Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20210102 : comparemela.com

then, someone else made a killing, too. >> the only purpose of the crime was to make sure she was dead. >> reporter: his wife. ambushed by a shadowy man, in black. was someone after their fortune? >> i called her to warn her. >> reporter: was the answer on this tape? >> his wife was being killed, at that exact moment? >> reporter: a crime of greed and gold. would detectives, hunting for a killer, strike gold, too? >> he wasn't someone that i would ever think could be involved in something like this. welcome to "dateline." a down-on-their-luck, california couple wound up making a fortune in gold. but gold did not buy them happiness. in fact, it just might have been a motive for murder. here is josh markowitz. m >> reporter: take a look at thi security video, and tell me what you see. a woman walks, alone, to her car in a parking garage, in century city, california. is she in danger? same building complex, different angle. a man focuses on his cell phone, oblivious to those c around him. who is he calling? you are, in fact, watching scenes from a marriage. the final scenes, as it turns out. the woman is pamela and the man is her husband, jim. at the time this video was recorded, one of them had just minutes to live. rewind the video, to just a few minutes earlier. they have just had a meeting with their lawyers. they are in the midst of a bitter divorce. it's 6:30 p.m. the meeting is over. pamela hurries to catch the elevator, and gets off at the third floor. she walks to her car, and reaches for the keys, inside her purse. >> that's when she was attacked. >> reporter: then, los angeles prosecutor, alan t jackson, wou spend many hours scrutinizing that video. >> tell me about the attack. >>bo brutal. vicious. hea heart-stopping. pamela was completely defenseless. she was attacked, i believe, from behind, first, with a knife. somebody, much larger than her. somebody, much stronger than her, who had an absolute ad mission, and that was to cut her throat, to kill her. >> reporter: on the video, you can see people in the complex starting to walk toward the sound of pam's screaming. one man ran to the scene and saw a tall man, in a black, hooded sweatshirt, jump into the backseat of a red suv that was parked behind pam's car, and be driven away. that witness, then, tried to help pam. >> and then, as he walked around, to where the attack took place, that's when he first saw pamela. he said that, when she looked at him, he went into a little shock because the only thing that was not covered in blood was the whites of her eyes. she stood, and she walked toward him, even after having suffered these horrible, mortal wounds. and she reached out her arms, and simply said, help me. >> reporter: it was too late for anyone to help pam. paramedics pronounced her dead, at the scene. century city is only 176 acres. its gleaming office towers and high-dollar town homes lying entirely within the city of los angeles. and what makesly this w place rs money because century city is home to agents, film producers, and agents. usually, around here, when someone talks about bloody murder, they are talking about a deal thatal went south. this time, it was the real thing. the lead detective for the lapd, investigating pam's murder, was salam abdul rockman. >> wasn't robbed? >> no, she wasn't. >> she wasn't assaulted? >> no, she was not. >> so, the purpose of that crime was to kill her. >> that was the only purpose of the crime, was to get rid of her and to make sure she was dead. >> abdul says the murder was carefully planned. it's about 6:30 at night. >> that's correct. >> and she is walking to her car, what, alone? >> by herself. >> and at some point, what, the killer comes up behind her? >> well, the killer pulled up in the burgundy suv, behind her vehicle. >> so, blocking her? >> blocking her, so she can't move her car from the parking spot. the killer gets out of the back, passenger seat, and approaches her from behind. >> how long did the attack take, start to finish? >> from start to finish, i would say anywhere from one to three minutes. >> reporter: police found no eyewitnesses to the actual stabbing, but there were people close by. >> there was an individual in the building across the street from where she was killed. that individual observed her grab theiv railing. and then, observed an arm come around and bring her back into the parking structure. and at that time, he didn't see her any longer. >> that was the killer? >> that was the e killer. >> reporter: police comb the crime scene looking for answers. and they, also, started looking at the victim, pam, and her husband jim. the couple had been married nine years. together, they ran a gold-trading business called goldfinger. and together, it had made them rich. but, what had been a good marriage had deteriorated, even as the money came in. now, it