Dalia Dippolito: 5,000% Guilty | #427

Summary

RedHanded Podcast Summary

Episode: Dalia Dippolito: 5,000% Guilty | #427
Date: November 27, 2025
Hosts: Alina Urquhart & Ash Kelly

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Overview

In this episode, RedHanded hosts Alina and Ash deep-dive into the sensational case of Dalia Dippolito—dubbed the "Boynton Beach Black Widow"—and her plot to have her husband, Mike Dippolito, murdered in 2009. Blending dark humor with true crime analysis, the hosts dissect how this story of narcissism, manipulation, and reality TV theatrics unfolded, why it captured the public’s attention, and what it reveals about coercive control and pathological lies. While nobody dies in this case (as the police intervene with a spectacular sting operation), Dalia’s “5,000%” commitment to the murder plot—and her stunning ability to lie in the face of overwhelming evidence—make this a wild ride from start to finish.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Scene Setting: South Florida Trash & Glamor [03:27–06:12]

• Hosts describe the backdrop: Boynton Beach, Florida—a setting they liken to "Jersey Shore" and call “trashy” (but with love).
• Main players introduced:
  • Dalia Dippolito: Described as sultry, manipulative, and obsessed with luxury.
  • Mike Dippolito: Gym bro, ex-con, at heart a "teddy bear" who got swept up by Dalia.
• Alina quips: “If I had to give one word to this case, it’s trashy.” [03:35]

The Sting: Cops, Cameras, and Fake Crime Scenes [06:49–10:41]

• The infamous televised hoax is outlined: police fake Mike’s murder; Dalia must perform as a grieving widow (caught by TV cameras).
• Audio of the "grief-stricken" Dalia, immediately suspected as “calculated and fake,” is played. [08:28–09:36]
  • Sergeant Ramsey, trying not to smile, delivers the ‘bad’ news; Dalia’s sobs look hammy.
• The investigation becomes “theatre”—as the cops hope for an on-camera confession.

Who is Dalia Dippolito? The Making of a Narcissist [10:41–13:13]

• Dalia’s family and upbringing detailed: Egyptian Muslim dad, Peruvian Catholic mum, strict upbringing, early signs of manipulation.

• She avoids conventional work for escorting, running scams, and “weaponizing” her sex appeal.

  Quote: “If anyone ever deserved the title of gold digger, it’s Dalia.” – Alina Urquhart [12:06]

• Mike was the “biggest catch yet”—and, unfortunately, her most vulnerable target.

Mike’s Story: From Tough Beginnings to Dalia’s Web [13:13–16:29]

• Mike’s early life: addiction, crime, redemption attempt, and marriage to a loyal woman (Maria) before meeting Dalia.

• Dalia quickly takes over his life, drains his finances, and spins endless stories to keep him hooked.

  Quote: “[Dalia] is highly manipulative… Casey Anthony level of relentlessness in her lies.” – Alina [20:29]

Control and Escalation: Domestic Abuse Without a Finger Laid [16:29–25:48]

• Dalia uses fake pregnancies, money schemes, staged drug setups, to destabilize and isolate Mike.
• Mike continually tries to justify or overlook glaring red flags.
• Dalia’s escalating rage and “narcissistic abuse” detailed—her tantrums grow more violent as her control wavers.

The Murder Plot Unfolds: Seeking a Hitman [25:48–32:38]

• Dalia turns to old friend Mohammed Shahada for help escaping her “abusive” marriage (she spins herself as the victim).
• Multiple failed attempts to frame, poison, or entrap Mike. She eventually requests outright murder.
• Mohammed, realizing the threat, becomes a confidential informant for police—leading to the undercover sting.

The Undercover Operation: The Hitman Meeting [36:45–44:55]

• Dahlia meets undercover “hitman” Widy Jean in a CVS parking lot; the entire exchange is recorded.
  • She negotiates (down to $7,000) and discusses detailed plans, never expressing doubt or nerves.
  • Iconic moment: “There’s no changing… I’m 5,000% sure.” – Dalia [44:11]
• Hosts mock the “bargain” hit and Dalia’s overconfidence and lack of suspicion.

The Police Trap: Fake Death and Confrontation [46:03–61:00]

• Police stage elaborate crime scene; Dalia’s over-the-top, tearless display is filmed.

• Dalia’s feigned innocence in interviews—she offers possible suspects, throws Mike under the bus, rambles about his drug/addiction history.

• Hosts play clips of Dalia being confronted with the “hitman” (she denies knowing him) and getting arrested.

  Quote: “You’re going to jail… for solicitation of first degree murder of your husband.” – Detective [59:29]

The Aftermath: Dalia in Denial, Manipulation Attempts [61:31–74:19]

• In jail, Dalia begs Mike to help her—offering only denials, spinning, and guilt-tripping in a surreal phone call.

  Key exchange:

  • Mike: “How do you explain what I saw and heard?... You said you wanted to have me killed.”
  • Dalia: “That is not true.” [65:52–67:43]

• Dalia also manipulates her mother, expressing outrage over Mike being in “her” house rather than remorse.

• The hosts analyze Dalia’s traits: narcissism, manipulativeness, lack of empathy, pathological lying, recklessness.

• Discussion of "betrayal blindness"—how victims of narcissists can be repeatedly pulled back in.

The Trials: Convictions, Appeals, and Tabloid Fame [83:54–101:29]

• Viral video footage, media circus, and cops’ questionable decision to release video become focal points in legal proceedings.
• At the first (2011) trial, Dalia’s defense floats a bizarre “it was a reality TV stunt” theory.
• She is found guilty, sentenced to 20 years.
  “There was no moral justification…pure self-indulgence by a greedy puppet master.” – Judge [92:48]
• 2014: Conviction overturned due to pre-trial publicity and lack of impartial jury (thanks to the viral video).
• 2016 retrial: Defense pivots to claims of entrapment and police misconduct for showboating for TV.
  • Jury deadlocks; mistrial.
• 2017 third trial: Prosecution brings all evidence, including poisoning attempts.
  • Guilty in 90 minutes; sentenced to 16 years.
• Dalia appeals again, claiming juror inattentiveness, but loses all the way to the Supreme Court.

Epilogue: Where Are They Now? [101:29–end]

• Mike recovers, gets engaged, escapes probation, and memorializes the date he cheated death.
• Dalia remains in prison, potentially until 2032—having finally achieved “fame” but not in the way she wanted.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “If I had to give one word to this case, it’s trashy.”
  – Alina [03:35]
• “Diagnosis Diplodocus!” On Dalia’s name and the hosts’ persistent dinosaur jokes. [06:32]
• “I’m 5,000% sure.”
  – Dalia, sealing her fate with the undercover officer [44:11]
• “You’re going to jail today for solicitation of murder… We filmed everything you did.”
  – Detective [59:29]
• “You’re not even trying!”
  – Dalia, berating Mike for not helping her after her arrest [69:39]
• “[Dalia] is a massive narcissist… I also think she’s a psychopath.”
  – Alina [74:43]
• “It’s honestly remarkable…the stamina. If you just have stamina and nothing else—no shame and an ability to just keep lying—you could see how this could almost work.”
  – Alina [70:01]
• On Dalia’s mother: “She’s just—it’s like a mother talking to a child: ‘I know you didn’t. It’s okay. We’re gonna solve this.’” [73:56]

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Noteworthy Timestamps

• 03:35 – Hosts describe the “trashy” case.
• 08:28–09:36 – Police call Dalia to inform of "Mike's death."
• 44:11 – The infamous “5,000% sure” exchange.
• 59:29–60:36 – Dalia is confronted and arrested for solicitation.
• 65:52–67:43 – Surreal phone call: Dalia denies everything to Mike in jail.
• 74:43 – Analysis of Dalia’s narcissism and pathology.
• 83:54 – Discussion of media circus and police misconduct implications at trial.
• 92:48 – Judge’s reprimand at sentencing.
• 101:29 – Final outcomes for Mike and Dalia.

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Analysis & Host Tone

• The episode maintains RedHanded’s signature blend of sarcasm, dark humor, and sharp psychological insights. The hosts lean into mocking both the absurdity and tragedy of the case, especially highlighting Dalia’s relentless lying and performative innocence.
• They contextualize her behavior in terms of clinical narcissism and sociopathy, and discuss broader themes of manipulation, victimhood, and betrayal in toxic relationships.
• Outrage is reserved for Dalia’s treatment of her husband and her stone-cold denialism, while Mike receives open sympathy as the long-suffering, manipulated mark who finally escapes.

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Conclusion

Alina and Ash deliver an exhaustive and entertaining breakdown of a case where no one died, but the levels of toxic manipulation, brazen plotting, and reality TV absurdity hit all-time highs. Dalia’s “5,000%” certainty that she could get away with murder is thoroughly (and hilariously) debunked, leaving her infamous in a way she never intended. The saga offers both cautionary tales and major secondhand embarrassment—making for a quintessential RedHanded episode.

Transcript

[Alina Urquhart]

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[Ash Kelly]

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[Alina Urquhart]

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[Ash Kelly]

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[Alina Urquhart]

I'm Saruti.

[Ash Kelly]

And welcome to Red Handed Mafia Wives edition in extravagant Florida.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah, it's all the words in a word cloud of. I wanted to say trashy, but I feel like that's quite unfair on the whole of Florida. But that's what this case is. If I had to give one word to this case, it's trashy.

[Ash Kelly]

Trash. Garbage.

[Alina Urquhart]

Humans. Fucking hell. I honestly, we haven't done a case like this in quite some time and I'm very much looking forward to it because nobody actually dies. Spoilers. So I feel like I'm allowed to say it's trash.

[Ash Kelly]

Because they're still alive, being trash.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, the person who should have died, he's fine. He's. I think he's a nice guy, but yeah, mega trash. Mega trash.

[Ash Kelly]

And to help us help you, help you picture what we're talking about. I'm going to give you some scene setting words and I'm going to ask you to close your eyes and picture what I'm going to say in your mind's eye. Boynton beach.

[Alina Urquhart]

Immediately. Boynton Beach.

[Ash Kelly]

That's not great, is it?

[Alina Urquhart]

Boing. We have to say that word just so you know.

[Ash Kelly]

Boy. Oing.

[Alina Urquhart]

We have to say that word so many times today. Boynton Beach. Even as I was going over this script, I was like inadvertently smiled. Every time I read that word in.

[Ash Kelly]

My mind, I'm gonna say it again.

[Alina Urquhart]

It's like, balangalo.

[Ash Kelly]

Belangalo's better.

[Alina Urquhart]

Belangalo is better. But Boynton's up there.

[Ash Kelly]

Boynton Beach, Florida. The morning of 5 August 2009. The sun was blazing, the tans were hearty, and wannabe ballers were strutting around as far as the eye could see. In other words, it was the start of another ordinary day in South Florida. Although the vibe in Boynton beach is a little bit more Jersey Shore than.

[Alina Urquhart]

West Palm beach, still not the bit I think is trash. The person you're about to introduce next.

