PHOENIX (AP) — A Scottsdale man has been arrested for allegedly trying to hire undercover police detectives to extort or harm a real estate mogul who won a $1.2 million lawsuit against him, authorities said Friday.
Mikhail Kordonsky, 46, was taken into custody Thursday and was being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
His bond was set at $500,000 at his initial court appearance Friday. He doesn't have an attorney yet.
Court records show Kordonsky wanted to get revenge against the CEO of a large commercial real-estate investment company.
The CEO's name wasn't disclosed in court documents released Friday, but authorities said Kordonsky gave the name to undercover detectives and it was verified.
Police said Kordonsky spoke of plotting to kidnap the man, beat him with a bat and shoot him in the back of the head if he didn't pay $10 million in diamonds because they're untraceable.
Investigators also said Kordonsky claimed connections to the Bonanno crime family and to Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, a member of the Gambino crime family who's serving a federal prison sentence in Arizona.
Kordonsky also reportedly told detectives he was $200,000 in debt, but he did not say to whom, and had recently lost his liquor license.
Court documents show undercover detectives posing as hit men met Tuesday with Kordonsky and told him they could provide silencers and handguns with "clean barrels."
During the meeting, police said Kordonsky allegedly masterminded a plot in which the supposed hit men would conduct surveillance on the real estate mogul's friends and family before demanding the $10 million in diamonds in return for not harming them.