Over a Year Later and the Chabad Weltman Synagogue is in the Headlines Once Again

West Palm Beach, FL — Marc Benayer, the alleged shooter in the Chabad Weltman Synagogue killing in October 2005, was charged on Tuesday with solicitation of a hitman to kill a lawyer and a witness in the case and with witness tampering.

Benayer, 80, is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail and awaiting trial in the synagogue shooting during Rosh Hashanah services that left Jonathan Samuels mortally wounded. Samuels, 44, was shot twice in the back in the attack. He died in July 2006. Benayer was initially charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault. Medical officials and investigators are trying to determine if Samuels died from the gunshots in the alleged attack, if so charges could be upgraded to murder.

Before his death, Samuels testified that he became a target of Benayer's ire after he and business partner Mark Levy tried to help long-time employee Marta Pinto, who said ex-boyfriend Benayer had become verbally abusive and threatening. The confrontation came at the synagogue, which is located west of Boca Raton.

The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office now says the jailed Benayer tried to hire a hitman — actually an undercover sheriff's deputy — to kill his former lawyer James Eisenberg over an alleged $100,000 debt and another wounded synagogue victim, and potential witness, Levy.

The hitman, who was working for PBSO, said Benayer offered $10,000 – with $2,500 of it upfront – to kill Levy, explaining he wanted him “gone and missing forever.”

Later, in early February, PBSO alleges Benayer told the phony hitman “to do the same thing your gonna to do Levy” to Eisenberg. The price tag: $12,000.

At one point, PBSO says, Benayer warned Eisenberg, “ Someone's going to get you.”

At least 20 of the conversations about the alleged plot between Benayer and the undercover agent were recorded, authorities said.