[Ash Kelly]

Is 26 year old Dahlia Dippolito.

[Alina Urquhart]

I also, whenever I hear that surname, I just imagine a dinosaur Dippolito.

[Ash Kelly]

Like Diplodocus.

[Alina Urquhart]

That's what I think. Before I ever said her name out loud because we were going to do an episode about her, I had always just thought of her as Dahlia Diplodocus. Fuck her. I also know because she'd hate it.

[Ash Kelly]

She lived here in Boynton beach and she lived there. With her sultry green eyes, long dark hair, fluttery eyelashes and artificially enhanced curves, Dahlia took looking good very seriously. Up bright and early for a 5am gym session, she left her husband of six months, Mike, snoozing in bed. She sweetly promised to bring him his favourite Starbucks when she was done.

[Alina Urquhart]

And while all this might sound like the opening of some sort of sun soaked reality TV show, it would soon morph into a gritty crime drama with as much hammy acting as an episode of CSI Miami. And yes, I am talking about before that ginger guy left because he thought he could do better somewhere else and then he didn't.

[Ash Kelly]

It's always the gingers that leave.

[Alina Urquhart]

He honestly, it was just prime time ham. He would do the sing work and I did. I used to watch all the csis. I loved it. He would like take his glasses off and just be like, it's a dinosaur.

[Ash Kelly]

Diagnosis Diplodocus.

[Alina Urquhart]

Diagnosis dinosaur. That is a show I would love to diagnosis dinosaur. So the reason it's going to go very much from Jersey Shore to CSI Miami is because during her workout at the gym that day, Dahlia got a call from Sergeant Frank Ramsey of the Boynton Beach Boynton Beach Police Department telling her to hurry home immediately. Dahlia arrived to find the street swarming with patrol cars and police tape. And Detective Ramsey delivered the horrifying news that any newlywed would dread to hear. Her husband Mike had been shot dead in their home. Ramsay barely got the words out before a hysterical Dahlia was screaming and sobbing in his arms.

[Ash Kelly]

But here's the twist. Michael. Diagnosis Dinosaur. Diplodocus. Diplolito was very much alive. This was all a hoax orchestrated by the boynton Beach Police Department and the so called crime scene. It was actually a TV set with cameramen from the reality show cops filming stealthily from the bushes. Why would these officers be staging this horrific situation and torturing this poor woman? Well, that would be because the police already had concrete proof that Dahlia had tried to order a hit on her hapless other half. As far as Dahlia knew, it had worked. And now she had to play the part of the grieving widow like her life depended on it.

[Alina Urquhart]

And let's have a little listen, shall we, to Dahlia receiving this heartbreaking information from Detective Sergeant Ramsey.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I'm Sergeant Ramsey. I'm the one that called you. Thank you for coming. I'm sorry to call you. Listen, we had a report of a disturbance at your house and there were shots fired. Is your husband Michael okay? I'm sorry to tell you, ma', am, he's been killed. He's been killed, man. Listen. No, no. Try to calm down.

[Alina Urquhart]

Listen.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Right now, what we do, we need to get you to the station. We need to get you to our police station. I can't let this in, man. We have to do our job if you want us to find his killer. Okay, we need you to calm down. I'm gonna need you to go with these detectives, okay? Does he have enemies? Is there anyone that would want to hurt him? Okay, who would want to hurt him? Witnesses said they saw a black male running from him. I can't let you see him. Ma'.

[Ash Kelly]

Am.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Ma', Am, I cannot do this right now. Detective y. I need you. I need you to take her to the station. I can't, man. Go with these detectives. If you want to help your husband. Okay, if you want to help your husband, you need to go to the station with these gentlemen.

[Ash Kelly]

That is a well maintained town. That is a lot of work.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, very even as well. Very even. It's so much. So much. And when you watch it, we are videoing this episode. So if you guys want to please go check out the red handed YouTube channel where you can watch us and watch these video clips. You can see it in the corner of Sergeant Ramsey's mouth like he is trying not to smile. It is so obvious. So basically, the plan had been simple. Lights, camera, confrontation, confession. At least that's what the police were expecting. But they hadn't met Dahlia Dippolito. They had no idea how this woman operated and how capable she was of bending reality to her will. Soon, what should have been a straightforward story of an undercover sting and a lovesick Husband who literally dodged a bullet morphed into a never ending saga of lies, toxic control and unbelievable manipulation.

[Ash Kelly]

First off, let's get to know our leading lady. Oh, okay. Let's go home. Dalia Mohammed was born in New York in 1982 to an Egyptian Muslim dad and a Peruvian Catholic mum. The family moved to South Florida when Dalia was 13. Her parents later divorced, with Dahlia remaining firmly in her mum Randa's camp. Far from being daddy's little princess, Dahlia claimed that she hated her father and that he'd even tried to force her into an arranged marriage. Which may well have been true. But when it comes to Dahlia Diplodocus, you'll soon come to realise you can't really take anything she says at face value. After graduating from a strict Christian school, Dahlia got herself an estate agent license. Red flag. But actually selling houses, way too much effort. Dahlia had her mind set on a bougie lifestyle. Bling, bags, boats. She wanted it all and she wanted it now. So instead, Dahlia became an escort, hoping for a fast track ticket to the good life.

[Alina Urquhart]

And she certainly applied herself to this trade. Alongside escorting, Dahlia tried her hand at becoming a madam, connecting aspiring sugar babies with loaded older men online. She even tried running a short lived, quote unquote massage parlour. And Dahlia's own particular speciality in the world of escorting was the girlfriend experience. Which is where she basically offered a no limit sexual smorgasbor board for her lucky clients. And I think this speaks very much to Dahlia's true talent, her calling, if you will. When she was off the clock, which was working out exactly what men wanted and then bleeding them dry. Because if anyone ever deserved the title of gold digger, it's Dahlia. She'd seek out wealthy men, get them to fall in love with her, before moving swiftly on to her next mark. She briefly got engaged to a wealthy New York City contractor, only to dump him as soon as she got a 20 grand rock on her finger. Dahlia didn't just make the most of her feminine charms. Like any self respecting narcissist, she weaponised her sex appeal. Everything about Dahlia was designed to lure in unsuspecting men. She fed off the attention and bolstered her bank account with their cash. And in October 2008, Michael Dippolito was set to be her biggest catch yet.

[Ash Kelly]

Mike was an Italian American gym bro who looked exactly like he'd been plucked straight from the cast of Jersey Shore. His passions in life were hustling Working out, cruising in fancy cars and flexing his considerable muscles. Mike grew up on the mean streets of Philadelphia as the son of drug addicted parents. He started drinking at the age of 10 and was dealing drugs by his teens. Soon, Mike got hooked on cocaine, crack and heroin with multiple court ordered rehab stints between close shaves with Philly's most dangerous gangs. But don't be fooled. Underneath the brawn, Mike was just a big teddy bear. He'd never quite had the heart to be a hardened gangster. He was too soft, too gullible, and too willing to believe the best in people. Something that unfortunately made him a prime target for someone like Dahlia Diplodocus.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah, I think Mike, when you see pictures of him, he looks like this big, like tough guy. But actually I've watched so many videos of him speaking and you're just like, he does just seem like he does some bad shit. He's not like an angel. But I think he had an incredibly tough upbringing and deep down I think he is just actually a really, really sweet guy who got trapped with like the worst person imaginable. But in some ways, Mike and Dahlia, although Mike is a very nice man and Dahlia isn't, were very alike. Like Dahlia, Mike was also looking for the cheat codes to start living la dolce vita. And his quest took him from Philadelphia to Florida, where shady mob affiliated associates introduced him to the world of boiler room fraud, which is basically like ripping people off over the phone.

[Ash Kelly]

Ah.

[Alina Urquhart]

So he sets up his own, like, venture. And again, like I said, he's no angel. He's calling people up, he's selling them stocks that don't exist and he's stealing their money. And Mike's infectious personality and salesman energy made him the perfect fit for this. Until 2002, when the law caught up with him. Mike was charged with running an organised scheme to defraud unlicensed telemarketing and also grand theft. But he did seem to get off quite lightly with just a two year prison sentence. Though he did have to pay restitution to his victims to the scale of a whopping $219,000. And he was also saddled with a whopping 28 years of probation.

[Ash Kelly]

Wow.

[Alina Urquhart]

Now Mike, when he got out of prison, was determined to turn over a new leaf. He got clean from the drugs and focused on paying off his restitution, managing to actually whittle it down to $119,000 in just a few years. In 2007, Mike even married his long term girlfriend of nearly a Decade. A woman named Maria, who had stuck with him through it all, including, like, him going to prison. And finally, it looked like they could just have a normal life together. But then along came Dahlia.

[Ash Kelly]

Stop, stop, stop.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah, and look, I'm not gonna be like. She didn't just appear out of nowhere. Mike does let her into his life. But it's a bad decision that ruins his life.

[Ash Kelly]

Mike and Dahlia first met in October 2008. And it's not exactly your traditional meet Cute. After being shown an escort website by his colleague while his wife was away, Mike gave in to temptation. He ordered Dahlia for the night. Like a takeaway, a guilty pleasure, but one he justified as a blip. Little did Mike know, though, that his cheat meal would become a lifestyle. Because from the very first taste, Mike was hooked. Dahlia seemed shy and sweet, but the sex was wild. And she obviously felt the same way about Mike, because after their first night, Dahlia didn't make him pay for it, not in the cash on the bedside table kind of way. Instead, the pair embarked on a whirlwind affair, with Mike throwing caution to the wind and dumping Maria for Dahlia. After just three weeks going all in on Dahlia, Mike was amazed by all the things they seemed to have in common. Like films, the gym, tanning, shared love of Starbucks.

[Alina Urquhart]

All the things one looks for.

[Ash Kelly]

That's all you have to say about yourself.

[Alina Urquhart]

But Mike soon found out that Dahlia was also very demanding and incredibly stroppy, prone to throwing tantrums whenever she didn't get what she wanted. In January 2009, Mike even tried to end it with her, but somehow actually ended up proposing to Dahlia at their post breakup summit. Dahlia had her perfectly manicured claws in Mike, and to this former addict, she was a whole new type of drug. Only four months after they first met, and less than a week after his divorce with Maria was finalised, Mike and Dahlia tied the knot. In February 2009, Mike even bumped into the divorce lawyer that he had used to divorce his first wife, Maria. While he's at the courthouse getting married to Dahlia.

[Ash Kelly]

It's not a great omen, is it?

[Alina Urquhart]

No. And his divorce lawyer is like, what the fuck are you doing? We only finalised your divorce a week ago, so, yeah, it's very quick. And the very next day, after this incredibly speedy wedding, Mike bought a townhouse in Boynton beach in cash as a love nest for him and the new Mrs. Dippolito. And Dahlia became obsessed with furnishing their new fairy tale abode. But from the start, Mike's probation loomed heavy over their marriage. He was staring down the barrel of nearly 30 years, shackled to a nosy probation officer who would be watching his every move. Mike wouldn't even be allowed to leave Florida without permission. But savvy Dahlia said that she had the perfect solution. If Mike could raise 100 grand, she said she would contribute the remaining 91,000 from her own money to get his restitution cleared once and for all in the hope that they might reduce his probation. And then, she said, they would be free to truly start their new lives together.

