well, perhaps not all of it. these two brothers may have lost both their parents, but they still have each other. it s my little bro. yeah. in april 2018, accused hit man anthony bridget was found guilty on several charges, including the murder of ariet girgis. he was sentenced to life and is appealing the verdict. the second intruder has never been identified, and despite investigators suspicions, neither has the mysterious middleman. you never found out who that was? not yet. been ten years. that s true. took me nine to get magdi. you have to be patient in this line of work. we never found who that was?
the murder of ariet girgis, when detective james wilson got his first solid break. home invaders had tied up ariet s son, ryan, with a shoelace. the detectives submitted that shoelace to a crime lab, hoping for a long-shot dna hit, and the results were in. the dna belonged to anthony bridget. he had numerous violent conduct, including prior conviction for manslaughter. so, this was no novice. long, violent rap sheet. absolutely. bridget also had a drug conviction. and remember, ryan girgis admitted he sometimes dealt weed. could ryan and anthony bridget have known each other? is that why richard immediately wondered if ryan was the target of the attack? police considered that theory and dismissed it. in fact, for police, anthony bridget and his gang
computers as person contacted by police. and yet the dna proved anthony bridget was the attacker who had tied up ryan. detective wilson entered the information into the computer. so who is he? a member of the crips. the crips. one of the most notorious and violent gangs in the u. s. and mr. bridget, street name little shotgun, was by any standard, a professional criminal. coming up he had the resume you would expect the intruders to have. the kind of guy you would hire to commit murder. that s right. a whole new suspect. did you know where he was? i knew exactly where he was investigators paid a surprise visit. when dateline continues. (geri) i m geri, i smoked, and i have late-stage copd. i m hoping to get on the lung transplant list. but, i don t know if i ll be accepted in time.
affiliation confirmed ryan s story. for one, bridget matched ryan s account that the man who tied him up seemed like a gang member. it looked like he was one of those guys that just came out of the pen and stuff and just, like, wanted revenge on someone. and two bridget s prior booking photos matched the sketch ryan had given police. and so, investigators developed a different theory about bridget s involvement. he had the resume that you would expect the intruders who came to kill ariet to have. the kind of guy you d hire to commit murder. that s right. and they suspected the person who hired him was magdi girgis. but of course, there was no proof of any of that. i m guessing one of the things you did pretty early on was subpoena magdi s bank records. oh, yes. looking for that big chunk of money that he took out a few
them. possibly he knew them. so, you have them pose as friends of the guy in the house. yes. and he s now in jail. in prison, which as we knew, that was true, because anthony bridget was in prison. and so, his friends are, what, trying to leverage that knowledge into some extra money for them. correct. operations like this are especially tricky. there s usually only one shot to get it right. if the phony gangsters threaten magdi, the sting wouldn t hold up in court, and magdi could walk free. and at the same time, one thing had to be crystal clear. you want to make sure that everybody knows that we re talking about the crime that occurred about his wife being murdered in that particular house. that couldn t be left ambiguous. a risky plan, and no guarantees it would work. true that a lot of das might not go for an operation like