was no secret that pam and her husband were involved in a nasty, high-stakes divorce. it was, also, no secret that jim could not have committed the murder.at >> when she was killed, it was impossible that he was holding the knife because he was with his attorneys, at that moment. >> in the same building? >> in the same building. >> he couldn'tth have gotten aw from them long enough to get down to the parking garage and kill his wife? >> no. and also, after she was murdered, there was>> video tha put him in the courtyard, so it was impossible for him to be at two implaces, at one time. >> reporter: that security video shows jim trying v to make a ce phone call, at exactly the moment you see people reacting to pam's screams. not only that, but, a tall man, wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt, clearly, was not a description of jim. a woman, murdered. a bitter divorce. but certainly, the husband wasn't the killer. so, who was? a very rich mystery was underway. coming up. the hunt is on for a motive and a suspect. did the secret to this killing lay hidden in the rush for gold? >> she wanted to make sure her friends were happy, and taken care of, no matter what it took. >> when "dateline" continues. oo. >> when "dateline" continues ng. great street, huge yard. there is a bit of an issue with our neighbors fencing. neighbor 1: allez! (sound from wind chimes) neighbor 2: (laughing) at least geico makes bundling our home and car insurance easy. which helps us save even more. neighbor 2: hey, sarah, hey, peter! neighbor 1: touché. neighbor 2: ahhh! neighbor 1: pret! neighbor 2: en garde! for bundling made easy, go to geico.com ojust one jar of olay retinol24? hydrates better than the $100 retinol cream. for smooth, bright skin or your money back. olay. face anything. and try new retinol24 max. after the brutal attack on pamela fayed, investigators started to look very closely at her life and her marriage. hoping to find any clues, which would lead them to her killer and a motive. returning to the goldfinger mystery, here, again, is josh markowitz. >> reporter: pam fayed was dead, stabbed to death in a century city parking garage. lapd detective, salaam abdul has seen enough cases to know that, in his line of work, murder and marriage go together, like a horse and carriage. the ongoing, fayed divorce, therefore, got his attention. >> acrimonious, nasty, bitter. mr. fayed was really upset with his wife, mrs. fayed. >> reporter: and so, that marriage would bear much more scrutiny. investigators set about talking to friends and family, to solve the mystery of pam's death, they needed to start with the story of her life. >> pamela had a spirit that was infectious. >> reporter: carole neeve was pam's best friend. >> she was always happy. she had a personality that just -- just sucked you in, and kept you there. >> reporter: carole met pam, decades ago. >> we were neighbors, and we did become best friends, to the tune of, every day, we talked. every single day. >> reporter: that was long before jim came into the picture, of course. >> good morning, baby. >> reporter: pam was a single mom. she and carole babysat for each other's kids, walked their babies together, went shopping, shared recipes, and hung out during the holidays. >> pamela was, very much, family to me. >> pam was the most caring, loving, giving person you would ever meet. life was about other people. >> reporter: tina holland is another friend. she and pam met when their youngest children started attending the same school. they planned family vacations together and trips to disneyland. one year, pamela bought her daughter jeanette and tina's sons costumes, just for the sake of creating happy memories. her daughter was a princess. tina's sons, a pirate and peter pan. >> she wanted to make sure her friends were happy, and taken care of, no matter what it took. and i realized that, when i first met her. that, you know, she was one of the people that i was going to have as a lifetime friend. >> reporter: pam made and sold jewelry, and she worked hard at it. but, she wanted more than that. >> she wanted happiness and not to be alone. her dreams were to have a family life, and find a mate to share her life with who would love her children. >> reporter: which is why it seemed so perfect when, in 1989, an electrician named jim fayed came into her life. he was single, no children. >> they seemed to get along, very well. pammy always smiled when she'd look at him. sat close and snuggled. and after dinner, sat on the couch next to each other, and it seemed to be a very good fit. >> reporter: but, more important to pam was that jim treated pam's young daughter, desiree, as if she were his own. >> he came into our lives when i was about 6 years old. they started dating, and slowly, you know, she started introducing this man to me. and i, actually, i grew attached to him. i looked at him as that