NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man today admitted conspiring to murder a federal witness to protect a drug trafficking enterprise of which he was a member, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Ali Hill, 29, of East Orange, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to one count of a superseding indictment charging him with racketeering conspiracy.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From 2013 to March 12, 2018, Hill was a member of a drug trafficking enterprise responsible for distributing cocaine, heroin, marijuana and fentanyl in and around Newark. Hill became aware that another member of the enterprise was cooperating with federal law enforcement authorities in an investigation into illegal activity. Hill aided other members of the the enterprise in planning the murder of the victim, who was shot to death on March 12, 2018, as the victim walked his dog near a park in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
The count of racketeering conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 3, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited members of the East Orange Police Department, under the direction of Chief William C. Robinson, and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jesse Levine in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephen II, for its assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Frazer and Naazneen Khan of the Organized Crime and Gangs Unit in Newark.