okay, i'm sorry to tell you ma'am. he's been killed. >> no, there god. no. >> she's like poison candy. attractive on the outside, but deadly on the inside. >> she was pure evil. >> if he fell in love with her. she thought the she was the end all, the all. >> she had everything she wanted. but she longed for one thing more. >> i'm positive. 5000% sure. >> this guy was going to kill. >> then it happened. her new husband, police said, murdered in their town house. >> something happened at her house and she needs to get to the house, fast. >> was this crime all that it seemed? >> she played such a good game and that people didn't know. >> a surprise was coming. >> you don't know what to think. >> and it would arrive from beyond the grief. >> oh, my god. >> there has not been a story like this, ever in palm beach county history. >> is she the villain? is she the victim? who knows? that is what makes her riveting? and she is infamous and probably will be forever. >> hello, and welcome to "dateline." well when dalia and michael first met, it was instant fireworks. an immediate attraction that turned into a fatal attraction. and to crack the case, investigators needed to know was dalia dippolito diabolical, or the winning pawn in a hoax gone wrong? it would take eight years to unwind this true tale of sex, lies and videotape. here's dennis murphy with the sting. >> the mesmerizing story of dalia, with a fittingly preposterous ending, begins in a place where conspicuous consumption and the envy index are as high as the humidity. palm beach, florida. >> it is the winter wonderland of the wealthy. you can drive over the bridge and immediately feel the rarefied air. the mentions, the hedges. >> palm beach post senior editor jan tuckwood, says some mainlanders can't resist the want to be a lot of palm beach. >> most people on the mainland are influenced. that richness is right there. and how can they get a piece to piece of it? >> over the bridge, past the interstate, newlyweds dalia and mike dippolito lived in a quarter million dollar condo in high and dry boynton beach. not exactly the same zip code as palm beach. but perfectly fine for two up and comers. dalia and mike had big dreams like any couple young and in love. aspiration. she had a 20,000 dollar diamond engagement ring. he had a porsche in the garage. their story for public consumption, the g rated version, was love at first sight. michael is an interim internet entrepreneur and dalia dippolito, the business woman he fell head over heels. for three months after the first meeting, marriage was inevitable. there was 18 see problem in their paradise. mike dippolito was married. lawyers jason brodie and josh friedman arranged a quickly divorce so the ballad of mike and dalia dippolito could begin. >> he fell in love with her. he thought she was the end all, the all. he felt as though this was it. i'm going to have a family with her. and we're going to grow altogether. >> he thought she was the real deal? >> they hit it off right away. they had a lot of things in common. they enjoy the same. thinks >> dalia is a real estate agent? >> yes. that's what attracted him tour her. she was successful on her own and didn't need anyone. >> are we talking about sexual attraction or is there more going on here? >> oh, their sexual obstruction. absolutely. >> with a divorce in my can dalia dash to the courthouse to marry. and soon fell into comfortable routines. morning workouts at the gym. steamy date nights at five star hotels. and love notes on the fridge. they seemed he seemed to be mike is dalia's dream guy. and three months into the marriage, according to michael, she told him she was ready. he was thrilled, life was good. but early one morning in august, 2009, it all came to an end for the two, with a finality as certain as crime scene tape strong across the front of a condo. dalia dippolito had been located at her 6 am workout by the boynton beach police. >> this is sergeant frank ramsey? ma'am, i need to talk to. is very urgent. it involves your. husband he's been in an incident. >> she was instructed to get home right away. when she arrived, she saw police cars out front. everything that spells disaster just ahead. it just so happened a camera crew from the tv show "cops" was there filming an episode with boynton beach police, when dalia got the awful. new miss? i'm sergeant ranzie. i'm the one that called you. thanks for. i'm sorry to call you. listen, we had a report of a disturbance at your house. >> the officer was direct with dalia. he said there been an intruder in the house and several shots were fired. >> is your husband michael? okay, i'm sorry to tell you, ma'am. he's been killed. he's been killed, ma'am. >> no, there god. no. i want to see him. >> i can't let you see him, ma'am. we have to do our. job >> michael dippolito her, husband of six months, gunned down in their town house, the cops were telling. her but she would not be allowed to go inside to see the body. >> i need you to go with these detectives, okay? do you have enemies? who would want to hurt him? if you want to help your husband, you need to go to the station with these gentlemen. until everything you know about who he knows, who he's connected to. >> the