911 Called in Failed Murder-for-Hire Plot

The daughter of a prominent Miami developer calls 911 when she suspects someone is trying to kill her mother.

Alessandra Pino was right.

The FBI confirmed, during a July 17 news conference, a masked gunman knocked at the door of Alessandra's family home in Coral Gables June 23 looking for her mother Tatiana who was at church that Sunday morning.

"There's a guy with a gun, please," Alessandra Pino told the 911 operator.

"What do you mean?" the operator asked. "There's a guy with a gun?"

"Yes, he just pointed a gun at me and they're still here," Alessandra Pino answered in a whisper.

Her father Sergio Pino recruited "two crews" totaling nine men, for $300-thousand dollars, to kill his wife of 32 years so she wouldn't get any money in a bitter divorce, according to U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe.

"Mrs. Pino had to die before their next divorce proceedings," he said at the news conference.

Her attorney claimed Sergio Pino stood to keep between $150,000,000 and $360,000,000 if Tatiana died before their divorce was finalized.

FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Veltri added it was one of several failed hits.

"Our investigation revealed there were multiple attempts on the victim's life to include poisoning, and intentional vehicle ramming, an attempted shooting, as well as two separate arsons," he said.

The shooting attempt was why Alessandra called 911.

"I need to call my mom [to tell her] not to come home [from church]," she told the operator. "I think they may be looking for her."

The plot started to unravel, and the FBI began investigating.

Sergio Pino committed suicide July 16 when the FBI went to arrest him in the murder-for-hire plot.

Nine suspects have been arrested and four of them have been indicted, so far.