A former New Jersey bowling alley owner who already did time for torching his competition has been convicted of scheming to kill the prosecutors and judges who helped put him behind bars for arson.
Steven Smink, 62, of Philadelphia, began plotting their demise while still serving his 15-year arson sentence, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday.
He was found guilty earlier this month on one count of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder and five counts of first-degree attempted murder, as well as transporting weapons and conspiracy to transport weapons, both in the fourth degree, officials said.
“This defendant planned to kill public servants for doing their jobs and putting him behind bars for crimes he previously committed,” state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “State police and prison officials found out about his plan and interceded before anyone was harmed. He now faces a lengthy prison sentence for his violent scheme.”
Smink, the former owner of Pike Lanes bowling alley in Deerfield Township, admitted in 2014 that he hired two men four years earlier to burn down Loyle Lanes in Vineland, and bought the gasoline, kerosene cans and other items to destroy the rival alley. The men he hired also pleaded guilty.
Between January 2018 and December 2020, Smink hatched a scheme from behind bars “to cause the death” of Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, First Assistant Prosecutor Harold Shapiro, two Superior Court judges, and an assistant prosecutor who were involved in his case, authorities said. He planned to sell guns and sports memorabilia and pay for the hit with the proceeds.
Smink initially hired a fellow inmate who belonged to the Latin Kings gang as the hitman, but the gangster died before he could deliver. Smink then hired someone else to recruit a hitman who could make it look like a gang hit, not knowing he was speaking to a cooperating witness, prosecutors said.
“If everybody was together, wipe the whole place out and kill everybody, it just looks like somebody making an assault, a gangs meeting,” Smink told an undercover officer. “If somebody shot up the place, it looks like the gang getting retribution.”
Smink faces at least 30 years in prison, with a possible life sentence on the table.
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