3 NYC Men Charged In Newburgh Murder-For-Hire Plot

NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) -- A judge has set high bail for two men and no bail for a third charged in a murder-for-hire plot that left a former police officer and his nephew dead in the Hudson Valley.

Charged with first- and second-degree murder are 51-year-old Craig Fennell of the Bronx, 56-year-old Frank Lewis of Brooklyn, and 41-year-old Victor Koltun, a rabbi from Brooklyn. They entered not guilty pleas at arraignment Wednesday. All three have criminal records, including manslaughter and attempted murder for Fennell and attempted murder and bank robbery for Lewis. Fennell was held without bail.

Gerald and Francis Piscopo were found shot to death Nov. 4 in Newburgh.

Francis Piscopo was a sergeant with the Lloyd police department who left the force in 1990 and has since faced charges of intimidating a witness as part of a marijuana ring and stealing from his department.

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