[Ash Kelly]

Blinded by love and desperate for freedom, Mike went along with Dahlia's plan. Dahlia told Mike to transfer the money to her in smaller installments of seven or eight grand at a time to avoid the watchful eyes of the taxman. Then she promised that she would wire the grand total, including her 91,000, to Mike's lawyer. True to his word, Mike eventually coughed up $100,000. But his lawyer never saw a cent.

[Alina Urquhart]

Shock.

[Ash Kelly]

Dalia made excuses about the wire transfers being delayed, but Mike was no stranger to cons, and he called her out. And Dahlia tearfully confessed that she had lost the money in an investment scam gone wrong, including her own apparent contribution of $91,000. And in a sign of things yet to come, soft hearted Mike fell for it and forgave Dahlia Diplodocas.

[Alina Urquhart]

No doubt having seen just how easy it had been to trick her husband, Dahlia kept spinning him lies about helping him pay off that restitution. From inventing dodgy Good Samaritan investors who'd mysteriously back out at the last minute, to throwing dramatic fits at any hint that he didn't trust her, Dahlia kept Mike hanging on her every word. I don't think deep down, Mike knows that Dahlia is stealing from him, but he stayed with her regardless. And as we'll go on to see, Dahlia is highly manipulative and absolutely, we're talking Casey Anthony level of relentlessness in her lies. I have no doubt that Mike was in it deep, addicted to his hot and cold wife, devastated when she withdrew, and probably ecstatic when she turned it on. And the important thing to note here as well is that Mike had invested a lot more than just cash in his relationship. He'd lost his loyal ex wife, Maria, and even his two best friends had cut ties with him. Since he'd got mixed up with Dahlia, everyone warned Mike that she was bad news. But he desperately wanted to believe that their Love story was worth it.

[Ash Kelly]

And the missing money wasn't the only weirdness at play. All through the spring of 2009, Mike was hounded by police. They kept receiving anonymous tip offs that Mike was dealing drugs from his car and from the gym. Police didn't find anything, but Mike's probation officer was now watching him like a hawk. In mid March, Dahlia treated Mike to a spontaneous weekend at the swanky Ritz Carlton hotel near Palm beach, paying over a grand for a single night. And when Mike returned from an early morning gym session, he found police officers searching his car. Thankfully, they once again came up empty handed. But later on, as he went to fill up his car, Mike was stunned to find a bag of pills stashed in his petrol tank. He had been sober for years, so he knew for certain that someone was trying to set him up.

[Alina Urquhart]

A few weeks later, Mike was out for dinner with Dahlia at a fancy restaurant when he noticed a guy at the next table kept staring at him. And like clockwork, when he and Dahlia left, police were outside in the car park searching Mike's car yet again after another tip off of suspicious drug activity. But this time, they found something. They found just over a gram of cocaine stashed in a cigarette box in the spare tire. Well, it was nowhere near the kilo that the anonymous caller had reported, and hardly enough for a dealer. But for someone on strict probation, it was bad news bears. With his nerves absolutely frayed, Mike started to cry and confided in a kindly female officer that he'd been sober for six years and he was convinced that someone was repeatedly trying to set him up. And I think this tells you a lot about how believable Mike is, that the police are like, okay, they sense that he's genuine and they actually let him go.

[Ash Kelly]

On the drive home, Mike snapped and accused Dahlia of being behind these incidents. Did she deny it? Seem shocked? Apologize? Not this dinosaur. Instead, she floored it. Flying into one of her tantrums, Dahlia hit the accelerator and sped up to 100 miles an hour until a terrified Mike screamed for her to pull over, swearing that he would never bring it up again. And this, children, is what we like to call narcissistic rage. Dainty Dahlia might not have raised a hand to Mike, but in every other way, she exhibited the classic signs of domestic abuse and coercive control. By April, Mike's head was spinning with the constant mind games and manipulation, and he decided it was time to leave Dahlia for good. But then, in another move, straight out of the controlling wife handbook, Dahlia dropped a bombshell. She was pregnant. Tale as old as time. Any thoughts that Mike had about leaving her completely evaporated. The pair even started seeing marriage counsellors, one of whom was incredibly called Dr. Happy. Is that nominative determinism or is it made up?

[Alina Urquhart]

I don't know. I've never heard of anyone with the surname Happy. But Dr. Happy, sure.

[Ash Kelly]

Perhaps Dr. Happy helped because Dahlia launched herself headfirst into yummy mummy mode. She was obsessed with buying baby stuff and discussing names, but funnily enough, her doctor's appointments always seemed to be mysteriously cancelled at the last minute. Wrestling with the ongoing restitution saga and his anonymous tipster foe, Mike had too much on his plate to question it. He had no idea that behind the scenes, Dahlia, who was now all too aware that her hold on Mike was fragile, especially as she definitely was not pregnant, was planning her next move.

[Alina Urquhart]

Around this time, Dahlia reconnected with an old friend called Mohammed Shahada. Mohammed was a Jordanian businessman whose family had moved to America when he was a baby. He juggled a busy life running a corner shop and card cashing empire with a taste for gambling and a hefty Xanax addiction. Mohammed had even rolled the dice on a Hollywood career, although the furthest he got was playing a terrorist on an episode of burn notice. By 2009, Mohammed and Dalia had been friends for about 15 years. They'd often go for long periods of time without actually seeing or speaking to each other, but Dahlia knew she could always rekindle their flirtation whenever she needed a favour.

[Ash Kelly]

Dahlia told Mohammed that she needed his help to get out of her abusive marriage to Mike Dippolito, who she claimed was violent and controlling. Again, classic abuse tactic, playing the victim when she's actually the offender. Mohammed wasn't too sure if he should believe Dalia's sob story, though at times she said that Mike was violent, while at other times she admitted that he was the sweetest, kindest nerd and she couldn't stand him. Mohammed had never met Mike, but their mutual acquaintances told him that he was a decent guy who put up with a lot from Dahlia. Still, Dahlia insisted that she had to escape Mike's clutches and divorce just wasn't good enough, complaining that her attempts to get Mike caught with drugs had come to nothing. She needed some outside help. So after some persuasion and a blowjob and also a $38,000 Range Rover paid for with Mike's stolen money, we may Add Mohammed agreed to help his old dinosaur friend.

[Alina Urquhart]

So Mohammed put Dahlia in contact with an undercover narcotics officer. But when Dahlia repeatedly offered this guy money to set up a drugs bust against Mike, he refused to accept the bribe and cut all contact. So Dalia met up with Mohammed again, this time at his cousin's clothing shop. And now she declared that she needed a more permanent escape plan from the marriage. Sending him to prison wasn't going to be good enough. She wanted Mike killed. And Dahlia said all this in full earshot of several members of the notorious Buck Wild gang who were hanging out in this clothes shop. Now, these guys are hardly sophisticated career criminals, far from it, but they were absolutely chomping at the bit to do this beauty queen's dirty work for her. So while Mohammed tried to laugh off Dahlia's dangerous yapping as just a joke, she was adamant she was dead serious. However, in the end, the gang members decided it wasn't worth the hassle coming back later that day telling Mohamed, that bitch is crazy.

[Ash Kelly]

Meanwhile, Mike started to fear that whoever was setting him up really did mean business. In early May 2009, Dahlia told Mike that she'd received a call from the Boynton beach police warning her that Mike was in danger from shady ex associates from his boiler room days. Why Mike believed that the police would call Dahlia with this information rather than tell him directly, not clear.

[Alina Urquhart]

No, I think the one thing we can say about Mike is that he doesn't ask a lot of questions, and he does accept things that Dahlia tells him as just fact for quite a while.

[Ash Kelly]

But again, Dahlia was more than willing to use every single tactic under the abusive and fear mongering category. And a few weeks later, Mike found a blackmail note taped to his car window demanding $40,000 or he would die. Mike was so shaken by this message that Dahlia had to write his police report for him. Mike admitted to officers that he'd previously been associated with two mobsters, brothers called Pascal and Joseph Rubbo, who'd just been jailed on federal racketeering charges. Perhaps they'd heard that he was trying to pay off his restitution fees and get off probation early, and they were seeking some sort of spiteful revenge. Dahlia's plan was working.

[Alina Urquhart]

So she just kept going. The threats kept coming, and by July 2009, Mike was a mental and physical wreck. On top of this, Dahlia's various schemes to pay off his debts had actually lost Mike $240,000. Like that's more than the amount he owes in restitution at this point, but he just puts his faith in her again and again and again and she just steals it all. Around this time, Dalia also convinced Mike to temporarily sign over the deeds for the townhouse to her, with yet another convoluted excuse about helping him pay off the debts. Mike was so desperate to just get it over with that he'd lost all perspective, blindly agreeing to whatever his wife suggested in the hopes that it would secure his freedom in the long run. And having recently had liposuction surgery on his back, Mike had spent most of July bedridden and in pain. So he's like, even more vulnerable to her, her manipulations, because he's already a wreck, but now he's also physically down. And then he also gets on top of that, a very severe bout of gastrointestinal distress that at the time he puts down to some ill timed food poisoning. But we'll come back to this later. Still unable to go to the gym or stick to the meticulous routines that he'd clung onto since going clean and sober, Mike was utterly miserable and driving Dahlia crazy too. For her, enough was enough.

[Ash Kelly]

On Friday 31st July, Dahlia met up with Mohammed Shahada at a petrol station. And once again, she asked him to help arrange a hit on Mike. Mohammed tried to talk her down like he had in April, believing that she wasn't really serious. But during that meeting, Mohammed realised that Dahlia had nabbed his Glock from the glove compartment of his car. She denied it at first before sulkily handing it back over and saying that if Mohammed wouldn't hook her up with a hitman, she'd have to find one herself. Well, yeah, yeah, that seems to be what you're doing right now, Dahlia.

[Alina Urquhart]

She is so like.

[Ash Kelly]

And he's like, good, I don't want.

[Alina Urquhart]

To help you, a petulant teenager.

[Ash Kelly]

Anyway, that time, Mohammed could tell that Dahlia really, really meant it.

[Alina Urquhart]

So that night, Mohammed Shahada walked into the Boynton Beach Police Department and warned them that a woman he knew was plotting to get her husband killed.

[Ash Kelly]

Good for him.

[Alina Urquhart]

Absolutely. Mohammed is like, like he's no angel. Like he's no fucking saint. Right. But he did not want to get mixed up in a murder.

[Ash Kelly]

Yeah.