father figure that i needed in my life. >> i kind of get the feeling that he sort of seemed to step up to the job of tissue stepfat which a lot of guys don't want to do. >> we actually got very close to each other. he was very caring and loving towards me. >> reporter: what did you like most about him? >> he was funny. i just liked being around him. >> reporter: funny, but not nearly as social and outgoing as pam. >> jim was a gentle soul. very quiet kind of soul. very private, back then. she saw jim as someone who would provide for the family, had a good, honest job doing electrical work. >> reporter: when they learned pam was pregnant, they decided to make it official. jim and pam were married in vegas, in 1999. now, they were the parents of two girls. young desiree, and even younger jeanette. with more mouths to feed, the couple began to experience some rough patches, financially. jim, often, worked as an electrical contractor for the government. a job, that would take him on the road for weeks at a time. then, there were times when the work would run out, and he would have to scramble to find more. >> it was a struggle. they argued. pam felt abandoned, a lot. >> reporter: at one point, pam went on public assistance. it was something she'd promised herself would never happen. but now, pam had to go down that path. it's possible, she blamed jim for that reversal of fortune. >> it was a point where they would argue, and she wasn't sure she wanted to still be there. she would call me, and ask me for help and ask me to send money. i'd sent her money twice or three times to start divorce proceedings. and then, they would always make back up and move on. and that was fine. i just wanted my friend to be happy. >> reporter: racking her brain. trying to think of ways to provide for her husband and daughters, pam came up with the idea of mixing her love of working with precious metals, with jim's interest in coin collecting. together, the couple started buying and selling gold and silver coins. soon, that grew into an internet-based company they could manage from their home. and it started bringing in money. they called their business goldfinger coin and bullion. the year was 2001, and there was a new gold rush in america. the fayeds had found their way to a get-rich-quick scheme that worked. but as investigators would discover, what tripped them up were many of the same human frailties that so bedeviled those 49ers who panned for gold, instead of picking on it. and so, here is another question. if money is the root of all evil, then what is gold? >> someone else had a close eye on this lucrative business, and the color of money was about to turn very dark, indeed. coming up. >> i called her to warn her. >> when "dateline" continues. w. >> when "dateline" continues jos who have turned into their parents. i'm having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. so we're using a speakerphone in the store. is that a good idea? one of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. you're looking for a grout brush, this is -- garth, did he ask for your help? -no, no. -no. we all see it. we all see it. he has blue hair. -okay. -blue. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. -keep it coming. -you don't know him. today's discussion will be around sliced meat. moms want healthy... and affordable. land o' frost premium!!! no added hormones either. it's the only protein i've really melted with. land o' frost premium. fresh look. same great taste. when they're sick, they get comfortable anywhere and spread germs everywhere. nothing kills more viruses, including the covid-19 virus, on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray. lysol. what it takes to protect. jim and pam fayed had staked their claim in the online gold-trading business. they began by buying old, gold coins, and selling them, at a profit. then, they expanded. setting up what was essentially a small bank. storing gold for customers, and allowing them to borrow against it. the market grew, and so did the bottom line. pam's best friend, carole neeve. >> they went to gold shows, trade shows in las vegas, san diego, la, do all the meet-and-greet kind of thing. pam was very good at that. she was very charming. jim was more the laid-back, stay away, sit in the booth. >> reporter: timing was good. in 2001, gold was hovering around $250 an ounce. then, it started to take off like a rocket. by 2008, gold was listed at $800 an ounce. soon, the fayeds were getting rich, just off the fees they charged for selling the gold online. >> it doesn't take much to be able to turn a profit. every transaction, whether it's $100 or $2,000 or $100,000, if you were making anywhere from 3 to 5%, per transaction, you've got money coming in. >> reporter: very quickly, the fayeds started making a lot of money. they moved their home business, that this building outside la, and hired employees to staff