investigation was only minutes old when the officers told dalia dippolito they need her cooperation and understanding what had happened. >> we're going to do everything we can, okay? so, we need your help. we need to get your husband's killer, ma'am. >> let's dalia whisked off to the police station where she'd soon find out the detectives thought they knew much more about the details of the crime than they were letting on. this case was about to get very complicated. oh, yes. >> coming -- up the questions began. it seems that undercover agents had their eyes and hidden cameras trained on dalia dippolito. and when "dateline" continues. >> dalia dippolito has been called home from the gym to be told play police out front that any truth or had murdered her husband michael. >> is your husband michael? >> okay, i'm sorry to tell you ma'am, he's been killed. he's been killed, man. >> no, dear god. >> dalia was rushed to the boynton beach police department for the start of interviews. she began by telling the detectives that michael, her deceased husband, was it a sack lease week equally. >> he's been trying to get off probation. and it's just been nothing but problems the whole time he's been trying to get off. >> mike dippolito, she said, was a convicted felon. a swindler who built thousands of dollars from gullible investors by selling them phony currency securities. >> it was for taking money. it was like -- he explained it like "boiler room" kind of. where they would take money from people. >> in other words, her murdered husband was a guy with enemies. when he was released from prison after seven months, he was still looking at more than 25 years of probation. he'd been ordered to make restitution to the victims he had fleeced. an outstanding iou of $191,000. >> people weren't happy that he was getting off probation, because it's a lot of money he's got payback. >> find out who he owed, suggested dalia, and you'll find the killer. the cops listened, but changed a focused of their questioning to the couple themselves. dalia and michael, the newlyweds of six months. >> we're fine. there's nothing -- >> there is no problem between you guys? no financial problems? no -- i mean with your family? you and him? >> no, there is nothing. i mean we're going through -- his business has slowed down with, like anything, you know? >> but the cops were toying with dalia. holding back their best cards. they thought they knew so much more about the newlyweds. did they ever? let's freeze the action in the interview room for a second, and rolled everything back a few days. that's when a man walked into the boynton beach pd with a lurid story to tell. his married lover, he said, was shopping for a hit man. detective alex moreno didn't know what to make of this walk-in. >> at first, when he's giving you this information, you don't know what to. thank you know? here's a guy who is claiming that he sleeping with a guy's wife, and now she's trying to get somebody to kill him. >> quite a juicy story? >> exactly. >> detective moreno had the tipster run his story down from the top. the man was name it mohamed, and he said he was a part-time actor who worked at a convenience store. as he told it, he had been friends with benefits with a woman for years. they had met for the occasional casual sex. then, she asked him for help in finding a but hitman to ki her husband. >> he says, you know what? i'm sleeping with this guy's wife. but, at the same time idle this guy to be killed. and that was his concern. he couldn't sleep with that whole idea that this guy was going to get killed. >> the detective wondered if he was being sold a conquerable story. since this mohamed guy didn't even seem to know very much about the woman he claimed to be sleeping with. the detective challenged him. >> all the information he had was her first name. he didn't know where she lived. he didn't even know who her husband was. >> while they debated whether or not the tipsters story was credible, they knew that a life may be on the line. so, the detectives took it to the next level. they enlisted mohamed as a confidential informant and gave him a story to tell his part-time lover. that he had found her a hitman who could pull off the job. >> two things could have happened. either this guy was lying to us, or he was true. we had invalidated the information yet. until he actually makes contact. >> but mohamed, the tipster, set up a meeting with a win for the very next day. a car that he drove to the gas station meeting point had been rigged by police technicians for pictures and sound. undercover agents nearby would be watching the whole time to find out who this woman was, where she lived, who her husband was, and just what the heck was going on. >> she came down the street. came into the gas station. we picked up the car. and not only are we watching her, we're also hearing what's going on in the informants car. life. >> hey, what's up. >> i love you. >> i love you too. >> running down the license plates and registration yielded the name of a 26-year-old woman, dalia dippolito. the same woman who would later be seen on that videotape as the grieving widow. police officers didn't have to wait long before the informants story was