M. Gessen

That's the kind of family he's talking about.

A minute later, he will refer to Friends in the North End, historically an Italian neighborhood in Boston.

He's opening for Alan a door to the underworld.

A more permanent way.

In case Alan didn't understand what David was getting at,

The time that elapses between the agent saying, that's up to you, and Alan's agreement to proceed with the more permanent option is a fraction of a second.

He doesn't take a breath.

He doesn't pretend to consider the decision.

He doesn't double check that he understood the agent correctly.

He doesn't even ask how much money he'll save by going for the cheaper option.

He jumps right in with both feet.

And then it gets worse.

Alan says that he had looked into this more permanent option before, that he talked to Israelis and Eastern Europeans and Italians, and the lowest estimate he got was $220,000.

The prosecutor stopped the tape and repeated what Alan had said.

I researched my sources.

The lowest price was $220,000, and then that is run through the Israelis and Eastern Europe and Italy.

She asked the undercover agent what he had understood Alan to be saying.

The agent answered,

My understanding was that Mr. Gessen had already researched the option to kill his wife and had been in conversation or had done some research with other organized crime syndicates, in this case Israelis or Eastern Europe, for the price of $220,000.

The agent, who had worked on murder-for-hire cases before, testified in court that it is cheap.