Washington Heights Man Hired Hitman For 3 Murders, Feds Say

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A Washington Heights man is facing charges for hiring a hitman to murder three people, federal officials announced Wednesday.

Joel Rosquette, 50, was arrested Wednesday and charged with three counts of murder-for-hire, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York said. Each count of murder-for-hire carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, prosecutors said.

"As alleged, Rosquette commissioned a hitman to carry out three murders on his behalf. In the end, he was fooled by the merits of his own plan," FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said in a statement. "Today, we foiled this murder-for-hire scheme, sparing three innocent lives a most unfortunate fate."

Rosquette hired a hitman to murder two people living in his Audubon Avenue apartment building and the owner of a gas station in Staten Island, according to a federal criminal complaint. The desire to have his neighbors killed stemmed from Rosquette's belief that the man was dealing drugs from his apartment. The other man Rosquette wanted killed was the building's superintendent, who he believed covered for the drug-dealing neighbor.

After falling short on cash for the murders, Rosquette arranged for the hitman to murder a gas station owned in Staten Island and use money from the businesses' safe to pay for the other murders.

The hitman that Rosquette had been talking to was an undercover FBI agent, according to federal prosecutors.

"Joel Rosquette attempted to hire a hitman to murder two of his neighbors in Manhattan and the owner of a gas station in Staten Island," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement. "Now, thanks to the dedicated work of our partners at the FBI, Rosquette’s plan has been foiled, he is in federal custody, and his intended victims are safe."

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