confirmed. this woman in the car really appeared to be in the market for a trigger man. >> less than a minute or so, she begins talking about hiring somebody to kill her husband. >> i'm prompted? he's not doing anything to get the story out of her? >> what shocked us -- >> honestly, you think it's worth -- you know. killing over that much money? >> it's not even about the (bleep) money. it's not about the (bleep) money. well you know you'll splendid like a blink of an eye. >> the meeting seems to be all business. dalia produced photos of her husband for mohamed two hand over to the hitman. >> i brought pictures. >> just give me one picture of him. i don't want too much paper to carry. >> dalia brought something else hitman had requested. cash to buy the gun that would be used. >> i brought $1200. he's asking for $1200? >> yeah. >> where are you going to give him the money? >> today. he's coming to the store. >> she turns to money over? >> yes. >> is that a crime, detective, at that moment? >> it's not enough yet. we wanted to go a little bit further with this case. >> the police were about to test to dalia see if she was determined to have her new husband killed. coming up -- >> undercover agent tells or hey, i'm going to put two shots to the head. and it is an even face her. no remorse. >> you definitely want to do this? >> i'm positive. like 5000% sure. >> another undercover sting and a plan is set a motion for a deadly house call. when "dateline" continues. >> with the help of a confidential informant, the boynton beach police department had a fair apparently confirmed that a woman named dalia dippolito wanted to hire a hitman to kill her husband. and it all seemed to be caught on tape. >> you are sure that this -- (bleep) >> yo, this guy is a professional. it's not (bleep) he gets it done. that's it. >> all right, good. >> so, the police instructed their informant, a man named mohamed, to help set up another meeting with dalia. this time, it would be with the hitman, who would be of course, an undercover police officer. an agent. same drill again. meeting place outside a store. and a car wired for video and audio. >> a. >> we're staying in here, right? >> all right, yeah. >> okay. >> yeah. >> man, you look good. >> thank you. >> in that meeting, they begin making plans. she also tells our hitman where they live. she provides a schedule where her husband goes. comes and goes in the morning. where he's going to be the next day. she shows an intent. and the fact that she's here she is meeting with a complete stranger who she believes is a hitman. she actually goes as far saying, hey, i'd rather if it happened here. >> how are we going to do it successfully? if we go ahead and do it like, at the house, how do we, how soon could you do it? >> she just wants it done. and the sooner the better. >> does your agent give her a door out at this point? >> yes. he asked her more than once if she was sure if this is it was what she wanted done. she laughs about it and says, yeah, once i set my mind to do something, i do it. >> you definitely want to do this? >> and positive. like 5000% sure. >> the pretend hitman told her he'd use a gun. give him a tap, tap. >> he gets to in the head. that's it, you know? >> our undercover agent tells her hey, i'm going to put two in his head. meaning two shots to the head. and it doesn't even face. her no remorse. >> dalia and the hitman who is really an undercover cop, seemed to agree that he would kill her husband in two days time. he told her to be prepared to go to the gym early that morning. >> by the time you get back from the gym, you're going to find two. thanks his dead body in the house, all? right or nothing. >> all right. >> the day before, he called dalia with further instructions. >> tomorrow morning, you gotta be out by six. >> okay. >> does it hesitate. doesn't change your mind. none of that. she just says, okay. and that's it. >> the next morning, everything was going according to plan. left dalia for the gym. undercover cops telling her. >> one of our sergeants makes a phone call. while she's at the gym. and they inform her something happened at her house and she needs to get to the house, fast. >> she doesn't know the details, she just know something has happened, get home quickly? >> yes. and as she shows up at the house and once again, she makes contact with our sergeant. and she's inform of her husband's death, that he's been killed. >> i'm sorry to tell you, ma'am. he's been killed. he's been killed, ma'am. >> no, there god. no. >> if you look at that video, she begins to react before she's even told the whole story. according to that surgeon, who was actually making contact, we didn't see any tiers. >> when they brought her to the police station, investigators were curious to see how far dalia would push for scenario, blaming the murder of one of her husband's former clients. the detectives were clearly watching her interview on a tv monitor in a nearby room. >> people who aren't happy that he was getting off probation, because it's a lot of money has to pay back. >> he she mentions how he had enemies. he was on probation. she didn't even bother to ask how it happened. >> to their experienced eyes and ears, dalia who's making a few