[Alina Urquhart]

Especially of someone that he does not believe is abusive. And I think he is also not stupid. He knew that between the $38,000 gifted Range Rover and the long standing relationship or friendship that he had with Dahlia, he was worried that whatever Dahlia did would come back to bite him in the arse. Regardless. So Mohammed signed up to become a confidential informant for the police, working with them to snare Dahlia and gather more intel for their investigation. Which is where things hit a slight snag because Mohammed wasn't actually sure where Dalia lived and it turned out he didn't even know her full name. He only really knew her by her nickname, Delilah. The police ultimately decided they needed to gather more evidence and got Mohammed to agree to wearing a wire for a sting operation. Mohammed agreed with just one caveat, they shouldn't put the wire in his crotch because that's usually where Dahlia went first.

[Ash Kelly]

He's thought of it all.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah.

[Ash Kelly]

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[Alina Urquhart]

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[Ash Kelly]

On Saturday, the 1st of August, Mohammed and Dalia met again at the same petrol station. This time, Mohammed was wearing a hidden wire with pinhole cameras set up in the backseat of his car. He pretended that he'd had a change of heart, telling Dalia that he knew a guy who could carry out the hit on Mike. First, he prodded her on motives by asking if it was really worth it just to get her hands on Mike's cash. To which she snapped, it's not even about the fucking money. I'm a dinosaur. What am I going to do with that? I don't even have hands. With her trademark bratty confidence, Dahlia insisted everyone would blame Mike's death on his shady mob connections rather than suspecting her of being involved. So together, she and Mohammed chose a photo of Mike to show to the hitman. And then Dalia gave Mohammed $1,200 as a deposit. And on Monday 3rd August, Dahlia met up with the so called hitman in a CVS car park.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, my God.

[Ash Kelly]

So, yeah, I didn't think CVS could get more depressing. Yeah, it's a very special wave of depression that flows over you when you walk into a CVS well, especially if you're starving and you have to eat one of their sandwiches.

[Alina Urquhart]

Well, enter this car with Dahlia and our undercover officer pretending to be a hitman.

[Ash Kelly]

Great, great, great.

[Alina Urquhart]

Named Widdy Jean. Now, witty Jean, when he turns up with his imposing stature and cornrowed hair, he clearly fit the idea that Dahlia had in her mind of what a hitman would look like. So she's just like, oh, she doesn't question his credentials at all. She asks absolutely no questions. Dolled up in a skimpy blue sundress because, you know, how else would you dress to meet up with the man who's going to potentially murder your husband? Dahlia battered her eyelashes and was almost flirty as she got down to business. And I'm gonna play you A little clip from this. Just prepare yourselves, because she's something.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Well, that's up to you. I was gonna give you what I gave you, and then that was. That was everything until after the fact. And then after the fact, I guess you were gonna come and, like, find me or whatever. I mean, I'm good for it. Like, it's not like I don't have anything. I mean, I know not to fuck around with you, you know, certain things, whatever. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you obviously know where I'm at. I could get it on by Wednesday if you want me to. You know what I'm saying? But I gotta do my homework, you know, I gotta, you know, know exactly where the place is and how to get out of there, how to get in and out. You understand what the neighbors want. I gotta call the cops, you know, report a shooting to see how fast they get to that location. There's a lot of stuff I gotta do that's gonna cost me a lot of money. Like, at the house. Like, how do we. How do we. How soon could you do it? I could do it Wednesday morning to be like, I break into the house, you know, didn't think it was going to be home because everybody works in the daytime, right? I'm gonna think he's at work. Boom, he's not at work. Then, you know, he gets two in the head.

[Alina Urquhart]

That's it.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

You know, I take a couple things with me, break a couple windows, make it look like a robbery that went bad. It's all over. I'm gone, out of there. Police gonna be asking you questions, although they know it's gonna be obvious what it is, and they already know, but, you know, they're gonna ask questions because that's how they got to do it. I don't know how. Well, we have a pressure. No, I'm not gonna. You know, I'm a lot tougher than what I look. I know you look and you're like, oh, what a cute little girl. Whatever, you know, But I'm not that.

[Ash Kelly]

You are.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

You're extremely beautiful. Thank you. But, you know, I just need to.

[Alina Urquhart]

Make sure everything's gonna take, you know, it's so cringe.

[Ash Kelly]

She's going straight on my anxiety list of people that I look through when I feel really anxious and hate myself. And then I'll just look through, like, a top 10 of Despicable pieces of shit that we've covered on the show, and I'm like, ah, I saw that bad.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, yeah. She's. She's Catapulting to number one. I think she is just trash. She's fucking trash. And I love how Widdy deals with this. He's just like, you're an extremely beautiful woman. She's like, thank you. Thank you very much. You might be thinking, I'm just a cute little girl. Shut up, Dahlia, you fucking bitch. I can't stand her. And, like, this entire conversation goes on for so long. And what's really weird about it, because obviously we're not going to play you guys like the whole thing, but you can go watch it. We'll leave links to it in the episode description. She looks at the camera so many times, and I'm like, does she know it's there? Or, like, is she suspicious of something? I don't know, because that's not the way she's presenting herself. And it's behind her. You can obviously see, like, the camera angle is being filmed from behind her, but she keeps turning around and looking at. I don't know if she's just looking out the window, but it, like, really makes you feel quite on edge. It's almost like she's breaking the fourth wall where she'll, like, turn and be like, I know what is going on. Like, the whole thing is so, so strange. And, like, let's get into, like, some of the things that actually go on during this meetup. On the subject of payment, Dahlia thinks she's so fucking savvy, she negotiates Widdy down from eight grand to seven grand to kill her husband. Or she offers the alternative that she won't pay him at all, but that that morning, Mike was going to go to the bank to withdraw 10k. And she knew this, and she suggested, hey, why don't you just follow him to the bank, kill him, and then take that ten grand? Basically so that Mike would be paying for his own murder. What a bargain. You know, And I think this interaction with Widdy Jean tells us so much about Dahlia. It shows how naive and overconfident she is. First, she thinks she can organize a hit for such little money.

[Ash Kelly]

I was gonna say eight grand.

[Alina Urquhart]

You think you're gonna order a hit for eight grand? But I guess if you really take it apart, I think the reason she thinks that is a, she's stupid and naive, but also she's probably convinced herself that, yes, of course she can get such a good deal because she's so irresistible and beautiful and smart. And why wouldn't this man murder another man for her for eight grand? Sorry, seven. Because she managed to knock that grand off. I think she genuinely believes that she holds this sort of like otherworldly level of control over other people, especially men. She never even questions the fact of whether she can trust this guy or not. Because remember, he's a total stranger to her. She never ever once, during this entire arrangement, seems unsure. Now, we will come on to talk more about Dahlia's personality later in this episode, but yeah, it's just very jarring, but telling.

[Ash Kelly]

Eventually, after the killer explained that a hit outside the bank would be too public, they decided that he would swing by the empty house on Wednesday morning to pop two bullets in Mike. While Dahlia was out at the gym. With the details of the upcoming hit cautiously agreed upon, Woody Jean gave Dahlia one last chance to change her mind.

[Alina Urquhart]

And let's have a little listen to that.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Even if you change your mind, there's no changing. No, there's no like, positive, like 5,000% Charlotte around 6:30, 7 o'.

[Alina Urquhart]

Clock.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

She always walks the dog in the morning. She walks the dog across, like over where the lake is. And our doors always unlock. I'll be in the house by 6:30 Wednesday morning. 6:00'. Clock. All right. Thank you so much.

[Ash Kelly]

Thank you so much.

[Alina Urquhart]

I guess. Okay.

[Ash Kelly]

Shut up, Dalia.

[Alina Urquhart]

But yeah, that 5,000% is what this episode is going to be titled. It comes up so much. It's just that day. 5,000%. Shut up.

[Ash Kelly]

So the plan was set. Michael Dippolito would draw his last breath sometime before 8am on Wednesday 5th August, 2009, leaving his young bride Dahlia, a tragic but sexy widow. But before Dahlia could head out and buy herself a new all black wardrobe, the Boynton beach police department were preparing to spring boy oyoing into action. And they were bringing some friends with them along for the ride. The crew of the reality TV show Cops were shadowing the police department that week. And the higher ups couldn't think of a better case for them to cover. In a pre dawn briefing at the station that Wednesday morning, lead detective Paul Sheridan laid out the plan to convince Dahlia that her murder plot had been a success, catching her reactions on tape and ideally coaxing a confession out of her. And I can see what they mean by like, this is the perfect case for you to be shadowing because no one's dead. Like, it's already all in the bag. The only person who's gonna lose is Dahlia, who deserves it.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah. And like, so far so good. I'm with them. Like, this is all fine. They go on to behave very unprofessionally later. But yes, this part I'm like, yeah, totally get it. Perfect case. Let's go.

[Ash Kelly]

The police already had a shit ton of evidence to incriminate her. And you might be thinking, did they really need to stage a whole fake murder scene? And to that, dear listener, we have an answer for you. It's a one word answer. Theatre.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah, they go all out. I also found a picture of Dahlia.

[Ash Kelly]

Oh, lovely. Perfect.

[Alina Urquhart]

It's her in her widow dressing gown.

[Ash Kelly]

That's what you should be for Halloween, if you ever dressed up for Halloween.

[Alina Urquhart]

Dahlia. Diplodocus. I know it's not a diplodocus. Relax. So, with the cameras rolling, detectives Alex Moreno and Bryan Anderson roused a groggy mic from his slumber at about 6am After Dahlia had left for the gym. And there was no easy way to say it. Mike's wife was planning to have him murdered that day. So would he mind please coming down to the station with them? Let's have a little listen.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Police department. Open your door. Sorry. Yes, Sergeant Sheridan pointing.

[Alina Urquhart]

Police department.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Can I talk to you? Yes, for sure. Let me taste tell you something real quick here. You need to come with me to the police station. You're not in trouble. Your wife has hired a person to kill you.

[Alina Urquhart]

Relax.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Just, just take it easy. Take a deep breath. Sit down. Yeah, not kidding. Yeah, just take, take deep breath. I want you to put on a shirt and come with me to the police station. Can you come with me? Sure. Of course I will.

[Ash Kelly]

Yeah.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Can I tell you, just, I don't know what, this is a little weird. I know it is. Let's go up there. My wife, for whatever reason today, like, I'm sick, man. I had surgery on my back, went to the gym. I know where she's at. I mean, you know, like, believe me, I know where she's at. Let's go upstairs. Stop rambling. But I mean, I, I, I've been. You understand what I'm telling you? We don't, we don't have much time. Yeah, aren't.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah. So poor PJ Clad Mike had had a nasty wake up call in more ways than one. Because for all the drama between him and Dahlia, he didn't think she was capable of going quite so far being quite so cold blooded. But when the police played him the audio of Dahlia calmly saying she was 5,000% sure that she wanted him dead, well, there was no arguing with that. Meanwhile, a trap was being laid. The police got to work Staging, as Hannah described for theatre, a very elaborate fake crime scene outside of the couple's townhouse. They secured the area with yellow police tape and even pretended to dust the front door for prints. Now, as we told you at the start of the episode, Detective Frank Ramsey called Dahlia during her workout to lure her to the scene. And Dahlia came running. While the assembled police officers struggled to hold back their smirks, she instantly launched into her over the top display of shock and grief at Mike's untimely demise. Detective Ramsey later says that even if he didn't have prior knowledge about the solicitation for murder, he says that he would have still noticed the absolute lack of tears on Dahlia's face as she supposedly sobbed in his arms.