it. they bought a 2,800-square-foot home. a second home, in nearby moore park, which they called happy camp ranch. complete with horses for pam and jeanette. they were nouveau riche, perhaps, but they were determined not to flaunt it too much. even their oldest daughter, desiree, who started working for the company as a teenager, did not realize how much her parents were raking in. >> so, when you hear figures of tens of millions of dollars coming in, that's news to you. >> it is. yeah. >> did they live that way? >> we had an average house. a two-story home. we weren't living in a mansion. we had extra money to do things we wanted, but it wasn't enough to show they were millionaires, to be honest. >> you never felt like you were rich or living lavishly. >> i knew that we were well off, but not to the millionaire status. >> reporter: one thing the fayeds income did mean was that pam could be a full time mom, something she always dreamed of. >> she wanted to be able to stay home and raise her kids. work, if she wanted to, when she wanted to, which is part of owning your own company. >> reporter: and jim liked if that way, too. he may have liked that, a little too much. though, pam was the vice president of goldfinger coin and bullion, jim fayed was the president. he seemed to like the sound of that. and he, apparently, loved controlling just about every aspect of the business. >> he, originally, was a really humble guy and i feel as the business grew, so did his ego. and basically, changed the person he was into thinking almost as if he was someone who was invincible. >> reporter: and then, one day, jim discovered that he wasn't. his health started to slip. he developed rheumatoid arthritis, and started taking a lot of pills to dull the pain from that. and perhaps, a different side of jim fayed began to emerge. >> there became a point where jim was addicted to pain medications. and it wasn't the same jim that pam knew. by this point, jim wanted total control of her and the company. and her job was to stay home and be a wife. >> reporter: as controlling as jim was, he couldn't control the arthritis in his joints. it forced him to give up going to the office. was he in the hospital or bedridden or -- >> he was bedridden, yes. >> for how long? >> for a couple years. >> really? so, he barely got out of bed for a couple years? >> yes. i felt as he became bedridden, he wasn't as social with us, anymore. he kind of stayed in his bedroom. basically, i felt like he kind of left us, as a family. we didn't really see him much, at that point. it kind of angered me, seeing the person he was turning into. >> reporter: the year was 2006. desiree says, as jim became harder to get along with, it served to push away pam's attempts to be more involved with the company, while her husband was ill. >> i could hear them bickering about the business, on a daily basis. >> specifically? >> nothing specific but just little things here and there that needed to be changed. >> reporter: that are disagreements grew daily and festered, to the point where the couple separated. jim started spending more and more time at the ranch home in moore park. and while the fayed marriage was crumbling, federal prosecutors were taking a look at the booming online gold-trading business. they were looking for evidence of fraud, of tax evasion, and of the transferring of money without the proper-government license. pam's friend, carole, did not want to see pam caught in a federal net. >> i called her, to warn her. i told her she needed to get the money transmitter licenses. and you have to start that process. once you start that process, the feds can't touch you. >> reporter: carole says pam agreed. >> all she ever wanted was for a legitimate company. that's all -- you know, she just wanted to be on the up and up. and she was going to tell jim, even though they were separated. >> reporter: pam urged jim to apply for the licenses. he appears to have been adamantly opposed to a move that would have, essentially, opened goldfinger's books to scrutiny by the federal government. pam decided she was not going to allow jim to roll the dice on their business. the business that had let pam live the life she had always wanted. >> pamela was a girl scout. she wanted to do it right. pamela knew that they were making plenty of money. they, as a family, the fayed family, were flush. they didn't need to worry about nickels and dimes, here and there. and she was, also, aware, i believe, that, at some point, the federal government was going to start looking very closely at them. they couldn't continue building this business, on this international scale, without someone taking a look. and so, pamela's idea was let's do it right. let's cross our ts, let's dot our is. let's get the money licensing. >> her husband said, absolutely not? >> he said, absolutely not. >> reporter: but, pam moved forward, anyway, and withdrew a large