Man Tried to Have 7 People Killed While He Was Awaiting Trial

A Florida man already facing charges for cyber harassment has now been convicted in a twisted murder-for-hire plot targeting his own relatives and the officials prosecuting him.

Anthony Frederick Brillante II, 36, was behind bars in a federal detention center when authorities say he tried to have several people — including his cousin, her family, and two federal officials — killed. According to federal prosecutors, Brillante orchestrated the plot while awaiting trial for bombarding family members in New York with thousands of threatening messages.

Brillante, a former student at Florida International University, was accused of sending tens of thousands of violent and disturbing texts and calls to his cousin and her family, including a 12-year-old child, over a 15-month period between 2021 and 2022. The threats came from hundreds of spoofed phone numbers.

But before he even went to trial for that cyber harassment campaign, prosecutors say Brillante upped the ante — and tried to have the victims and several others involved in his case eliminated.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Brillante was convicted on July 11 of multiple serious charges: attempted murder of a U.S. employee, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, use of interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire scheme, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.

Court documents reveal that in the fall of 2023, just before his cyber harassment trial was scheduled to begin, Brillante began plotting the murders from inside the Miami Federal Detention Center. He allegedly asked an unnamed associate to wire $30,000 to a cooperating witness — money that was meant to fund the hit on his cousin, her husband, their daughter, and two other relatives in Texas.

Things escalated on Oct. 29, 2023, when an undercover FBI agent posing as a hitman met with Brillante in jail. During their conversation, which was recorded, Brillante confirmed he wanted seven people killed — including the federal prosecutor on his case and an FBI agent.

When the undercover agent quoted an additional $10,000 to take out the prosecutor and agent, Brillante agreed. Over the next two days, two payments totaling $20,000 were transferred to the cooperating witness.

Brillante is scheduled to be sentenced on October 1. He was already convicted of the original cyber harassment charges.

This case marks one of the more chilling examples of how far some defendants are willing to go to silence those who stand against them — even from behind bars.