mistakes in how she was telling her theory of the crime. but they wanted to push her some more. see if they could get her to confess to the suspected murder plot, then and there. would she be obviously rattled when they landed a familiar's face? the person she believed to be the hitman. >> look at this guy right here. >> get over here. get over here. you know who this guy is? >> no. >> you've never seen before? >> no, i've never seen it before. ever. >> the man before her, actually the undercover police officer, was presented to dalia hear as someone they just snapped it for the killing of her husband. >> do you know her? put your head up and look at. her put your head up. >> i've never seen him. >> the detectives finally put their cards on the table. they told dalia that they knew this was the supposed hitman. and that the meeting where they planned to kill her husband all recorded on tape. >> that's an undercover police officer. we filmed everything that you did. recorded everything that you did. you're going to jail solicitation of first degree murder on your husband. >> i didn't do anything. >> did you hear what i just said? >> i heard what you said -- >> everything you -- listen to me. everything has been recorded. you are photographed in the comfortable when you sat in the car in front of the cvs. what do you want to do? >> oh, my god. >> rock steady to all appearances, dalia swore up and down she had nothing to do with the death of her husband. but the police had another surprise for her. truly a humdinger. they were about to walk a ghost into the doorway of the interview room. >> coming up -- >> oh, my god. >> he's alive. >> someone is back from the grave. when "dateline" continues. hello i'm philip manner and this is what's happening. the world health organization said it lost communication with al-shifa hospital. the largest in gaza. the ministry said multiple babies and icu patients have died in the hospitals, amid heavy bombardment. senator tim scott announced on sunday night he will be ending his 2024 presidential campaign. south carolina senator entered the race in may, but failed to make a major impact in the polls. scott has yet to endorse any of his rivals. now, back to dateline. >> imagine for a minute you're dalia dippolito. homicide effectives in the police interrogation room are accusing you of plotting your husband's murder. dalia didn't know it then, but her husband, mike dippolito, was still very much a life. and was about to come face to face with his wife of six months, who seemed to want him dead. >> i'm thinking in my head, i'm lucky, i'm lucky. i am like, i'm so screwed right now. the worst day in the world. >> before waking up that day, michael dippolito was clueless police thought his wife of six months had hired-y hitman to kill him. instead, he believed he and dalia had begun a loving new chapter together. they were about to start a family. she told him she was pregnant. was dalia at the gym when those tv cameras for the reality show "cops" captured the moment police knocked on my front door. >> police department. open your door. i'm sorry. and with the police department. can i talk to you? >> yes, for sure. >> we say hey, listen, this is what we're doing. were conducted in and investigation. >> he says, your wife is gonna have you killed today. you have to come with us. i just looked at him and i'm like -- i mean, it hit me. >> you don't hear those words every day? >> no. >> the officers told michael he had to come with them right away to the boynton beach police station, before his wife got back from the gym. getting the grab your stuff, get in the car, rather here. >> yes. >> meanwhile, outside his town house, the police were starting to stage dress a phony murder scene. all to trick dalia into thinking the hitman heat apparently hired, had successfully completed the job. boynton beach police recorded those moment as did the crew from the "cops" tv show. but the murky involvement with of a tv show would later complicate accusations against dalia. at the station, the detectives cued up their own surveillance videos. showing mike, the husband, dalia as she seemed to to shop for a hit man. >> i'm positive. like 5000% sure. >> then the police allowed michael to watch his wife's realtime police investigation going on in another room. dalia, who had no idea her husband was alive, told her police interviewer she had nothing to do with where whatever had happened to him. even after they brought in the undercover copped who posed as her hitman. >> put your head up. >> i've never seen him. >> i'm watching and i'm waiting for her to give it up. and you know what? the girl never gave it up. >> was dalia arrested and handcuffed. and cameras were still rolling when police walked a very much a life michael into the doorway of the interrogation room. >> oh, my god. >> he's alive. >> and they say, you know this guy? and i'm standing there, probably twice the distance of us. >> please, come here, police. come here. >> i can't. >> why not? >> i didn't do anything. >> i heard you. >> mike, come here, please. come here. >> and that's when she says, come here. i love you. i love you. i told her, i said look, i can't. i said, you can't fix this. >> now it was