sum of cash to apply for the licenses. and for jim fayed, that may have been the last straw. >> he called her names that i cannot, and will not, repeat on your camera. horrible, horrible accusations about pamela fayed, the mother of his own child. and he was doing this, in order to set the stage for what, i believe, was his ultimate goal, was to take all the money, and to crush her during the divorce proceeding. >> in california, it's pretty hard to crush somebody and take all the money in a divorce proceeding. >> i would say so. she helped build the company. she was an officer in the company. she held half of the company's proceeds. i mean, she was half owner. it's as simple as that. >> reporter: and soon, there would be another problem. what pam fayed had worried about would come true. federal investigators would come after goldfinger, indicting both jim and pam fayed because their company didn't have those money-transmitter licenses. >> when the indictment came down, pamela fayed was in contact with her lawyer, very quickly. she, immediately, indicated that she wanted to cooperate with the authorities. that was the position that she was taking. i want to cooperate. i want to do whatever i can to help out the investigation. i didn't do anything wrong, according to pam. what can i do to help? >> did james fayed know that his wife was going to cooperate? >> that's the $64,000 question. coming up. a suspect in the case. and soon, an arrest. >> he wasn't someone that i would ever think could be involved in something like this. but police had only just begun to solve the puzzle. when "dateline" continues. e. when "dateline" continues. hello, i'm dara brown. the final weekend of campaigning is about to get underway in georgia, where toouzuesday's ru elections will decide which party will control the united states senate. president-elect biden will -- and president trump will both be there, on monday. alabama will face ohio state in college football's championship game, on january 11th. it is the fifth time, in six years, that alabama is playing for a national title. now, back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. pamela fayed seemed ready to expose her husband's questionable, business practices. could that have led to her murder? here, again, is josh markowitz. >> reporter: lapd detective, salaam abdul, was investigating the murder of a woman in a parking garage. then, he learned that, not only was pam fayed locked in a bitter divorce with her husband jim. but, that the gold-trading company that had generated all the money they were fighting over, was now under federal investigation. and that pam was going to turn on her husband, and cooperate with prosecutors. >> she was probably going to be a witness against him. he was pretty pissed off about that. >> what, potentially, were the penalties for mr. and mrs. fayed in that case? >> potentially, they could have had their assets seized and that was huge. if they had their assets seized, mr. fayed wouldn't have been able to conduct business. >> reporter: after a long investigation, federal agents took jim into kubt day, just days after pam was killed. he was charged with operating a money transfer business without a license. and he pleaded not guilty. at the same time, detective abdul continued his investigation into pam's murder. starting not just with the videotape of jim fayed at the time of the murder. but also, of some security video of the parking-garage exit. >> what we did was that we narrowed it down to the time, around when mrs. fayed was killed. and the vehicles that were leaving the parking structure. >> reporter: in the minutes after the attack, this red suzuki pulls up to the garage exit. the wrong exit. a man holding what seems to be a black, hooded sweatshirt, gets out of the backseat to check the exit gate, before jumping back in. >> we ran the vehicle license check and we found one of the vehicles that were leaving the garage was associated with mr. fayed and goldfinger. >> mr. fayed's business? >> yes. >> reporter: detectives trace that red, suzuki suv to an avis rental-car center. the car was leased by goldfinger. jim fayed's company. one of jim's nephews had recently relocated to california, and had driven the car for about a month, until just a few days before the murder. after that, the car was in the care of the fayeds' ranch hand, a man named jose moya. investigators say it was moya who was behind the wheel. but on the tape, there seemed to be three people in the vehicle. who were they? a month later, jose moya was arrested and charged with pam's murder. he pleaded not guilty. it turns out, hjose moya knew pam. not only did he work on their ranch, he even had his own living quarters on the property. he knew about the fayed's gold. he knew where they stored it. he was trusted to transport the gold back and forth from the business to the home in moore park. >> how well did