The murder-for-hire deal went down inside the Edison Diner, a small red-brick eatery off Route 1 in New Jersey, on September 13th, 2009. Joe Passalaqua, a dark-haired 54-year-old with arms as thick as his Long Island accent, scribbled “$30,000” on a piece of paper and slipped it across the table to Chris Kontos, a Greek-American who owned strip clubs and restaurants throughout the state. “Thirty for the three,” Passalaqua said. “I need cash, half upfront.” He also asked Kontos to supply the weapon, “a .357 or a .40-caliber, has to be a revolver. And if you can, get hollow-points.” When Kontos asked how soon the hit could be done, Passalaqua told him, “Within two weeks, maybe sooner.”
Six months earlier, on St. Patrick’s Day, two masked men with guns…