michael's turn to tell the police his story, warts and all. correcting for the record that love at first sight fairytale. >> i can tell you i didn't meet her in a church. >> she's actually an escort. that's how i met. her she came to my office one day. >> dalia dennis was an escort. and mike describes ordering her up from an escort service. he claims even now, there was a mutual attraction that went far beyond that initial transaction. >> when i met dalia, we seemed to connect instantly. we hit it off right away. >> it wasn't just bad? >> no, it was everything about her. we just clicked. you know? be it our sex life. be it just our spare time. be it the things we liked. all that. and it just happened. >> three months after they met, michael divorced his first wife and married dalia that same week. >> i just purchased a home and we were gonna start a life together. we talked about traveling and doing things. you know? we had a future planned. >> but there was a hitch to michael's future. the terms of his probation prevented him from leaving south florida. so, the couple consulted a lawyer. his advice was, pay off that hundred and $191,000 in restitution, and you have a fair chance of getting the probation listed. so, that was your ticket to freedom? >> pay back money and yeah, get my. freedom and dalia said she would help me with some of the money. about 90,000. and i'm like, absolutely, let's do it. >> michael says he and dalia agreed that they would pool their money to pay off dippolito's debt. >> this is great. she's pushing me forward, too. i thought, okay, i'm going to get off probation. it's very exciting for me. >> then the plan to get michael out of hock changed again. according to michael, another lawyer said to him, look, you own your townhouse free and clear. why not just turn the title over two dalia? then she can do money things for you, no problem. so, michael gave her the deed to the town house. as well as $100,000 cash. his part of that payback of the restitution deck. the money was supposed to go to his attorney, but it never got there. >> i'll tell you where it unraveled. as soon as i got dalia that hundred thousand, is where it went downhill. >> and he says, after dalia got that nice sized chunk of change, he started to have a string of run-ins with the police. including one night after dinner out with dalia. they left the restaurant to find a police forming michaels vehicle. after a search, they found cocaine stashed beneath the spare tire. >> i actually start crying to this cop. i'm like, look, man. i haven't done anything in a five and a half years. i don't know how, why, or what happened. they let me go. they couldn't even believe it. >> and you would've gone back to prison because you had violated probation? >> yeah. yeah. absolutely. >> now he didn't want to think that the light of his life could be behinds something as nefarious as getting him thrown back in prison. but, the idea was there. maybe dalia -- >> i said to her, you know, only when i'm with you, my life is this exciting. five and a half years on probation, i didn't have one run in with police. i'm with this girl, six months, and the whole police department knows me. i might as well glow flourescent. >> so you're looking at her side we could see? >> i'm just like, i'm doing the best i can. be a good husband. give her. chance >> no one seem to believe she's faking it? >> no, she may have been a bad actress the day they caught on camera. as far as with me, she was an academy award winner. >> he says dalia also seemed to be playing the role as an expectant mother. there never was a baby, was there? >> there never was a baby. >> another thing dalia was not expecting was formal charges being filed against her. solicitation to commit first degree murder with a firearm. >> hello? >> hello. >> a, gets me. >> but even after her arrest, dalia phoned michael from jail. pleading with him to get her an attorney. claiming the cops had gotten it already. >> what they're saying is not true. >> you said you wanted to have me killed. i heard that. >> that's not true. >> what's your problem? how is it not true? >> that's not true. >> they're charging your (bleep). do you get it? >> i didn't do. anything >> she won't give it up. i didn't do it. i didn't do it. why aren't you helping me? you know i love you. over and over. i'm like, are you kidding? i said, well what do you want me to do? >> you're supposed to get me an attorney. please, so i can talk to you. >> even though she would later be released under house arrest, while still in jail, dalia begged the guy she was accused of trying to kill to help her find a lawyer to beat the charge. michael saw the phone call as an opportunity to play let's make a deal. >> i said, get me my house back less of all the problems and legal bills. i said, and i'll get you a lawyer. >> so, listen, sign my property back to me, and i'll help you. okay? >> i'm not signing anything. >> so i can't help you. >> and because of florida's strong open records law, her jailhouse phone calls and all the police surveillance tapes made by the boynton beach cops, would become public. they were out there viral on youtube. [noise] >> those images of dalia blue who wing online would be seen by thousands of viewers who lambasted her in the comments section. but the people with the only opinion that mattered were convened on youtube. they were in a west palm beach, florida, courtroom. what would a jury of her peers make of dalia and michael? >> coming up -- the case heads into court and outcome more secrets. >> it was like something out of the movie. it was unreal. >> people seeking their 15 minutes of fame lose all sense of judgment. and common sense. >> was this whole thing a hoax? when "dateline" continues. tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? 