May 2 :
The attempted hire of a contract killer to kill the ex-wife and her lover led to the sentencing of a Boston man on April 25, 2024. United States District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin handed down a 92-month prison term and a three-year supervised release order to 47-year-old Mohammed Chowdhury. A guilty plea from Chowdhury was entered on two counts of using interstate commerce facilities to commit murder-for-hire in January 2024.
Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, stated, "Anyone willing to hire a hitman to kill a once beloved family member and her new boyfriend is clearly a danger to the community." A violent crimes task force within the FBI in Boston fortunately foiled this heinous plot. Because everyone's safety is more important than the lives of violent offenders like Mohammed Chowdhury, today's punishment guarantees that he will be unable to cause harm to anyone for quite some time.
An anonymous source informed authorities in November 2022 that Chowdhury had asked for help in assassinating his ex-wife. The source claimed that Chowdhury had hired a hitman, but that the hitman had absconded with the client's money. Afterwards, Chowdhury informed the person that he needed the murder done immediately and that he would find a way to pay for it, even if it meant robbing a store. In order to discuss Chowdhury's murder-for-hire scheme, the person gave police his phone number, and then an undercover agent masquerading as a contract killer used it.
Chowdhury sought assistance in assassinating his ex-wife and her new partner from undercover agents representing the contract killer and their associates on multiple occasions between December 2022 and January 2023. In these conversations, Chowdhury detailed his ex-wife's refusal to allow him visit his children, his displeasure with her tendency to think for herself and her exposure to Western culture, and his desire for the undercover agents to rob and assault his ex-wife and her boyfriend in order to clear his name.
Then Chowdhury inquired, "So how are we going to make his, uh, body disappear?" and declared, "No proof." Absolutely no proof. You don't have any proof that I did something, do you?" Chowdhury gave the undercover agents personal information on his ex-wife and her partner, including photos, addresses, and schedules of their homes and places of employment. With a $500 down payment, Chowdhury finally agreed to pay $4,000 for each murder.
On January 17, 2023, Chowdhury met with the undercover agents, handing over the $500 deposit and confirming his desire for the killings to be carried out. Feds quickly detained Chowdhury after that. Chowdhury faced charges in Boston Municipal Court - Roxbury Division in October 2019 for allegedly breaking an Abuse Prevention Order that forbade him from touching, abusing, or being within a specific distance of his ex-wife, according to court proceedings. Without a finding, Chowdhury was granted a continuance after pleading sufficient facts.
