PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A plot to kill two prosecutors, a witness and rival gang members unraveled after the man who was supposed to carry out the murders became a federal informant.

Kareem Pires of Massachusetts pleaded not guilty Monday in Rhode Island U.S. District Court to his alleged role in the interstate murder plan. He’s accused of plotting to kill two rival gang members, along with a witness tied to a separate drug trafficking case against Elijah Melton, a co-defendant in the murder-for-hire conspiracy.

“The witness was to be killed with a firearm and the use of a silencer that [Pires] was to have provided,” assistant U.S. attorney Stacey Erickson said during Pires’ arraignment.

Erickson said Melton and Pires are fellow gang members in Brockton and they had also planned to kill two rivals as part of the scheme. Separately, Melton is also accused of plotting to kill two Massachusetts federal prosecutors. Melton is scheduled to be arraigned on July 10.

In a sworn affidavit filed in court, FBI special agent Zach Brune said the plan to kill the five people began months ago after Melton was arrested for trafficking large quantities of fentanyl. While behind bars at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, court records show Melton started talking about how his gang had put out a $150,000 bounty on the life of a witness tied to the case.

Melton then connected with a fellow inmate, who was poised for release and later became an FBI informant. Melton offered the unnamed informant $75,000 to murder the witness. Melton also offered to personally pay the informant to kill two assistant U.S. attorneys in Massachusetts.

Melton and the informant used code words to discuss the murder plot, according to court records, referring to the federal prosecutors as “Hannah Montana” and “Miley Cyrus.”

If the informant ever talked about the artist’s popular songs, such as “Wrecking Ball,” Brune said the men would know they were talking about the planned killings. In the future, if the informant ever told Melton, “I like that song,” it would mean he was moving ahead with the murders, according to court documents.

“I’m done listening to that song” would mean the murder was complete, Brune said.

After FBI agents became aware of the murder plot earlier this year, Brune said they started recording conversations between Melton and the informant inside the detention center. In one recording, Melton said he would detail the plot in a letter he wanted the informant to deliver to Pires, according to court documents.

Pires was then supposed to give the informant information about the witness and gang members, including addresses and details about their clothes. Brune said the letter showed Melton was offering the informant $75,000 to kill one of the rival gang members, or $100,000 for both.

In April, the informant was released from prison and FBI agents said he met in person with Pires in Massachusetts where the conversation was recorded. Pires told the informant “he had been shot at while traveling to the meeting,” and the back window of his Ford Explorer was blown out, according to court records.

Brune said Pires told the informant he needed a couple days to “put together packages” on the rival gang members, which the FBI took to mean pictures and other information so the informant would know who to kill.

Shortly after the meeting, FBI agents said Melton started becoming suspicious of the informant and told Pires to stop talking with him because the informant lied about why he’d been imprisoned at Wyatt.

Communications between the men and the informant ended, and FBI agents suspected Melton started downplaying his knowledge of the murder plot in recorded prison calls.

“I don’t even know half the time what he be talking about, bro,” Melton said during one call, according to court records. Brune said he suspected Melton knew the calls were recorded and was seeking to create the appearance that he didn’t understand what the informant was “saying about the plot.”

The murder-for-hire case was initially filed in Massachusetts federal court. But prosecutors there decided to recuse themselves, as their colleagues were suspected targets in the planned killings.

Prior to the case being moved to Rhode Island, a Massachusetts federal judge ordered Pires held without bail. On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond said a new bail hearing would be scheduled for July 17 because the case was now being decided in a new jurisdiction.

Eli Sherman ( esherman@wpri.com ) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook .

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is Target 12 managing editor and chief investigative reporter and host of Newsmakers for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook .

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