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yeah, i'm ready. is your treatment leaving you with uncontrolled symptoms? like the cover-it-ups and brush-it-offs? enough with good enoughs. don't stay hiding or hurting. when your lotions and creams don't do enough to help treat the inflammation beneath the skin, causing plaques and pain, it's time to get real about psoriasis, so, your dermatologist can help you get clear. make the appointment and ask about real clear skin. so, dennis murphyogist can(voiceover): whatar. >> what started as a tentative started as a tentative police sting operation-- police sting operation, was now being argued in front of a jury, in a west palm beach florida quarters. 28-year-old dalia dippolito was accused of murdering the first degree, can they can get around to 30 years in prison. the she pleaded not guilty. the prosecutor, liz parker would-inchers a trove of evidence. audio recordings, videos, including that scene, which dalia tells an undercover cop, posing as a hit man, she wanted her husband, mike dippolito dead asap. >> it was unreal, it was like something out of a movie. >> dalia already spent two years under house arrest in her mother's home, by the time the trial began in april, 2011. >> they say love is blind. in this case, love was blind, deaf and dumb. >> the jury would hear the prosecution argue that the six month marriage of michael and dalia was a fraud from the beginning. >> she made him believe this was an amazing marriage. he never wanted to believe that his wife, the person he loved more than anything, wanted to have him killed. >> the prosecutor said dalia was juggling to lovers on the side, and was trying to get each of them, and get her husband bumped off. >> she is playing all of these guys, they are all thinking they are the one, and the only person she cared about was herself. >> detective alex moreno read back text messages dalia wrote about her husband to her lovers. >> i really hate him, and want to see him rot. >> let's get this -- arrested. >> to the prosecution, her scheme was apparent. planned drugs on michael, tip off the cops and get him busted back to prison on a parole violation. >> she tries to have him arrested for months. >> the alleged motive? greed. prosecutors say she wanted to keep michaels condo and his money, all for herself. but, when the schemes did not work out, says the prosecution, dalia settled on the fatal solution. she would simply have michael killed so everything would be hers. the prosecution's case was airtight, with all of those mesmerizing tapes of dalia plotting out a murder, and also the video from the cops tv show, with her, as she learned of her husband's murder. but no one could have predicted dalia's defense. >> we live in the world, where people seeking their 15 minutes of fame, lose all sense of judgment, and common sense. >> dalia's defense attorney, michael salnick said this whole thing was a crazy story about dalia's husbands vanity, and his thirst for fame. it was him behind the fake murder, the mastermind, just so he could be known beyond brighton beach. >> mike dippolito's hopes, to orchestrate his own murder, to achieve fame and fortune, was a bad prank. it was never anyone's intention to harm anyone. >> the defense argued it was all a tv pitch. michael, auditioning for his big break. >> the evidence will show that the plot, with the contract killing of mike dippolito was never real. mike dippolito hoped to capture the attention of someone in reality tv. >> the defense attorney argued that dalia was in on the reality tv show idea the whole time. that scene out front, with dalia whaling? acting, says the defense. >> dalia knew mike was not harmed, and hers was a fake reaction to a fake event. >> the defense put mike dippolito hard on cross examination, accusing him of dragging dalia down, with his stupid idea of being a tv star. >> this whole reality thing was actually orchestrated by you, wasn't it? >> i do not know what you are talking about. >> the silliest thing i have ever heard. i mean, completely made up. >> all right, let's bring in the jury, please. >> after two weeks of trial testimony, the jury agreed. >> we find the defendant guilty of solicitation to commit first degree murder. >> in the, and the judge sentenced for 20 years, and gave dalia a piece of his mind before sending her behind bars. >> it was weeks, months that you continued with these different schemes, trying to rig yourself of your husband. this is pure evil. >> but that was not the final note, in the ballot of mike and dalia. in a move that surprised the prosecution, just three months after sentencing, the judge who