Ex-South Jersey bowling alley owner serving time for arson tried to have prosecutor, judges killed

A former owner of a Vineland bowling alley serving a prison sentence for setting fire to a competitor’s facility in 2010 has been convicted of conspiring to have three prosecutors and two judges killed.

While in prison, Steven Smink, 62,  sought to hire a hitman to kill Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, two members of her staff, and two Superior Court judges involved in his original prosecution.  He tried to pay them with guns he owned that were stored at his mother’s home in Philadelphia, and with a sports memorabilia collection that

“This defendant planned to kill public servants for doing their jobs and putting him behind bars for crimes he previously committed,” said Attorney General Matt Platkin.  “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.”

He now faces a minimum of 30 years to life in prison.  Superior Court Judge Joseph Levin will sentence him next month.

Smink’s first attempt to arrange a murder from prison was through a member of the Latin Kings gang, but that person died before a plan was put in place.

In late 2017 and early 2018, the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) Central Security Unit (CSU) received information from the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP) indicating that Smink had enlisted a cooperating witness to assist in carrying out a murder-for-hire scheme at Northern State Prison in Newark.

Smink arranged with the cooperating witness to locate a hitman while managing the transfer of sports memorabilia as payment and instructing his late mother, Esther Smink, to send correspondence on his behalf to advance the plot. In a meeting with an undercover officer, Smink said, “If everybody was together, wipe the whole place out and kill everybody — it just looks like somebody making an assault, a gang meeting,” and added, “If somebody shot up the place, it looks like the gang getting retribution.”

Esther Smink died in 2022.