you know jose? >> i knew him pretty well. he was actually -- he was a really nice guy to me. he was a character. every time he'd come into the office, we'd always joke around with each other. he was -- he wasn't someone that i would ever think could be involved in on something like this. >> you liked him? >> i did. >> your mom liked him? >> she was very fond of joey. >> reporter: had moya charmed his way into the fayed's life as a way to gain their trust? was this all part of a bigger plot to kill the owners and steal their gold? pam best friend recalls how pam talked during the divorce. >> i was on the phone with pamela, and she was really upset. she felt like someone was following her in a truck she did not recognize. i said, are you sure? she says, it's been following me for quite some time. i said, who is it? she goes, i don't know, it's a guy. she kept looking and watching. and they turned off, into a parking lot. at that point, she could see that it was jose. and she says, why is jose following me? and i said, i don't know, pam, what the hell is going on? you need to call the cops, and tell the cops. >> reporter: tina holland's last visit with pam was a week and a half before she was killed. >> and i just walked in, and she was out in the backyard and she was smoking like a train. and she honestly looked like she had lost 15 pounds, since two weeks prior. she was in her pajamas. it was 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. her hair was all crumpled up. she looked horrible. and she said, tina, jim is gonna do it. and i said, what are you talking about, pam? and she said, jim is gonna have me murdered. coming up. could her suspicions be true? detectives take one more look at the tape, the exact moment of the murder. is the answer right in front of them? when "dateline" continues. telino the mirror. and know you're not alone because this. come on jessie one more. is the reflection of an unstoppable community in the mirror. >> reporter: jim fayed was in a federal lockup facing white-collar charges. operating an internet-gold business, without a money-transmitter license. but, lapd detective, salaam abdul rahman was investigating whether jim had killed his wife to keep her from cooperating frin that federal case. detectives focused on that security video, and realized those grainy pictures were so telling, not because of jim fayed is doing but, because of what jim isn't doing. it's the moment of pam's murder, in the parking garage next door, and everyone in the frame starts to react. to move toward the sound of pam fayed's screams. everyone, that is, except jim fayed. he doesn't seem interested. is it your belief that, at the time, surveillance cameras capture mr. fayed sort of walking around the courtyard area, that he knew his wife was being killed, at that exact moment? >> yes. the reason i base my belief on that is because mr. fayed, when he walks out of the building, everyone's interested in what's going on in the parking structure, except mr. fayed, because he knows what had just transpired. >> reporter: but that apparent disinterest in pam's screams wasn't enough to charge jim with murder. in fact, there was little evidence he had anything to do with it. then, detective abdul rahman's phone rang. >> the assistant u.s. attorney tells us that mr. fayed's cellmate wants to talk to whoever is handling the investigation of mrs. fayed's death. >> and what does the cellmate tell you? >> the cellmate tells us that mr. fayed had confessed to him that he had hired someone to kill his wife. >> reporter: detectives believe that someone was jose moya, the ranch hand. the cellmate, also, had other information that had not been reported in the news. >> mr. fayed's cellmate had told us mr. fayed tried to set his wife up to be killed four different times. what's interesting about that is that, on one of these occasions, he said mr. fayed set up a time where she was at a party in malibu on the fourth of july. >> was pamly fayed at a party in malibu on july 4th? >> yeah, she was. and that led to his credibility, so, at that time, we decided to get this conversation on tape. >> reporter: so, they wired the cellmate for sound. and they heard jim fayed talking about how he tried to kill his wife, but how it just hadn't worked out that time. former prosecutor, alan jackson. >> james fayed describes, in detail, how he told the killers about a party that pamela was going to be attending in malibu. according to him, they were simply supposed to car jack her and kill her, and everybody would think that it was just a random, act of violence. nobody would know anything the better. >> reporter: now, with a confession on tape, both jim fayed and jose moya were charged with pam's murder. but there was more work to be done, in order to track down the others involved. it seems like you, pretty quickly, fixed on mr. fayed as the only suspect here. and the only