard of any such spray. if you want somebody dead, you're going to have to kill them. >> santhosh continues making inquiries. >> actually somebody knew i was a police officer when i was getting my haircut came up, said somebody approached them about killing their wife. so i called my supervisor and told them to set up a meeting. >> on december 18th, 2006, the undercover arranges to meet him in this mcdonald's parking lot on busy hempstead turnpike, while the support team watches

from nearby. >> it is like being a set director, like doing a hollywood set, but you only get one take at this, only get one shot. >> detective lieutenant gregory detwiler oversees the sting. >> the undercover is the actor, he's the guy that has to sell this. >> there are street lamps that mcdonald's has at nighttime, 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 that the detective was going to sit in the back seat. that gives him a little more control if 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.

>> maybe you could make it like a robbery. >> no. >> a car accident. >> he believed that a car accident would be less suspicious than a gunshot, it would be clean, no questions would be asked of him or anyone else. >> what guarantee, she could be a vegetable in the hospital the next ten years. people go into a coma, you know what i mean? >> have you ever done this before and can you do it? i don't want to be nosey in your business, but -- >> you wouldn't prep him to say i have a couple of bodies, you just knew that would be the right vernacular to use. >> a recurring topic, the suspect's ability to subsidize the hit. >> it is not like i live in a basement with my parents, i have a $600,000 home, drive a $90,000 car. i have the income to back it up.

what else do you want, my tax returns? >> no. we ain't talking about all that now. >> that's the world that santhosh paul works, he does mortgages, bring your tax returns, i have to know you can afford this. >> from the beginning, he has been arrogant but fidgety. then 30 minutes into the meeting turns paranoid. >> you're not a cop, are you? >> no. >> i'm getting very nervous. are you wearing a wire? >> seriously, no wire here. >> for some reason, paul said how do i know you're not wearing a wire, let's step out. >> we stepped out of the car and i lifted my shirt. he saw no wire. the wire was on my person, we don't like to disclose what we use, what it looks like, anything like that. >> one of our very experienced

detectives in the d.a. squad said to him you can't have your gun in your holster because bad guys don't keep their guns in nice, black, shiny holsters. you take it out, stick it in the front of your pants like a bad guy would. so when he picks his shirt up, that's what the defendant sees. >> the undercover has temporarily placated the suspect, whose behavior is erratic and unpredictable. >> gets out of the car to relieve himself, then his son gets out of the car. it was very bizarre when i saw that. wow. sweet new subaru, huh mitch? yep. you're selling the mitchmobile!? man, we had a lot of good times in this baby. what's your dad want for it? ..like a hundred and fifty grand, two hundred if they want that tape deck. you're not going to tell your dad about the time my hamster had babies in the backseat, are you?! that's just normal wear and tear, dude.

(vo) subaru has the highest resale value of any brand... ...according to kelley blue book ...and mitch. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. e plane and thought... yeah! empty seat next to me. and then i saw him, slowly coming down the aisle. one of those guys who just can't stop talking. i was downloading a movie. i was trying to download a movie. i have verizon. i don't. i get that little spinning wheel. download didn't finish. i finished the download. headphones on. and i'm safe. i didn't finish in time. so. many. stories. vo: join us and save without settling. verizon.

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long island, new york. december, 2006. >> how quick can you get this done? >> as a hidden camera records him in a mcdonald's parking lot, 31-year-old business man santhosh paul tries coming up with a timetable for his wife's murder. >> oh, going to a christmas party. >> where? >> at her job. >> i could find out tonight. >> you have my number. tomorrow's the best time to do it, dude. >> the more we interacted with him, the more he really showed how bad he wanted her to die. >> gladston clark is the undercover detective assigned to portray the hitman. >> if it would have happened that day, he would be happy. >> santhosh claims his motive is simple, receiving a million dollar life insurance settlement. he promises to pay the hitman

when the money arrives, a wants him and the informant that introduced him to drive him home to look at the policy. >> you want to come to my house, come to the house and see. >> you're very anxious. >> i been trying to do this. >> calm down. when you act like that, you make me nervous. just calm down a little bit. >> convinced he's finally close to realizing his goal, santhosh arranges to continue the conversation with the undercover the next night, without the informant, in the same mcdonald's parking lot. >> santhosh paul begins to walk away, almost runs back, leans in the passenger window. talking to the detective. it almost seems like he's afraid they're going to drive away and it's not going to happen. >> all right. bye-bye. >> 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're 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. >> santhosh's resolve remains unshakeable. >> target is on the set, silver mercedes. >> but when surveillance cameras catch him driving his mercedes into the lot for the second meeting, police are shocked to discover he is accompanied by his three and a half-year-old son. >> let him play and we can talk. >> i said now i know what your kid looks like, now he knows what i look like, that's a problem. better be no problem with my money. >> shouldn't have him seeing me, though, bro. >> he is only three and a half. >> you got to think the way i look at this thing, man, we go to mcdonald's, we're together. >> the two quickly reach a consensus. santhosh leaves the boy in the