[Ash Kelly]

The officers cajoled Dahlia to come down to the station with them for questioning. They needed her help to catch the bastard who did this to Mike. But it wasn't going to be that easy because Dahlia brought with her plenty of questions of her own. First off, she kept asking to see Mike's body, probably to confirm that he was actually dead.

[Alina Urquhart]

She says it so many times.

[Ash Kelly]

But the police skillfully steer her away from that path, insisting that she didn't want to see what was left of her husband. Dahlia was also anxious to retrieve her handbag from the front seat of her car. Since police were equally keen to get their hands on this, they promised Dahlia that they would get someone to bring it down with them later. And with that, Dahlia de Polito went willingly into the trap.

[Alina Urquhart]

The detective who drove Dahlia down to the police station made sure as well to even offer her the passenger seat of the patrol car, to lull her into a false sense of security, of being the victim's wife and not a suspect.

[Ash Kelly]

That's a good one.

[Alina Urquhart]

It is a good one. During the 10 minute drive, Dahlia cautiously asked if they knew who'd done it. As agreed in the Bully Strategy, the officer revealed that witnesses had reported a black man running from the house after gunshots were heard. It was a trick deliberately intended to subtly destabilise Dahlia, who maybe wouldn't have been counting on her professional hitman Widdie Jean to have been seen. But instead of freaking out, Dahlia calmly played the cards right back. She claimed that there had been a lot of black people coming around the neighbourhood lately.

[Ash Kelly]

Ah, yeah.

[Alina Urquhart]

Including one guy who'd been asking Mike questions about his Porsche. Dahlia was clearly trying to sow the seeds in whatever direction she thought they'd grow.

[Ash Kelly]

And this was A strategy she took with her into the interrogation room. When asked if her husband had enemies, Dahlia may as well have pulled out an alphabetically organised colour coded list, because according to her, there were plenty of candidates who'd love to see Mike six feet under. And she was there to name names. She hinted at everyone from Mike's ex wife, Maria, to the Mafioso families that he'd been tangled up with in the past. And Dahlia reckoned that Mike's attempts to get off probation early hadn't gone down well with his former accomplices. So maybe someone had decided to take justice into their own hands. And while she made a point of crying on and off, Dahlia didn't exactly show much loyalty to her dearly departed husband.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I want to tell you everything. The whole kind of know. I did. I want to know. So that's what happened with that. So he didn't know how to tell everybody what was going on with everything. And so he pretty much. He told them that, like, you know, I had the money and I took it. I got involved in, like, a Bernie Madoff kind of scheme because he didn't know how to tell, you know, his mom and everybody what was going on. You're lucky. What? You're lucky. You went to the gym. We were supposed to go to the gym.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, both.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

You were supposed to go. He didn't know if he was gonna. He just had liposuction and he had, like, two leg handles removed from here. He had something little. And two weeks ago he had surgery and. Yes. What kind of surgery? The beltectomy. Like the lipo that he had. Oh, did he used to be real heavy or something? No, he used to be. And then he got lipo done and I guess the plastic surgeon left, like, two bulges here. So yesterday we went because he had, like, blood buildup in his back, so he drained it. So he was like, well, depending on how I feel today. But we go every morning. We haven't gone since his surgery, but every morning, 5am, we're both at the job. Yeah, you got a lot of that's better than me. I wish I could go, obviously. Well, you know, he's very. He used to be a drug addict. And what was his drug of choice?

[Alina Urquhart]

Crack.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Crack. I'll give it to you. And he's recovering alcoholic. And so with him, it's very important to be, like, on a schedule. And you know what I mean? Like, have a system and very organized with everything.

[Ash Kelly]

So as we just heard, Dali is really quick to spill the Beans about Mike's past drug and alcohol addictions, and even seemed irritated as she explained how his junky past meant that he had to stick to rigid routines. Detective Paul Sheridan got the sense that this was what got under Dahlia's skin the most. And the dig at Mike that if it wasn't for his recent nip tuck on his love handles, he would have been at the gym with her that morning and therefore not dead. Yeah, a bit much.

[Alina Urquhart]

She offers up so much stuff that would obviously be, like, embarrassing.

[Ash Kelly]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alina Urquhart]

To her husband in this scenario where he's already dead. Like, what has him getting liposuction got to do with him being murdered? But it's like she's. She has so much contempt for him. That's what comes across.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I don't know if you know, he was shot. He shot twice. And I want you to know all this. Do you know this? Did they tell you out there? Not exactly. I mean, they told me he. He was shot. When I was at the gym, I got a phone call. I didn't hear my phone ring, and I called back, and they told me just to please come. That something happened at my house. Yeah, he would. Evidently, your husband answered the door, and they took him back upstairs and in the bedroom. Cameras, though. Why would he answer the door? He doesn't answer for anybody. He doesn't know. And, I mean, the only person, like, his probation officer is, like, the. I have no idea. He would not answer the door. We had cameras, like, at our house. Maybe he knows this person. I didn't know you had cameras, because when we got there, some of your neighbors heard the commotion. We have cameras. The front door has cameras. The back door has cameras, but they don't record.

[Alina Urquhart]

And you'll.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

They don't record. Nobody knows, but they don't. We told everybody. They record, but they don't record because he didn't want them to make a hole in the garage for the recorder to be there because of his car.

[Alina Urquhart]

Car.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Well, we got there. Your door was wide. When the officers got there, your door was wide open. They went in and looked. You have a. They said there was two dogs in the house in a. In a crater cage or something like that. And he was found in the bedroom. He was shot twice in the head. He wouldn't open the door unless it's somebody that he knows. We don't open for anybody.

[Alina Urquhart]

She's, like, coming across as if she's trying to be really objectionable to things. Almost like she's trying to get to the bottom of it, but she's not because she's just like saying completely pointless things. But there's that one bit right at the end there where the detective is like, they took him back upstairs and they shot him twice in the head in your bedroom. And she's just like, why did he open the door? And I'm like, you've just been told that your husband got shot twice in the head in your own house. And you're just like, blah, blah, blah. He wouldn't have opened the door because I. We've got video. Like there's no emotional. It's like she doesn't remember that she should be having an emotional reaction to a police officer telling her that her husband's been shot twice in the head in their home. Yeah, it's just. Yeah, it's wild. I don't know. I think the police are trying this kind of emotional manipulation to tell her what's been done to her husband. She knows she's ordered the hit, but if they think that's going to crack her, no fucking way. It was time for Sergeant Sheridan to go bad cop. He abruptly changed course, pressing Dahlia with questions about her marriage. Did she have any reason to want Mike dead? Dahlia denied any major issues between her and Mike, insisting that they were happy. So Sheridan cranked up the pressure by bringing in a handcuffed Widdy jean and asking Thalia, do you know this man? It's so funny.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I want to know if you know this guy. Come here. Bring this guy in here. Get over here. Get over here. You know who this guy is?

[Alina Urquhart]

No.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

You've never seen him before? I've never seen him before, ever. Do you know her? Put your head up and look. God, put your head up. I've never seen him. What were you doing coming out of her house? Get him out of here.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh my God. It's just hilarious when you watch it. Because obviously never ever in a real investigation would the police confront a victim's spouse with the man that they thought had killed him. But Dahlia didn't know that. She just sits there wide eyed and innocent and the brass neck on her honestly just saying to Widdie Jean's face in front of the police that she has absolutely no idea who he is. Absolutely no idea. And in the CCTV footage you can see that Widi Jean like just keeps his eyes to the floor. He keeps looking down and they keep being like, look at her. Look at her. And it's because he's trying not to laugh. He says, I was so close to laughing, so I just had to keep looking at the floor. Oh, my God. But Thalia was still not ready to break. So finally, Sergeant Sheridan tells her that the jig was up.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

You're going to jail today for solicitation of murder. You're under arrest. That's an undercover police officer. We filmed everything that you did, recorded everything that you did. You're going to jail for solicitation of first degree murder of your husband. I didn't do anything. Did you hear what I just told you? I heard what you said. Everything. Listen to me. Everything has been recorded. You were photographed in the convertible when you sat his car in the front of cvs. What do you want to do? What do you want to do here? Listen to me. I didn't do anything. You're going to jail. I didn't do anything.

[Ash Kelly]

Please.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I didn't do anything.

[Alina Urquhart]

There's just that one second where he says about the CVS car park, and she goes, oh, my God. And then she's straight back into, I didn't do it.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Tell me you didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. You're going to jail today. As soon as I'm done, they're going to come in here and handcuff you and take you to the Palm Beach County Jail, book you for solicitation of first degree murder on your husband.

[Alina Urquhart]

It's so embarrassing. I die of, like, secondhand embarrassment. Watching her.

[Ash Kelly]

She very obviously thinks that she can just, like, do her little girl act and it will work. Yeah, because they're all men.

[Alina Urquhart]

It's that voice she goes into. She's like, oh, I didn't do anything.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I didn't do any.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, shut up, Dahlia.

[Ash Kelly]

It was never, ever, ever going to work. And Dahlia Dippolito was charged with soliciting her husband's first degree murder and with being a diplodocus, the highest crime of all. There was still one last twist for Dahlia when it was revealed that her husband Mike, rather than being zipped up in a body bag, was in fact alive and well and inside that very same police station.

[Alina Urquhart]

This is my favourite bit. So the detective has opened the door to leave and she sees Mike in the corridor.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Oh, my God. Come here, please.

[Alina Urquhart]

Come here, Mike. Come here.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Come here, Please. Come here.

[Alina Urquhart]

Why not?

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I didn't do anything. I heard you, Mike. Come here, please.

[Ash Kelly]

Come here.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Oh, my God.

[Alina Urquhart]

I love how awkward that police officer.

[Ash Kelly]

How could you not be?

[Alina Urquhart]

What the fuck? What the fuck?

[Ash Kelly]

They've told her that they have her on Video arranging the hit on her husband, and they have told her that the hitman was an undercover police officer and they've arrested her. But she still thinks that she can manipulate Mike if she cries in exactly the right way.

[Alina Urquhart]

It's that bit where she's like, come here, come here, come here. Like, oh, it's like. It's like that helpless bleating. Oh, it's gross.

[Ash Kelly]

And Mike, naturally didn't want to go anywhere near Dahlia.

[Alina Urquhart]

But Dahlia's ability to act like the injured party, no matter how much evidence was piled up against her, is honestly one of the most impressive, but also one of the most terrifying things about her. In her second interrogation with different detectives, she once again tries the same sort of, like, flirty, innocent act that she's clearly employed against men her entire life. She so obviously thinks that she can pull the wool over their eyes with just a bat of her lashes. But when she finally realised it wasn't going to work, after they physically showed her the recorded meetings between her and Mohammed and Widdy, she dropped the act. Suddenly, she became uncooperative and moody, demanding to speak to a lawyer.

