Two men, from Middleboro and Wareham, are charged with trying to hire out killings of a key witness along with two prosecutors in their federal fentanyl distribution case — as well as two rival gang members.
“All he need is ($)3500 to start give him the addy and bro gon get it done,” Elijah Melton allegedly wrote on an envelope that his hired man was to give to an outside associate who would help direct the assassinations. The majority of recorded conversations examined in court documents and the rest of this letter are chock-full of unquotable codes.
Melton, 26, of Middleboro, was arrested last December and indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and distribution of 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
Melton was being held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island while that case was pending when he was arrested once again in February of 2024 for allegedly violating his release conditions in a big way: trying to have people related to that case assassinated.
He and an associate, Kareem “Reem” Pires, 25, of Wareham, were charged Monday with one count each of conspiring to commit murder for hire. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
Pires appeared in federal court in Boston on Tuesday. He was appointed an attorney, scheduled to return to court for a probable cause and detention hearing on June 3 and placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Melton is still in custody and will appear on this new charge at an undetermined date.
A cooperating witness at Wyatt told federal prosecutors that Melton told him his gang had placed a $150,000 “bounty” on the target witness, who he believes to be cooperating with authorities in his case. Melton allegedly provided information in case that the guy, who he didn’t know was actually cooperating with authorities, wanted to get in on the action, according to a law enforcement affidavit in the case.
Melton allegedly told the man that he would arrange for a juvenile family member to deliver $75,000 to a family member of the man if he could arrange for the assassination, per the affidavit. The cooperating witness told the FBI that he refused.
But it gets worse: Melton also allegedly identified by name two federal prosecutors he also wanted dead, according to the affidavit. He gave the man personal details and offered to personally provide money for their assassination and to have a car and gun arranged for the job.
The cooperating witness “reported to the FBI that he tried to dissuade MELTON from killing prosecutors, noting this would only attract unwanted law enforcement attention and was a bad idea,” the affidavit states.
To not attract attention, Melton allegedly created codenames: “Hannah Montana” referred, collectively, to the prosecutors and “Minova” referred to the target witness. He also allegedly arranged to have two rival gang members killed.
Melton allegedly communicated with Pires on the outside about the plan over a contraband phone brought into Wyatt. He also drafted two deeply coded messages on envelopes that the cooperating witness, under law enforcement supervision and guidance, allegedly delivered to Pires. Pires in turn allegedly agreed to assemble dossiers on the targets.
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