mercedes, and enters the detective's vehicle 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. every detective that's in the area in his own car is hearing what's going on. >> if you need anything, i can help you out. i got connections. i used to be a trader on wall street. >> he is trying to convince the hitman this is going to be the best relationship he entered into. >> tell me how you feel about it. follow her a few days, see her schedule. if i can catch her with the car walking, i'm driving 50, 60 miles per hour, i hit her, and i take off. that's one way. the second thing that i'm thinking about doing is run up on her like i'm trying to get her pocketbook, jump in her car

and drive away, robbery gone bad with a carjacking. you understand what i'm saying? >> yes. >> you know, she going to be down, you know, dead people don't talk. >> suddenly santhosh 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 to the indian embassy. >> okay. all right. that's even better. >> yeah, new york city. >> it is kind of amusing when he was so excited to remember she was going to manhattan. suddenly he had figured it out, that's the place to do this because all the bad things happen in manhattan, not out here. >> i'm gonna stick her in the heart, because that way she can't live no matter what, won't live long enough to talk. >> he was very excited when i said i am going to twist a knife in her heart. he is like why? i said that way she will bleed out fast. he was very excited about that.

this is the deal. usually i charge ten grand up front. you show me your bling, you have a nice car and house. >> i'm not some show off, man. >> yeah, he is, if you listen to the undercover tape half the time, he's telling me about his stuff. >> stop calling me bro, listen to me, bro. >> i hate being called bro. he kept calling me bro. i finally had to address that with him. >> you just called me bro, man. >> he was irritating me with the bro stuff. he wouldn't be somebody i would be friends with, i'll just say that. >> still, the undercover maintains his composure and

december 19, 2006. undercover detective gladston clarke poses as a hit man and gives long island, new york, businessman santos paul one more chance to back out of a murder for hire ploth. >> it's up to you, man, you can walk. >> i'm telling you one thing, if you do this, this will be the biggest score you ever made. >> when you hear his voice, it becomes very clear 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, santos has been trying to engineer the death of his wife tina, a 29-year-old accountant. the meeting takes place in the undercover vehicle in a busy mcdonald's parking loath while the couple's three and a half-year-old son plays nearby in the suspect's late model mercedes. >> listen, i'm for real. . >> we always tell the undercovers inevitably in these cases they always ask if you're a cop or you looklike a cop and they just react to it. >> soothed by the detective's response, santos switches topic, boasting he has the resources to finance the hit. >> i want you to know i'm a credible person, you're dealing

with a credible guy, not some shmuck. well, he was. he was a shmuck. he sold himself like he's so respectable, this community guy but the bottom line is he was just a dirt bag. >> yet even the undercover is startled by the suspect's next move. >> i need to take a piss, bro. >> right by the car? >> right here. >> tells me he has to pea, he starts being in the bush right on the turnpike you know, a cop drives by, now we're going to be stopped and talked to and now we're together and i'm looking at him like this guy is such an idiot. >> then his son gets out of the car and it was -- it was very business saizarre when i saw th >> it was incredible, i didn't take his hand after that, i tell you that, too.

>> santosh then 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 then went to another small corner store to use the cash machine there also. >> still santosh 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, like, closing this case. >> but his unpredictable nature thwarts efforts to make a quick arrest. >> let's go around the corner. we've been sitting here for a long time. >> with the rest of the support team helplessly looking on, the undercover enters the suspect's mercedes as santosh drives out of camera range.

>> i had to get in the car with him at one point this we really don't like to do but i fell like i was safe and in control of the situation. the boss wasn't happy i had to go in the car, but i did. >> he moved out of the parking lot on to 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 match. >> right. >> i can see him shift the transmission as if he was going to pull away again. i have an undercover detective in the passenger seat and we don't know if santosh pulls on at this point. this is the time to make the arrest. >> they blocked him in, before

they were at the car i was out of the car and gone like houdini. i felt good that we got a job done but i felt even better when i drove that nice car of his back. i really enjoyed that. it was a nice car. it really was. >> santosh 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 that there were actually three more additional policies and he was going to come into $4 million instead of the $1 million that we originally thought. that for me capped the greed. this was all about money. not guilty else, money. >> nonetheless, after learning of the charges, tina paul chooses to surround herself with her husband's family, rejecting all overtures to cooperate with the prosecution. >> in this case, we didn't need her to go forward, we had the crime committed on the tapes.

>> somebody else has to get beat up, too, you know what i'm saying? >> rather than face a jury, santosh throws himself on the mercy of the court, pleading guilty to solicitation and conspiracy to commit murder and receiving a sentence of five to 15 years. >> there's always such fascinating dichotomy, if you will, of someone who has done so well in life yet they can be so stupid to think they can get away with something like this. >> from prison, santosh paul said he wasn't interested in speaking to msnbc unless we paid him. we declined? >> you're very anxious. >> because i've been trying to do this. >> in all the undercover work i've done, he was the most irritating people i had to work with i just want to put that out there. >> you treat me like an amateur, man. >> sometimes people think they're smarter than the person they're dealing with. but i guess this case shows

who's the smart one. that's it. terrifying accidents. >> oh, that is horrible. good lord. >> up in the thin air. and on the high seas. when danger calls, they are the ones to answer. >> we had him out in seconds. >> seeing this incredible act of instinctive heroism was just amazing. >> amazing acts of courage. >> i asked the man upstairs to help me. >> it was the obvious thing to do. it was the human thing to do. >> lives hanging in the balance. >> i thought he was just knocked unconscious.