[Ash Kelly]

Bit late, babes.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah. She goes very quickly from femme fatale to Karen.

[Ash Kelly]

Still, Dahlia had one last ace up her sleeve that she believed could save her. None other than her husband Mike, his very self. The same guy that she'd literally tried to have killed not even 24 hours earlier, using one of her phone calls from jail. She phoned her husband.

[Alina Urquhart]

This is just. Prepare to be filled with rage.

[Ash Kelly]

I like. I don't want to listen to her voice anymore.

[Alina Urquhart]

I'm so sorry. It's gonna go on for quite a bit longer.

[Ash Kelly]

Hello?

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Yeah, what's up? Nothing. Mike, can you please come here? Hey, listen, I don't want to fight with you. Honestly, I can't help you. Don't you understand what just happened? What they're saying is not true. How is that possible? I'm sitting here. It's not true. It's not possible. You wouldn't even give me two minutes to talk to you. But it's not possible. What they are saying is not true. How in the hell did I hear it and see it? I heard what you heard. It's not true. I heard what you heard and I saw what you saw. Everything they showed you, they showed me. And how is it not? How are you telling you that? I'm giving you my word that it's not true. What do you guy, I couldn't help you if I wanted to. Like, please. I Need an attorney. Can you please help me? True. Your brother was here and I spoke to him. He's going to go talk to your mom. I called him for you already. Right. This is not true. True. I understand it.

[Ash Kelly]

True.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Like, how do you explain what I saw and heard? Like, I am limited on my phone call. You know more than anybody. It's not true. Just give me time so I can talk to you. What is it? Say I saw it. I heard it. I saw what you saw and I heard what you heard and what the. You said you wanted to have me killed. I heard that. That is not true. How can you believe I heard your voice? How can you believe it? But it is a point. I heard you say it. It's not. I heard what you heard and it's not. What did you. What did I hear then? I heard you say, I heard the tape.

[Ash Kelly]

Okay?

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I heard the tape and I saw pictures and I saw the whole nine yards. I saw all of it. So why would you meet a guy in a parking lot? Explain that. I'm sitting here on the phone. I will tell you when I see you in person. Please, I can't come there anyway. I'm not allowed there. That's not true. Who said that? They tell you that on purpose. It's not true. I don't know what you could tell me even if. Let's pretend I said, oh, it's all better. I can't. They're charging your ass. Don't you get it? Like, I didn't do anything. Please. I don't know what to say to you. I can't help you. What do you mean? It's out of my hand. You're not even trying. What am I supposed to do? You're supposed to be an attorney. Please. So I can talk to you. I saw you with this guy in the truck or whatever the it was. I saw it. I heard your voice clearly. I don't understand. Did not say those things, period. So how did they get your voice on that tape recorder? Like, I'm limited with my time speed. You gotta be kidding me, man. Sally, I heard you say that shit. I'm telling you right now, okay? You can't fix this. How are you gonna tell me that? You didn't say it. You didn't do it when I saw you say it. Do you have any idea how I was when they told me what supposedly happened to you? How I got and how I was and how everything. Can you meet me in person so I can talk to you? No. Why? Why should I Because you know me, I never ever, ever, ever, ever in my wildest dreams ever want that for you.

[Ash Kelly]

Ever.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Well, you said it that. No, I did not say anything, period. I didn't say anything. I don't know how you're gonna actually have the nerve to sit here and lie to me now. I can't help you even if I wanted to. Do you get it? Why don't you want to? It's out of my head. You're not even trying. It's different if you're trying. You're not even trying. What can I possibly do for you? I don't get it. What can I do? You're not even trying. Trying what? I'm sitting here like a dumbass. Okay? They're getting ready to take me again. Daddy. Listen, I'm going to give you some advice and you need to listen. You're going to be running around in there for a little while, a couple days. You need to just try and relax and just go with it and keep to yourself and don't say a lot. I can't do anything to you. You know me. Everyone here seem awesome to me.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, my God, it's just so much.

[Ash Kelly]

I don't even know why you picked up the phone.

[Alina Urquhart]

No. And when I, like, first saw that there was this call that had lasted so long, I was like, mike, no, no, no, no. Please don't speak to her. This is like the worst possible thing. Like, you have to just not speak to her at all. But he does handle himself the best that you probably could without.

[Ash Kelly]

But, yeah, she is certain that all that needs to happen is she just needs to physically get in front of him.

[Alina Urquhart]

That's her plan.

[Ash Kelly]

And then it'll be fine, and he'll be sucked right back in like he has every single time before. And then it'll all go according to plan.

[Alina Urquhart]

Hands on crotch.

[Ash Kelly]

Oh, yeah.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah.

[Ash Kelly]

And after everything she's done, it is truly amazing how she's still able to twist it all back onto him. Like, you're not even trying.

[Alina Urquhart]

A classic you're not even trying. It'd be different if you were trying. You're not even trying. You're not even trying to get me out of prison after I tried to kill you. Look how hard I tried. I tried to kill you. You're not even trying.

[Ash Kelly]

And also, she just keeps saying it's not true, offering literally no reason for why that's the case. She's like, it's just not true. The end.

[Alina Urquhart]

It's honestly remarkable. It's like the stamina if you just have stamina and nothing else. No shame and an ability to just keep lying. You could see how this could almost work because he's just like, I saw it, I heard it. And she's like, it's not true. No explanation ever of.

[Ash Kelly]

Who are you going to believe? The police or your wife?

[Alina Urquhart]

Your eyes, Your ears? What? It's not possible. What?

[Ash Kelly]

And that's exactly what happens when you try and pull away from a narcissist. And on this call towards the end, she perhaps realizes that shouting isn't getting her anywhere and slips back into crying baby mode, saying, everyone's being so horrible to me.

[Alina Urquhart]

It's so pathetic.

[Ash Kelly]

Yeah, you're in jail.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah, for solicitation of first degree murder.

[Ash Kelly]

It does seem, though, that she has realised that she is out of control of this situation. And then the next clip we've got for you is when you can hear the mask slip. And that's when Mike asks for his house back. We're going to listen to her tone switch immediately.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I can't help you. There's nothing I can do to help.

[Alina Urquhart]

You.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Know what I'll do? You know what I'll do for you? Seriously? You sign my house back over to me. I'll help you mom immensely. Give me my house back. That's it. That's it.

[Alina Urquhart]

What?

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

I'll have the papers sent over to you somehow. You'll sign them over to me and then I will help your mother. Okay? I'm not signing anything. I know you wouldn't sign anything. I knew that wasn't going to happen. So I can't help you, Jen. That's what you're worried about? I'm sitting here watching, you're thinking about. You cried having me kill him. I just offered to help you. And again, you have the balls to say no to me. You just basically said you to me. Which is hilarious considering your situation and considering what the just happened today. All right, I have the God getting fingerprinted now.

[Alina Urquhart]

I have to go where?

[Ash Kelly]

What pressing engagement do you have lined up?

[Alina Urquhart]

God. But it's like. It's the flip. She's like, wait, you're not even trying to help me? And then he's like, sign the house over to me. And he's being so. I will help your mother. I will take care of your mother. And she's just like, I'm not signing anything. It's like that immediate tone shift.

[Ash Kelly]

We've also got a very revealing call between Dahlia and her mum, Randa, and we get a glimpse of the enabling parenting that shaped a woman like Dahlia Dippolito.

[Alina Urquhart]

Hello?

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Mom, I'm in jail. I know. Dalia, I know. I find out. Okay, who do you want me to call? I need you to call Mike in New York. I called already and I called. That everybody knows. What is it you want me to do? Where are you exactly? I'm in the county jail. I need you to. What did Mike say? Is he coming? Everybody's coming. Bella, we're gonna go ahead and get your lawyer, okay? Don't worry. Where are you? Are you in Bangkok? Yes, I'm here. My Mike sent this to me. Okay, they didn't do anything. They didn't do anything. You did. I know you did, and I know you didn't.

[Ash Kelly]

Where are you?

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

You in gun club? Yes, I'm here. I'm in gun club, and I heard Mike is at the house. I want him out of my house. Okay, well, right now we're going to need to have a lawyer first. This is my house. The title's in my name. All right? Okay. Don't worry about that right now.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, my God. Randa. Randa, Randa, Randa. Stop it right now. She's just. It's like a mother talking to a child, though. Like, I know you didn't. It's okay. We're gonna solve this.

[Ash Kelly]

There's a reason she's like that.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yes. And I think it's also very telling during this call and during the call that she has with Mike, that she still thinks there's a chance that her mic. Because the mic she's talking about her mum to is like a different mic. We'll come to him later. But she still thinks her husband Mike, who she tried to have killed, that he might come. I think it's just her level of entitlement that is so sickening. Like, she can just do whatever she wants, but everybody else should just put it aside once she's in trouble. In trouble entirely of her own doing. Yep. And I think it's just another big fat tick in the narcissism trait column, really. And while we're on the topic, let's take a look at all those tics. Hannah and I say all the time, you know, we're not professionals. We're not people that are diagnosing anybody. But I think.

[Ash Kelly]

But I am a doctor, and I.

[Alina Urquhart]

Don'T think it's any secret to anybody.

[Ash Kelly]

Call me Dr.

[Alina Urquhart]

Miserable Frowny Face. Dr. Frowny Face. I don't think it's a surprise to anybody. That fucking Dahlia Dippolito is a massive narcissist. I also think she's a psychopath. I think she is both of those things. But let's. Let's talk about the narcissism because she exhibits all of the classic traits that you would expect to see. She's got superficial charm. She's got no real depth to her. Whenever she's speaking, it's all very, like, vacuous and surface level. There's no neuroticism, as we saw when she's trying to arrange the hit. She's got absolutely no concern that this might backfire. She's got no concern that this guy might be an undercover cop. She's also got absolutely no empathy when the police are like, yeah, he went in and shot your husband twice in the head. She's just like, okay. And then the whole, like, I'm rotting in here while you're worried about a house, like, it's all about her. She's also clearly highly manipulative, and there's never any indication with Dahlia whatsoever of any sort of feeling of remorse. And also, I think it's safe to say she's a pathological liar. She lies and lies and lies, even when confronted with, like, solid evidence that she is lying. And I think also grandiosity is obviously spoken about quite a lot, and I think that is very obvious. But there is so much recklessness as well, which is a trait that maybe doesn't get spoken about so much. She is so reckless. She's just like, yeah, kill him outside that bank and then take his money. The undercover cop has to be like, maybe that will be too public. And if you put all that together with her total inability to take any sort of ownership or accountability for her actions. Yeah, this is what you're looking at. You're looking at a narcissist, highly suspect. She's also a psychopath. And throughout the whole situation, I think it's also hard to ignore just how confident she is in herself. So blase, so matter of fact, when she's, like, talking to the guy she thinks is going to murder her husband, it's like she's organizing to, like, buy a lawnmower off somebody. It's so just like, whatever.