called dalia pure evil, allowed her to post a 500,000 dollar bond. she was released from jail, and once again placed under house arrest, where she repealed her conviction. fast forward three years, and dalia won her repeal for a new trial. >> the judge in her first trial failed to properly filter the jurors for potential bias, and exposure to pretrial publicity. >> brian claypool was one of dalia's new lawyers. >> some of the jurors said she was a guilty in front of the entire jury pool, which contaminated the jury pool. >> and so, more than seven years after dalia dippolito was charged with hiring a hit man to kill harassment, she would go on trial again,. >> when she heard the news she had been granted a retrial, she was extremely overjoyed, because she felt like she would have a second chance to have the truth be told. >> she would speak exclusively to dateline, and oh what a story should tell. this real housewife of boynton beach, so much better than reality tv. >> coming up. >> as far as you back string all of these things. >> did you want to have your husband, mike, dead? >> no. >> murder for hire, or audition for television? >> dalia dippolito was used as a pawn by the boynton beach police department to manufacture good tv. >> a cliff-hanger of an episode is coming up, when "dateline" continues. sitting? doesn't matter. i don't even have to touch them. ooo, gangsta. in a hurry? there's not a faster, easier way to put on shoes. they know a 10 when they see it. after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. she found it. the feeling of finding the psoriasis treatment she's been looking for. sotyktu is the first-of-its-kind, once-daily pill for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis... for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding that outfit psoriasis tried to hide from you. or finding your swimsuit is ready for primetime. dad! once-daily sotyktu is proven to get more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. ask your dermatologist about sotyktu for clearer skin. so clearly you. sotyktu. the ball is out and there's a pile-up. -let's go! -get in the pile! ugh, i'll deal with this tomorrow. you won't. it's ripe in here. my eyes are watering. i'm a busy man. look how crusty this is. shameful. ugh, it's just too much. not with this. tide. tide can tackle any pile. that a tackle pun? 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(vo) it's your vision, it's your verizon. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. >> welcome back. lwelcome back.ay. dalia dippolito was caught on tape, plotting to have her has been killed. asked trial, she mounted a defense no one saw coming, claiming it was all a bizarre reality tv publicity stunt, engineered by michael. the jury did not buy it, and she was found guilty. but in a case, filled with twists, the verdict was overturned. it is now time for the retrial, and dalia's defense team had more troops in store. here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of "the sting". >> and now, the season finale of the dalia and mike dippolito show. more than seven years after dalia's outburst went viral, and five years after she was sentenced, for 20 years, for hiring a hit man to kill her husband, she was again back in court on the same charge, facing a possible 30 year stretch. >> good afternoon, miss dippolito. >> first at a pretrial hearing, as they tried to get the entire case dismissed, her new team grew a new reality tv defense. that she, her former lover, and sometimes tv extra maimed mohamed, i have been planning a tv presentation to be posted on social media. those in court meetings were not about arranging a hit, they were all about that tv presentation. >> the purpose of meeting him was to discuss the presentation, the taping, what would be on there. >> she claims she wanted to back out of the reported tv project. she insisted that mohamed was having none of it. >> and at that point, he lifted his shirt, showed me his gun and threatened me, threatened to hurt me, hurt my family. >> mohamed, the informant, denied threatening her or are participating in a reality tv production. >> the reality tv defense seems to play into this whole story. >> palm beach editor says that her defense was weirdly appropriate. >> it just seemed makes total sense, because the whole story does not make sense. so just throw in that angle, i want to be famous. so, let's do this stunt, if it was a stunt. it is absolute weirdness. >> the story did not fly with the new judge, and a motion to dismiss was thrown out. and so, in december, 2016, dalia showed up at the palm beach county courthouse once again, new trial, new jury. >> we are going to have the opening statement by the attorneys. >> prosecutor craig williams version of the 2009 events were the same as ever, although a skeleton of the full story. >> it is based 100%, on miss dippolito's words, her actions and her intent. 