Pair set to face murder-for-profit charges

NEW YORK, May 7 (UPI) -- Two men face charges in New York that they masterminded four killings to collect $1 million in insurance payouts.

Insurance agent Richard James and his alleged accomplice, Ronald Mallay, are accused of arranging a series of killings during a six-year period to collect on insurance policies taken out on their victims, the New York Daily News reported Monday.

The pair allegedly began their blood money scheme in 1993 with the killing of the husband of Mallay's sister, Betty Peter.

Peter has already been convicted on charges related to the death of Vernon Peter and is among those scheduled to testify during the men's federal court trial.

Defense lawyer Kenneth Kaplan has argued by using witnesses who may have been involved in the plot, the prosecution is basing its case on compromised testimony.

In an earlier trial, prosecutor James McGovern addressed such accusations with a simple statement.

"When a plot is hatched in hell," he said, "don't expect angels for witnesses."