[Ash Kelly]

And she's clearly motivated by money, which speaks to the criminal element that is often associated with psychopathy and narcissism. But she also tells Mohammed the reason that she wants Mike dead isn't even just about the money, which tells us that she's willing to kill simply because Mike was in her way. She doesn't want him anymore. He's inconvenient. And a divorce wasn't good enough because then she wouldn't get all of the money and the assets that she feels like she's owed. And also, she's arrogant enough to think she can get away with murder.

[Alina Urquhart]

And a lot of the time when you are unfortunately listening to Dahlia speaking, I think you would be forgiven for thinking that she is delusional. Especially during, like, that phone call with Mike where she's being presented with the information, she's being presented with the evidence. But she keeps saying, no, it's not true. No, it's not true. No, it's not true. But I don't think Dahlia is delusional. It's all a part of her narcissistic fantasy. And it can appear delusional, but she knows what's real and what isn't. She knows what she's done. She knows what the police have got. Which is why you see that momentary slip during the police interview where they say, we've got you. The video of you in the car park at the cvs, and she's like, oh, my God. But then she pulls herself straight back out of it into acting mode. And I think she sticks to her lies continuously because she is so convinced that she can fool everybody. Do not believe all of that. Just look at me and listen to what I am saying, because I am so powerful. And if you're wondering how and why people like Mike, for example, Mike, who is clearly. Yes, comes across with Dahlia, quite naive, but he's clearly street smart and he's clearly not a stupid man. Why he keeps falling for her bullshit again and again and again and again. I think it comes back to the narcissism and this thing called betrayal blindness. And it's basically when someone is unable to process a betrayal that is right in front of them. So they continue to ignore all the pain that their abuser is causing them. And this can go on for years. And when the person being hurt even so much as thinks about pulling away, the abuser turns up the intensity of the relationship with sex or with affection or with gifts or whatever they think that person needs from them. And they do that to confuse the victim. Right? Because then that's like, oh, well, I thought I was going to leave because I thought you were really horrible and evil to me and causing all this pain, but now you're giving me this thing that I wanted. Maybe it's okay. And the narcissist knows that they have some Degree of control over their victim. Right. They know that they have a control over that person's nervous system, over their emotions, and they know that they can always pull them back in. And sadly, they often can, which is why you gotta cut all contact. And that was why I was scared when I heard that Mike was having that phone call with Dahlia. And in that call, you can absolutely see Dahlia's attempts to maintain that control over Mike. And towards the end, she can tell she's losing it.

[Ash Kelly]

Her mistake was involving outside sources. Because then he can compare notes like, seen this so many times. The trick is to isolate a person totally, because then you're the source of truth.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah.

[Ash Kelly]

But Mike, thank God, wasn't having any of it. And it looked like he was finally going to be free of this woman. But he still thinks she's pregnant. Yeah. So that meant he was facing up to the possibility of a future. Raising their baby on his own. Jailbird baby. But when Mike boxed up Dahlia's stuff from the house, he discovered used tampons shoved into corners and crevices all over the house, which is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard.

[Alina Urquhart]

Which, like, why just put them in the bin? Why do you need to do that?

[Ash Kelly]

Why?

[Alina Urquhart]

She just shoved them into corners of the house.

[Ash Kelly]

I know you're not supposed to flush them down the loo, right?

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah.

[Ash Kelly]

I didn't know that until I was 23. Nobody told me.

[Alina Urquhart]

I didn't know the East London Fatberg caused by.

[Ash Kelly]

If I'm plotting the murder of my husband and part of my plan is that he needs to remain convinced that I'm pregnant, I'm flushing the tampons down the loo because. Are you so eco conscious?

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

This is what I mean.

[Alina Urquhart]

Exactly. Because they can literally be puddushed. But honestly, I won't murder Mother Earth. Have you seen these Fatbergs? It is so bizarre because, yes, of course, you can literally flush a tampon. It's not like it's not going to flush. So why is she shoving them in random corners of the house? It just gets worse and worse with her.

[Ash Kelly]

Yeah. In case you needed reminding, she's not actually pregnant.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ash Kelly]

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[Alina Urquhart]

So as Dahlia's trial approached, the eyes of the world were back on Boynton Beach. And it wasn't even the Cops footage. The TV show Cops footage that had done it, that had actually been shelved until after the trial for obvious legal reasons. It was because Boynton beach police had actually uploaded the footage of their sting against Dahlia on their social media page the very same day they arrested her. And of course it immediately gone viral. Everyone and their dog had already seen the insane video of Dahlia Dippolito faking that batshit reaction to her husband's death, Mike suddenly found himself in the spotlight as a quote, unquote, celebrity victim, even appearing on the Today show to talk about his near brush with death. And I have to say, this is what I mean about the police acting in quite an unprofessional way. What the hell were they thinking? Like, what were they thinking releasing that video? They did it all. They planned it all, they had all this evidence and they knew it was gonna go to trial. Or maybe they thought she would confess and it would never go to trial. Maybe that's either way.

[Ash Kelly]

Either way, I'm just like, it should have been adjudicated. Just wait.

[Alina Urquhart]

Wait until she's been sentenced.

[Ash Kelly]

Maybe in Florida they can do whatever the fuck they want.

[Alina Urquhart]

Well, yeah, I mean, I was gonna say there is obviously the Florida sunshine laws, but this does come back to bite them in the ass, because, you know, Dalia's defence team was like, this is a step too far, even for Florida. And I have to agree.

[Ash Kelly]

I mean, sure. As the trial kicked off in 2011, prosecutor Elizabeth Parker was feeling confident. She even said that in her whole career, she'd never had a case that was so strong and, like, you'd be hard pushed to find one. There was so much hard evidence against Alia Di Polito, it seemed impossible that it wasn't a slam dunk. Still, Elizabeth Parker was taking zero chances. Fucking good. You're an attorney. For the jury selection, she was keen to seek as few men as possible. She didn't want male jurors keeling over with the vapours from Dahlia's industrial grade sex appeal. And Elizabeth Parker was also determined to pursue a straightforward case that couldn't be muddied with any potentially damaging hearsay. So she avoided what she termed the three Ps, prostitution, poison and pregnancy. Firstly, Parker didn't want to give Dahlia's defence the opportunity to argue that she was being maligned by her past profession as a sex worker. And then Dahlia lying about the pregnancy also added unnecessary emotional baggage to what was, at its core, a very simple case.

[Alina Urquhart]

As for the poison, well, the confidential informant Mohammed Shahada told police that Dahlia claimed that she'd actually tried to kill Mike herself once before by putting antifreeze in his favourite Starbucks.

[Ash Kelly]

Probably tastes the same.

[Alina Urquhart]

Quite. If you remember when Mike was laid up with suspected food poisoning after his surgery. Yeah, he had basically asked Dahlia to bring him his favorite iced Chai, whatever shit from Starbucks. And he remembered actually Taking a sip from the drink that Dahlia had brought him and immediately spitting it out. Because it tasted so vile, he assumed it had just been a dodgy batch or something like that. But he went on to experience severe stomach pains, a bleeding mouth and crippling headaches for several weeks.

[Ash Kelly]

Jesus.

[Alina Urquhart]

Now, you might be wondering, this just adds to the case against Dahlia, surely? Why did Elizabeth Parker not use this? Well, when she did some research, she found out that the symptoms that Mike reported might not hold up as 5000% consistent with antifreeze poisoning. So in the long run, she decided not to take the risk of getting the whole case thrown out by including something that the defence could wriggle out of. Something that would later prove to be incredibly ironic.

[Ash Kelly]

No, not Dr. Irony as well. At trial, prosecution focused on three key factors. Firstly, and most importantly, providing the hard evidence of Dahlia's plot with video footage, audio recordings and digital communications. The jury watched the hidden camera footage and listened to the famous tape of Dahlia saying that she was 5,000% sure that she wanted to order Mike's murder. They didn't have to establish a motive, but Elizabeth Parker reckoned that it would be good for the jurors to get a sense of why Dalia was so keen to get Mike out of the way. So a red faced Detective Moreno drew the short straw and was forced to read out hundreds of Dahlia's sects between her and her ex boyfriend, Michael Stanley. Mike number two.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah. This was the mic that she was getting her mum to contact Mike from New York.

[Ash Kelly]

In these messages, Dahlia and her ex discussed her efforts to frame the new mic for drug dealing and get him thrown back in prison. The texts painted a rosy and X rated picture of the life that they would build together once she had secured New Mike's money and New Mike's house. Whether Dahlia actually intended to sail off into the sunset with old Mike is anyone's guess. But Elizabeth Parker referred to Mike Stanley as a clueless patsy who enabled Dahlia's endless scams under the promise of reuniting with her.

[Alina Urquhart]

The second prong of the prosecution's strategy was to protect the integrity of their victim, who, unlike most murder for hire cases, was still very much alive and kicking. Parker was concerned that with Mike's cheque had passed, the jury might dismiss him as no angel and therefore not be too sympathetic towards him. But she did make the call to put Mike on the standard. Parker hoped that the jurors would see him as the warm and likeable teddy bear that she'd come to know. And it paid off. Mike was authentic, believable, and even made the courtroom laugh. And the third prong, A complete and utter character assassination of Dahlia Depolito, Exposing her lies, manipulation and emotional abuse. Of her would be murder victim Parker called witnesses who were privy to her stealing money from Mike, proving indisputably that she had been draining him of his savings.

[Ash Kelly]

She painted a picture of a toxic, narcissistic succubus whose only goal was to bleed the men in her life dry. And there was one last nail in the coffin. The contents of Dahlia's handbag. Police found that for her seemingly casual morning gym session on 5 August, Dalia had taken with her the key to a secret safety deposit box and jewelry totaling over $33,000. In other words, she had taken with her to the gym every single valuable item in that house. Why in the world would she have done that unless she knew a strange man, a criminal, was going to be going into her house that very morning?

[Alina Urquhart]

So what about Dahlia's defence team? Surely they were quaking in their boots. Well, this is where things get weird. Dahlia's attorney, a man named Michael Selnick. Yet another Mike in this black widow's web. No, it's confusing. I'm going to call him. Selnick went with a bizarre defense that nobody was expecting. He basically said that all of this was just a hoax to get Dahlia and Mike on reality tv.

[Ash Kelly]

Oh, fuck me. Mike number three. You're good. I would never have thought of that.

[Alina Urquhart]

It is good. It is good. Salnick claimed that the whole thing had been a stunt that the couple had cooked up to gain media attention, calling it an orchestrated stunt to get Mike Dippolito in front of the cameras. To say that the courtroom was baffled is an understatement. Where the hell had this theory come from? But undeterred, Selnick basically presented evidence of Dahlia and Mike's Internet history to show that they had looked up reality TV casting calls, as if that proved something. It would have been smart of him to even pull up the footage that I mentioned earlier. The way she keeps looking at the camera.