100%. >> we have it all on tape, he says. dalia, hiring a hit man to kill her husband. >> for $700, she wanted to boast put in her husband's head. >> and then it was dalia's turned, with her defense provided by los angeles tierney -- she says it was a reality tv production for their own 15 minutes of fame on a cops tv show. >> you can't break the rules and then be rewarded by breaking the rules. and that is really what this case is about. >> everybody is entitled to a police investigation, that has integrity. this never really was a credible police investigation. rather, dalia dippolito was used as a pawn by the boynton beach police department to manufacture good tv, for a cops tv show. >> right kansas boynton beach undermined on investigation, when the officer had that video posted online. >> several hours of video footage by cops, and the boynton beach pd. he went over to the police department, and show them this? >> correct. >> and you knew at the time there was a pending criminal investigation of dalia dippolito, correct? >> correct. >> in the end, dalia's team contended that that constitution her constitutional rights. look at them and running the surveillance video, and find the target, dalia, not guilty. >> this was a police department, in love with publicity. and by virtue of that, they tossed dalia dippolito under the bus. a police department cannot toss a client's constitutional rights under the bus to make good television. >> as dalia waited for a jury of six to decide her fate, flanked by her attorneys, she spoke exclusively to dateline. >> for the past seven years, it has been a complete nightmare. >> she told us her nightmare began after she complained that she had been the victim of domestic abuse, an accusation her now ex husband michael strongly denies. she says she was used by the boynton beach police. >> we are here because they turned what should have been a complaint, into getting the help, questioning me and stuff, into this big production for a crops tv show deadline that they had, and they started manufacturing all of these things, creating these scenarios and putting me in these situations that look horrible. >> the police say they did not ignore a domestic abuse case, they were trying to stop a murder for hire plot, and those cops tv cameras did not change the substance of their investigation into dalia. >> did you want to have your husband, mike, that? >> no. >> were you soliciting his murder? >> absolutely not, no. >> after nearly ten hours of deliberation, half of the jury seemed to agree. >> we, the jury find after deliberations still cannot reach the unanimous verdict. >> the judge was forced to declare a mistrial. meanwhile, mike dippolito was glued to the tv, beside himself. >> i will be honest i was watching thinking, what? and i think to myself, what do these people need to see, you know? she is on video, saying she wants to have me killed, to two different people, one being a police officer. >> he says she believes the jury was distracted by the defense teams hocus focus. >> so what i say to you, is everybody in the world, it is sad to say, she is basically beat the legal system twice, now. >> you think she should do hard time? >> honestly, i would like to see her go and taste it. >> under house arrest, dalia went home again to her new baby boy, father by a child with a man with an extensive rap sheet. on june 2nd, 2017, she went on trial again, for the third time. this time, the prosecutors who had come up short in the previous trial with their shorthanded counter case, presented the full shakespearean version of dalia story. >> she murdered her husband and cold blood, had two bullets in her. >> this time, the judge admitted testimony previously not presented. that dalia once tried to poison her husband. >> she told you that she researched something on the internet, about some kind of and i freeze, that is odourless, does not have a smell, doesn't have a color, and she put it in his tea. >> and that she had previously tried to hire a hitman to kill her husband before the murder for hire plot was caught on tape. >> and allure text messages were read out between dahlia and her lovers, in which dalia discussed framing mic by planting cocaine in his car, and then alerting the police. >> we need drugs in the car, that would put him away for a while. >> this time, dalia's defense was not strong enough for that onslaught of evidence. after just 90 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned its verdict. >> we find the defendant guilty of a solicitation to commit first degree murder. >> dalia dalia was taken away, her family sobbing. and the following month, after pressuring victim impact statements from mike dippolito. >> the girl tried killing me four or five times, handed be an ice tea with antifreeze in it, smiled. >> the judge sentenced dalia to 16 years in state prison. a month later, she was back in court again, her lawyers, arguing the trial was not valid, because the testimony about dalia trying to poison her husband should never have been allowed. but, by now, she was cooked. perhaps her last ray of hope for freedom came in a petition to the supreme court of the united states, but her case was denied. and so, dalia dippolito, the real housewife of boynton beach, who became a worldwide reality tv sensation, was now in may w42222. yes, really. >> that is all for this edition of "dateline". i am natalie morales, thanks for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". he already told you the guys were flying up from florida.