Murder-for-hire charge lands NLV man in jail

Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.

A 46-year-old North Las Vegas man is behind bars without bail on a charge of interstate murder for hire, federal and local authorities said.

The U.S. Marshals Office in Las Vegas received information on Aug. 31 that a man was trying to hire someone to murder his ex-wife's boyfriend, said Keith Heinzerling, resident agent in charge of the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Marshals sent the information to the ATF's multi-jurisdictional Violent Crime Impact Team, and ATF special agents set up an undercover meeting with the suspect, Heinzerling said.

The undercover special agent, posing as a hit man, agreed to handle the killing for $10,000. The suspect, Josef K. Smith, said several times during the interview that he wanted to continue with the plot, Heinzerling said.

ATF special agents on Tuesday arrested Smith and he was booked into the Las Vegas jail.

Smith appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Larry Leavitt, who charged the suspect with one count of interstate murder for hire and ordered him held without bail on Wednesday.

ATF is the lead federal law enforcement agency in the violent crime impact team initiative, Torres said. Using new technologies, analytical investigative techniques and integrated federal, state and local law enforcement, criminals can be identified, targeted, disrupted, arrested and prosecuted for the most violent crimes in areas of Las Vegas and 14 other cities with high volumes of firearms crimes, said John A. Torres of San Francisco, the ATF special agent in charge.