Florida Woman Claims She Was Just Acting in Police Undercover Murder-For-Hire Video
— -- On a grainy undercover police video, Dalia Dippolito is seen getting into a car with a man she had never met before -- a man she believed, police say, would kill her husband for her.
But what she didn’t know at the time was that the “hit man” was actually an undercover police officer named Widy Jean with the Boynton Beach, Florida, police department.
“I’m going to tell you how I’m going to do it and what exactly is going to get done,” the undercover officer is heard telling Dippolito in the 2009 video. He then goes on to say that he would break into their house and her husband “gets two in the head.”
“Between now and when it’s done, you know, you’re not going to have an opportunity to change your mind,” the undercover officer continues.
“No, there’s no like-- I’m determined already, I’m positive, like 5,000 percent sure,” Dippolito tells him. “I’m a lot tougher than what I look. I know you came here, and ‘oh what a cute little girl’ or whatever, you know, but I’m not.”
Prosecutors used this undercover tape as part of their case against Dippolito, accusing the south Florida woman of trying to hire a hit man to kill her then-husband Michael Dippolito.
She was convicted of solicitation to commit first-degree murder in 2011, but her original conviction was thrown out. She is scheduled to be re-tried next May.
Dalia Dippolito spoke for the first time about the case in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ “20/20” while on house arrest. Her new defense attorneys, Mark Eiglarsh and Brain Claypool, wouldn’t let Dippolito talk to “20/20” about certain parts of the case because it was a pre-trial interview. But Dippolito denies ever wanting Michael Dippolito killed and claims she did not hire a hit man to carry out a murder plot, that it was all fake.
Armed with a new defense team, Dippolito claims she was just acting and that she, her now ex-husband and a friend set up the whole murder-for-hire video in hopes of posting it on YouTube and gaining reality TV fame. Meanwhile, the reality TV show “COPS” was filming with the Boynton Beach police department on the day of her arrest.
“Now with the attorneys that I have, so much is coming to light to where it would just be insane to not believe me,” she said.
When Dalia Dippolito first started dating Michael Dippolito, he was still married to another woman. Dalia described him as a “charming” and “really engaging” man.
“I felt a really strong connection,” she said.
But what Dalia Dippolito said she didn’t know at first was that Michael was a paroled felon out on probation.
“After months of being together, his probation officer showed up at our home. I had no idea who it was,” Dalia Dippolito said. “When he told me he just completely downplayed everything... I wouldn’t have dated him if I had known.”
Years prior, Michael Dippolito had been in prison for fraud after scamming investors out of almost $200,000 and he is on probation until 2032. Michael told “20/20” that Dalia knew about his past and that he was on probation.
A few months after they met, Michael Dippolito got a divorce and married Dalia five days after it was finalized. But just six months into their marriage, police claim she wanted him dead.