[Ash Kelly]

Oh, yeah.

[Alina Urquhart]

To be like, look, she knew it was there. She knew it was there. Now, according to Salnick, Mike was the mastermind who'd actually pushed Dahlia into the scam. As for Mike, he said it was, quote, the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You should have just said, space aliens landed and they did it. That would have been a better defence.

[Ash Kelly]

The jury took three hours to deliberate before coming back with a verdict. Dahlia Dippolito was guilty of solicitation of first degree murder. And when it came to sentencing, Dahlia got 20 years in prison. And the judge did not hold back. He declared that there was no moral justification for Dahlia's conduct. It was pure self indulgence by a greedy puppet master who was used to manipulating men into doing her bidding at any cost. Outside the courthouse, Mike Dippolito grinned and said that he was 5,000% happy with the sentence. Well done, Mike.

[Alina Urquhart]

I honestly, I love Mike. I think I have a bit of a crush on Mike. If you watch all the court footage of him, he's very charismatic in the stand. But of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. In 2014, the appeals court shockingly tossed out Dahlia's conviction on a technicality. They explained that Dahlia had been deprived of an impartial jury in her original trial because of the media coverage and the fact that that video had been released by the police department. So after languishing on house arrest for three years during the appeals process, Dahlia Dippolito was gearing up for a comeback.

[Ash Kelly]

This time, Dahlia had a shiny new defence team led by slick TV lawyer Brian Claypool.

[Alina Urquhart]

He's like Troy McClure.

[Ash Kelly]

He called Dahlia the most misunderstood woman in the United States. And Claypool insisted that he was 5,000% sure that Dahlia Dippolito is innocent. And he vowed to prove it to the court. It's like those people who were on TikTok a while ago when Casey Anthony, like, launched her, like, advocacy campaign for herself.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yes.

[Ash Kelly]

And everyone was like, we. Not everyone. Some people, we owe this woman an apology.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

No, we don't.

[Ash Kelly]

Nobody owes Casey Anthony an apology.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, my God, the gullibility of people.

[Ash Kelly]

Dalia was allowed to do a little mini publicity tour before her retrial, which I'm sure she was absolutely ecstatic about. She was showing off her ankle tag on ABC's 2020 and telling presenter Amy Roback that she was excited for new things to come to light in a court that would prove her innocence. With her babyish lisp and big doe eyes, Dahlia insisted that she was a misunderstood angel. But would anyone believe her?

[Alina Urquhart]

For the second trial, the defence originally intended to repeat their reality show defence. In the pre trial hearing in early 2016. Dahlia got the chance, however, to address the judge and offered a convoluted explanation of how the whole debacle was actually an acting project that had gone Wrong. She now claimed that she, Mohammed Shahada and Mike Depolito had all concocted the plan to release a YouTube video of a wife seeking a hit on her husband in the hopes that it would attract the attention of Hollywood casting agents. But on cross examination, the prosecution ripped Dahlia to shreds. If this was all an acting project, then where was the script? Why could you not see Dahlia clearly in most of the footage that she was calling an audition take? And why had she failed to mention any of this when she was being interrogated by Boynton beach police on Wednesday 5th August? The whole defence came across as a joke. And the court denied the motion to have her case thrown out of court. Trial number two was on the slate and it kicked off in December 2016.

[Ash Kelly]

This time, the prosecution went with what State Attorney Dave Aronberg called a slimmed down version of the case. But that's when the defence threw yet another curveball. Having abandoned the reality TV show nonsense, they were now throwing the spotlight on the police department for their public handling of Dahlia's case. Claypool argued that the police's actions were tantamount to entrapment, fueled by their desire to make good TV for the Cops crew that were following them around. The defence's smoking gun was the video release form that Sergeant Paul Sheridan had got Dahlia to sign upon arrival at the station. He told her that it was a waiver and it was standard procedure as a part of the police recording her interview. But in reality, it was a release form for the TV show Cops. The producer had actually ripped it up, arguing that since it had been signed under the colour of law, it could be seen as coercive.

[Alina Urquhart]

Right thing to do.

[Ash Kelly]

Yes. Dahlia signed a different one later on.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah. So the one that was actually used to release it, or the one that was actually used wasn't the one that she had signed that could have been argued to be coercive anyway. She was just like, yeah, I'll sign it later.

[Ash Kelly]

But Claypool's words struck a chord in the courtroom and cast genuine doubt on the Boynton beach police's public facing strategy of dealing with Dahlia's case.

[Alina Urquhart]

Yeah, basically Claypool is doing a good job. He's just saying they went too far. Even under Florida law, this is too much. And he basically said that they didn't really look into the potential claims of domestic abuse between Dahlia and Mike and that they had just jumped on this sensational sting idea to show off for the cameras and whip up publicity at Dahlia's expense. And, yeah, he also makes this thing in court of, like, it was the perfect case for them because she's such a beautiful woman and, like, it was just. It was obviously going to go viral and people were going to watch it and be talking about it and they just exploited her, blah, blah, blah. And Claypool also had one last bombshell to stun the court with. Because Dahlia Dippolito was now a mother.

[Ash Kelly]

How is she not in prison?

[Alina Urquhart]

She was on house arrest between the appeals. So, yes, it turns out that during that time on house arrest, she had fallen in love with an appliance repair man and had a baby boy. No doubt in my mind that it was absolutely a tactic for her to be like, I'm on house arrest for years until the next trial. If I am a mother by then, or at least pregnant by then, maybe the jury will be more like, sympathetic.

[Ash Kelly]

Towards Elizabeth Holmes move. Yeah, it was a bonkers end to an equally bonkers retrial, one that arguably never should have happened. But it's not over. Somehow, the jury ended up hopelessly deadlocked and the judge was forced to declare a mistrial. The real irony being, after all of the talk of reality tv, it was almost as if the Boynton beach police had given themselves a villain edit by staging the sting like a Made for TV moment. Cameras, drama, the whole production. They'd inadvertently given Dahlia's defence just enough ammunition to muddy the waters by trial number three. In 2017, this case had more revivals than Doctor who. And this time, the prosecution returned to their original strategy of throwing the kitchen sink at Dahlia, even including the poison angle that was kept out of earlier trials and bringing Mike Dippolito back to the witness stand.

[Alina Urquhart]

And it worked. The jury deliberated for just 90 minutes before finding Dahlia guilty. And this time she was sentenced to 16 years in prison, the finale this saga had been waiting for. Predictably, of course, Dahlia appealed again, alleging that one of her six jurors had been seen by several witnesses nodding off during the trial.

[Ash Kelly]

Listen, man, I've done jury duty. It is so fucking boring.

[Alina Urquhart]

Oh, I believe you. I'm yet to do it. But I think here, for Dahlia, obviously, it's like one last ditch a turn. But I also think for her, she was probably raging. Oh, yeah, fucking fall asleep during my trial. And the judge was like, I did see that. But they were just resting their eyes. And this was something interesting I discovered. Interestingly, Florida only uses six jurors when it's not a capital case. I didn't know that.

[Ash Kelly]

I thought you were going to be like. Interestingly, in Florida, resting your eyes means.

[Alina Urquhart]

It'S something entirely different. Means you're scared of dinosaurs.

[Ash Kelly]

Yeah. The judge didn't buy the sleepy juror appeal. Dahlia's team tried to take it all the way to the Supreme Court, but ultimately they had the door slammed in their face. And as a very relieved Dave Aronberg put it, the Dahlia Dippolito saga is finally over. The reality show is done, the last chapter has been written.

[Alina Urquhart]

But at least there was a happy spin off for Mike Dippolito, because the prosecutor from his first trial, Elizabeth Parker, actually became Mike's legal counsel and helped him get off probation early after he paid off his restitution to his fraud victims. He later got engaged to a woman named Gloria and had 8509 tattooed on his bicep as a reminder of the day that he cheated death. So what about Dahlia? Any chance of a comeback arc for the Boynton Beach Black Widow? No time soon. If she serves her full sentence, which it looks like she probably will, she won't be out until 2032 at the age of 49. So I guess she got her wish to be famous after all. Probably not in the way she wanted.

[Ash Kelly]

I would bet big money that she has a prison podcast.

[Alina Urquhart]

I agree. Let's not give her ideas, though. Dahlia, if you're listening, don't even fucking think about it.

[Ash Kelly]

Yeah, no, Suge Knight, come and get you.

[Alina Urquhart]

Prison podcasting's full, but Boynton Beach Black Widow. Is this episode called Boynton Beach Black widow or 5,000%?

[Ash Kelly]

It's called Dahlia the Diplodocus.

[Alina Urquhart]

Sorry.

[Ash Kelly]

Featuring Dr. Irony Golor.

[Alina Urquhart]

5,000%. So that's it, guys. That is the Absolutely exhausting. I think that's the word, exhausting story of Dahlia Dippolito. Yes, a lot. But we finally did it. I wanted to cover this case for quite some time and.

[Ash Kelly]

Yeah, and it's fun.

[Alina Urquhart]

It is fun. It's fun. And Mike's fine now, so I think it's fine.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Yeah, it's.

[Alina Urquhart]

I mean, and her. Whatever. She's a. So we'll see you next week for another episode of Red Handed. Goodbye.

[Ash Kelly]

Bye. It's all a light hearted nightmare.

[Alina Urquhart]

On our podcast Morbid.

[Ash Kelly]

We're your hosts.

[Alina Urquhart]

I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly.

[Ash Kelly]

And our show is part true crime, part spooky and part comedy. The stories we cover are well researched.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Of the 880 men who survived the attack.

[Alina Urquhart]

Around 400 would eventually find their way.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

To one another and merge into one.

[Ash Kelly]

Larger group with a touch of humor.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

Shout out to her.

[Alina Urquhart]

Shout out to all my therapists. Out the years there's been like eight of them. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

That motherf er is not real.

[Alina Urquhart]

And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you.

[Ash Kelly]

Love to hop in the Way Back machine and dissect the details of some.

[Alina Urquhart]

Of history's most notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast Morbid.

[Ash Kelly]

Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and.

[Alina Urquhart]

Ad free by joining Wondery plus and the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

In 1993, three 8 year old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. As the small town local police struggled to solve the crime. Rumors soon spread that the killings were the work of a satanic cult. Suspicion landed on three local teenagers, but there was no real evidence linking them to the murders. Still, that would not protect them. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery show American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US History. Presidential lies, Environmental disasters, Corporate fraud. In our latest in the PlayDA series, three teenage boys are falsely accused of a vicious triple homicide. But their story doesn't end with their trials or convictions. Instead, their plight will capture the imagination of the entire country and spark a campaign for justice that will last for almost two decades. Follow American Scandal on the Wondria or.

[Ash Kelly]

Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Detective/Police Officer or Interviewee]

You can binge all episodes of American Scandal the West Memphis three early and ad free right now on Wondri.