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Disgraced former City Police Officer Valerie Cincinelli (c.) pleaded guilty this week to a single count of obstruction of justice.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Disgraced former City Police Officer Valerie Cincinelli has pleaded guilty to a single count of obstruction of justice in a wild federal case that saw her charged with scheming to employ a hitman to murder her estranged husband and the minor daughter of her boyfriend.
Cincinelli, who worked out of the 106th Precinct, was arraigned in May 2019 on an indictment charging her with two counts of murder for hire and one count of obstruction of justice.
According to the indictment, an FBI investigation revealed that in 2019, Cincinelli demanded that her boyfriend, Howard Beach resident John DiRubba, hire a hitman to murder Cincinelli’s estranged husband, Isaiah Carvalho, Jr., and DiRubba’s 14-year-old daughter, who resides in New Jersey.
DiRubba, 54, turned to the feds for help. Between February 2019 and the present, according to authorities, Cincinelli and DiRubba discussed the murder-for-hire plot both in person, as well as in communications over cell phones; some of said conversations were consensually recorded at the direction of FBI agents. During those conversations, Cincinelli allegedly made it known in no uncertain terms that she wanted Carvalho and the kid dead.
DiRubba told Cincinelli that he knew someone who would kill both of them for $7,000. According to prosecutors, on or about Feb. 18, Cincinelli made a cash withdrawal of $7,000 from a TD Bank branch in Wantagh, L.I., to pay “the hitman.” Bank records confirm the cash withdrawal. Then, Cincinelli gave $7,000 in cash DiRubba to give to the hitman in payment for the murders.
According to federal officials, at the direction of FBI agents, Cincinelli was notified in person at her home that Carvalho had been murdered. DiRubba was with Cincinelli at the time of the notification, outfitted with a recording device at the direction of law enforcement. Almost immediately after the Suffolk County detective left Oceanside, Cincinelli began to discussed her alibi—specifically, what she would tell the police if she were to be questioned about Carvalho’s death.
Then, around 35 minutes later, an FBI agent, posing as the hitman, sent a text message to DiRubba, which included a photograph of Carvalho appearing dead in his car, and a demand for an additional $3,000 to kill DiRubba’s daughter. In response, Cincinelli instructed her boyfriend to delete the text messages and photographs, citing her fear that law enforcement could subpoena the phone.
“The audio and video recordings of [Cincinelli] discussing the murders are extremely strong evidence of her intent to have them killed,” federal prosecutors said of the ex-officer.
Cincinelli was a Domestic Violence officer at the 106 and had been on modified duty, with her firearms removed, since December 2017 after violating several department rules and regulations.
According to a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office, the maximum prison sentence for obstruction of justice is 20 years. Cincinelli will likely serve five years behind bars.