question was, since it wasn't his hand on the knife, whose hand was it? and how do you connect that person to him? >> correct. and the first thing that we noticed was that there was three individuals in the vehicle that was registered to mr. fayed's company. so, we knew we had three additional suspects. now, the only question was how do we tie those three to mr. fayed? and that was done through cell phone searches and, also, cell-site coordination. >> it would take more than a year to gather enough evidence to identify and charge two more suspects with murder. in june, 2010, steven simmons and gabriel marquez were arrested. prosecutors say, jim didn't know them, that moya hired them. investigators say steven was the alleged stabber, and gabriel was the lookout. both, pleaded not guilty. but amazingly, jim fayed wasn't done with the idea of murder. he, apparently, believed his cellmate had connections, and he wanted to hire a new hit man, from jail. >> he wants to -- taken care of. he actually drew out a map that was never found, depicting where he can find the ranch hand to actually carry out this murder. and what he wanted to do was have the ranch hand tortured so he can actually tell his cellmate or tell the hit man where the other two individuals were. >> reporter: prosecutors say the price tag for pam fayed's killing was $25,000. he was bankrolling it. >> no question. he commissioned this crime and that's what -- where the investigation began to lead us. that's where the evidence began to lead us. we knew, clearly, that he had an alibi for the actual stabbing. he is not the stabber. he is not the actual killer. >> you also knew he had probably a bigger motive than anybody else. >> there were always, in my mind, dual motives for james fayed to contract the murder of his wife. one was the divorce. but one was to silence who he thought was going to be a witness against him, pamela fayed. >> did he just give this hit man that he hired the money and say go kill my wife? >> james fayed is a control freak. if he is anything, he wants to be in control, at all times. which is why he didn't want his wife, pamela, doing anything having to do with transfer licenses. the same mo is what drove this contract killing. >> reporter: and investigators believe that jim fayed exhibited that need for control, as he planned his wife's murder. he focused, they believe, on a particular fear of pam's. >> it was discovered that she had a phobia about knives. and she had believed that she -- if she was killed, that she was gonna be killed by someone with a knife. >> who expresses a belief that, if they're killed, they are going to be killed with a knife? i mean, that sounds like somebody who almost is foretelling their own death. >> and it's, also, my belief that mr. fayed knew that -- knew of his wife's phobia with knives. and that was one of the reasons that a knife was used. >> you think it's no accident that pamela fayed was killed with a knife? you think that her husband deliberately, not just had her killed but had her killed in the way she was most frightened of? >> that's my belief. >> reporter: jim fayed was to go on trial for murder and conspiracy to commit murder. if convicted, he was facing th death penalty. the jury would learn about all of the evidence investigators collected. they would hear from witnesses. and of course, from jim fayed, himself, in his own words, in what his attorney would claim was simply a performance for an audience of one. and now, you're about to hear the tapes, too. >> she, she, she ran her mouth too much. she ran it out of control. coming up, true confession or terrific con job? >> he was conned into playing along with the cell mate in order to survive. >> what would a jury think about the tale of the tape? when "dateline" continues. when "dateline" continues. t it? got it. it's slippery. nooooo... noooo... nooooo... yeeeesss... quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty picks up messes quicker and each sheet is 2x more absorbent, so you can use less. hey look, i got it. bounty, the quicker picker upper. i guess i look pretty... ridiculous. [ chuckles ] no one looks ridiculous, bob. progressive is always here for you with round-the-clock service. just so you know, next time, you can submit a claim with our mobile app. good. thanks again for -- for rushing over. are you kidding? this is what 24/7 protection looks like. okay. -you smell like fish. -sorry. i was talking to jamie. air wick scented oils arences infuseds in nature. with natural essential oils for fragrance day after day,up to 60 days air wick scented oils. connect to nature. on may 4th, 2011, jim fayed found himself in a los angeles courtroom accused of being the mastermind behind the plot to kill his wife. his federal charges involving financial crimes were dropped when the state of california decided to try him for capital murder. prosecutors allen jackson and eric