PA Man Sentenced In Murder-For-Hire Plot Targeting NJ Prosecutors, Judges

ATLANTIC COUNTY, NJ — A Philadelphia man was sentenced to prison on Friday for his role in a murder-for-hire plot targeting several New Jersey prosecutors and judges, state officials announced.

Steven Smink, 62, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 95 years in New Jersey state prison for planning to kill multiple government officials, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. Smink was convicted in August of five counts of first-degree attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and multiple weapons charges.

He was sentenced following a trial before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Joseph Levin.

"The sentence handed down today is appropriate for this defendant, who planned to kill public servants for doing their jobs when they convicted him for previously committed crimes,” Platkin said. “Thanks to the excellent investigative work by state police and prison officials, his murder-for-hire plot was discovered before anyone was harmed."

Smink was convicted of conspiring with others from January 2018 to December 2020 to kill Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, First Assistant Prosecutor Harold Shapiro, two superior court judges and an assistant prosecutor. All were involved in his 2014 conviction for arson charges, officials said.

Smink, the former owner of a South Jersey bowling alley, was previously sentenced to serve 15 years in state prison for orchestrating a plan to burn down a rival bowling alley. Two Philadelphia residents accused of starting the fire also pleaded guilty.

In April 2019, while Smink was serving his sentence in Northern State Prison in Newark, New Jersey State Police received information from the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness that Smink had hired a cooperating witness in late 2017 and early 2018 to help him carry out a murder-for-hire plot.

Investigators learned that Smink originally hired a member of the Latin Kings gang, who was also imprisoned, to carry out and execute the murders. The Latin Kings member died before carrying out any act for the murder-for-hire plot, officials said.

Smink then contracted with the cooperating witness to find a hitman as he oversaw the transfer of sports memorabilia to pay for the hits.

Webb-McRae, who was one of Smink's targets, addressed the judge during Smink's sentencing.

"I signed up for my job," she said. "And as the front-facing symbol of my office, it could be argued that I knew the risks when I did. But Judge, my family didn’t. My neighbors didn’t. My church family didn’t. And when they read that someone was arrested in a plot to kill me, they feel a little less safe spending time in spaces where I am present."

The charges came following a joint investigation between the New Jersey State Police Central Intelligence Unit and the New Jersey Department of Corrections SID, with assistance from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.