Lights, Camera, Murder? Dalia Dippolito’s Staged Crime Gone Wrong
By Trinity Barnette
Florida has given us some wild headlines, but few compare to the saga of Dalia Dippolito—a woman who thought she could stage her husband’s murder like a Hollywood thriller and walk away scot-free. Spoiler: she didn’t. Instead, she became the star of one of the most infamous undercover sting operations ever caught on camera.
The Players & The Setting
Dalia Mohammed (later Dippolito) grew up in a tight-knit Egyptian-Peruvian family that moved to Boynton Beach, Florida, when she was 13. Palm Beach County is known for its wealth and glitter—Mar-a-Lago, the resort lifestyle—but Boynton Beach is the middle-class side, blue-collar families in gated communities.
She became a real estate agent but had a reputation for chasing shortcuts and easy money. Attractive and sharp, she wasn’t afraid to use her looks to get what she wanted.
Enter Michael “Mike” Dippolito. Muscular, charming, with a criminal record of his own. He’d run a boiler-room penny-stock scam, pled guilty to fraud, served two years, and left prison owing nearly $200,000 in restitution. Both he and Dalia dreamed of Kardashian-style lavishness—even if their bank accounts couldn’t support it.
They met through a website for sex workers. Within six months they were married. Dalia’s family was stunned; to outsiders they looked like the perfect couple. Behind the scenes, it was chaos.
Mohammed Shihadeh: The Middleman
Dalia had a long history with another man—Mohammed Shihadeh, a Jordanian businessman with gas stations, a poker habit, and deep pockets. Their 15-year flirtatious friendship meant he was her go-to when she needed help.
In July 2009, Dalia told Mohammed that Mike was abusive and controlling, and divorce wasn’t enough—she wanted him dead. Mohammed refused, but nervous about being implicated, he called the Boynton Beach police. They wired him, and he recorded Dalia in his car casually outlining the murder plan and handing him $1,200 to pass to a “hitman.”
Two days later, Dalia met Widy Jean—an undercover cop posing as the killer-for-hire—in a CVS parking lot. With hidden cameras rolling, she asked when the hit could happen. Jean explained he’d already bought a gun, burner phone, and car. She brushed off the costs and made herself crystal clear:
“I’m positive, like 5000% sure.”
She even discussed making the hit look like a botched burglary while she was at the gym. It was chilling in its casualness.
She left that car having just sealed her fate.
The Morning of the Sting
On August 5, 2009, Dalia left for the gym as planned. Police swarmed the condo and staged a full crime scene, complete with yellow tape and flashing lights. Mike, half-asleep, was pulled out and taken to the station, where officers played him recordings of Dalia plotting his death.
Then came the call to Dalia. She arrived to chaos on her street. Sgt. Frank Ranzie told her Mike had been shot and killed. Cameras caught her collapsing, screaming “No!” and sobbing in what looked more like a soap opera audition than genuine grief.
At the station, Sgt. Paul Sheridan interviewed her. She initially begged not to be videotaped. Sheridan told her too bad—she was already on camera. She painted Mike as a recovering addict with vague “enemies” but provided no names or real leads.
Then came the reveal: Sheridan brought in Mike, alive, standing in the doorway. Dalia begged him to come in; he refused. Officers cuffed her on the spot.
And thanks to the Fox TV show Cops filming in Boynton Beach that week, the entire circus was caught from multiple angles, making her downfall a viral sensation.
The Money, The Poison, and the “Setups”
In the lead-up to trial, more dirt surfaced:
The $100k Theft: Mike gave Dalia $100,000 to combine with her own money and pay restitution. She stole it instead.
Planted Drugs: Mike testified about anonymous tips and planted pills that could have sent him back to prison.
Antifreeze Attempt: Prosecutors alleged she once tried to poison him with antifreeze in his iced tea.
Mike Stanley, the Lover: She sent X-rated texts to Stanley while newly married, had him impersonate a doctor to cover her theft, and later impersonate a lawyer to trick Mike into thinking his probation was over. She even rejoiced in one text about getting the townhouse into her name.
Sis wasn’t just messy—she was running scams inside scams.
Trial #1 (2011): Guilty in Three Hours
Prosecutors had tapes, witnesses, and Mike on the stand. Despite his past, Mike came across as likable, even cracking jokes at the defense’s obsession with his probation. An ex-boyfriend testified about texts plotting to plant drugs. The defense floated the wild claim that this was all staged for Mike to land a reality show.
The jury didn’t buy it. They deliberated only three hours before convicting Dalia of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. She got 20 years.
Trial #2 (2016): Reality Show Defense 2.0
Her conviction was overturned in 2014 on a jury-selection technicality, so Dalia walked free on house arrest awaiting retrial. In 2016, her lawyers leaned harder on the “reality show” theory—that Dalia knew she was being filmed and was acting. She even testified in a pre-trial hearing that the recordings were meant as a “social media portfolio.” Prosecutors asked for scripts and production notes. She had none.
At trial, her lawyers pivoted again, blaming the Boynton Beach PD and Cops for manufacturing drama. Then came a shocker: her lawyer revealed she had secretly had a child with an appliance repairman while on house arrest.
The jury deadlocked. Mistrial.
Trial #3 (2017): Case Closed
By the third trial, prosecutors weren’t playing games. They leaned on the 23-minute tape of Dalia in the CVS lot, calm and calculating about the murder-for-hire plot. They called Mike to testify again, humanizing him and driving home the theft, planted drugs, and fake-doctor scheme.
The defense repeated their argument that Boynton Beach detectives were “performing for the Cops cameras.” They claimed the evidence was contaminated, that the police department was chasing fame. But prosecutors pushed back hard—telling jurors not to be distracted, because the evidence was overwhelming.
Jurors deliberated only 90 minutes before finding her guilty again. She was sentenced to 16 years, with no credit for her years on house arrest. Her release date is set for 2032.
Appeals went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. All denied.
Final Cut
Dalia Dippolito dreamed of luxury living and plotted murder to get it. Instead, she became a viral cautionary tale, immortalized on shaky sting-operation cameras and Cops reruns.
Her “5000% sure” line has outlived her marriage, her scams, and her freedom.
Florida didn’t just give us another headline—it gave us the true-crime soap opera nobody asked for.