harmon laid out their case. >> it's not your typical love story where boy meets girl, but instead, it's a love story where boy meets gold. it's that breed, that love of gold that caused this man, james michael fayed, to have his wife murdered for financial gain. >> prosecutors offered this snapshot of the fayeds' riches during the short time they ran their business. >> so, mr. fayed found a niche, which is transferring money for only a 2% fee, which was highly, highly competitive and lucrative. so, those of you who are good at math, you'll know that that's approximately $20 million in fees that went to goldfinger between 2001 and 2008, making a lot of money. >> but the good times didn't last. the company was under indictment. pam was cooperating with federal investigators, and the couple were getting divorced. >> they were going to be divorced, so the marriage was over, no matter what. and their relationship was over. >> jim fayed's attorney says that none of that was a motive for murder. >> but they did have a business that was a viable, lucrative business, and it was worth maintaining, and if she hadn't been murdered, presumably, they would have come to some settlement over the assets and some division of the property involved in the business. >> jim fayed did not testify, and he didn't make worksman's defense any easier. the prosecution's smoking gun was that tape, made by police and a cooperative cellmate. >> i told you, she knew her boundaries. she, she, she ran her mouth too much. she went out of control. >> about your business? >> should have kept her mouth shut, yeah. >> on the tape, he described how he hired someone to kill pam and set up several scenarios to have that happen but says it was one missed opportunity after another. >> there were four different other occasions where i had it so it was perfectly clean. >> such as? no cameras? >> yeah, such as walking out of a july 4th party down in malibu at a friend's house with 100 other people. >> they could've just done it then? >> yeah. it was a rural area. i even had the times, the dates, everything, the location, all he had to do was sit there and wait for her to get in the car and jack it. and everybody at the party wovz said, oh, yeah, she went home. >> he claims it was play acting. >> jim claims he was conned along with playing along with this cellmate, in order to avoid appearing weak or vulnerable, and that he was simply trying to make a favorable impression on this tough guy in this tough environment, where he had to appear tough in order to survive. >> but on the tape, jim told his cellmate how he wished he could have done the deed himself. >> i was waiting and waiting and waiting to figure something out. i wanted -- i just wanted to do it myself. but i know i'll never be able to -- be able to get away with it, never. >> and he claims he would have gotten anyone in on plot for what he said would have been another $25,000. >> should get done by next week or so. he'll go out and get there and get that fool and put them, take him down and ask him some questions and i'm sure he'll be obliged to let us know anything we want to know. >> make sure all loose ends are -- >> there you go. >> are clean. make sure all loose ends are sewn up. >> it took the jury less than three days to find jim fayed guilty. he also received the death penalty. jose moya, gabriel marquez and steven simmons were all convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. they were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. jim fayed left behind two daughters who were essentially orphaned by the greed of a man they once loved and trusted. >> i almost feel as if he doesn't feel bad, or maybe he's embarrassed, i'm not sure. i can't say that. i honestly feel like he lost himself as a human being. he's a shell. he has no moral compass. he's completely off. he's not a person anymore. he's not a human being. >> anything you want to say to him, if he's watching this? >> i just want to ask why? why? what was he thinking? did he not think this would affect me and jeanette? i mean, i want to know why he thought it was okay for him to do this. i feel like money and power is what got to him. >> and he cared more about money and power than he did about -- >> his own family. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. first up on msnbc, different day, same schpiel, president trump kicking off the new year calling the georgia senate runoffs illegal and invalid, while also tearing into republican leadership. >> what's your reaction to the president calling you out on twitter and saying he wants to put a primary challenge? >> yeah, well, finally, an attack tweet! i'm not sure what i did to be deserving of all that, but that's -- that's fine. >> this as senate republicans deal a major blow to the president, delivering his first veto override in his final days in

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