Suspects plead not guilty in Newburgh double murder

A Brooklyn rabbi and two former convicts pleaded not guilty today in an alleged double murder-for-hire plot in Newburgh. Rabbi Victor Koltun, 41, Frank Lewis, 56, and Craig Fennel, 51, appeared before

News 12 Staff

May 22, 2014, 7:22 PM

Updated 3,923 days ago

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A Brooklyn rabbi and two former convicts pleaded not guilty today in an alleged double murder-for-hire plot in Newburgh.
Rabbi Victor Koltun, 41, Frank Lewis, 56, and Craig Fennel, 51, appeared before a judge in Orange County Court on murder, conspiracy and weapons charges.
Officials say the men killed former police officer Francis Piscopo and his nephew, Gerald Piscopo, in an empty Newburgh house last month.
Prosecutors say Lewis and Fennel are currently on parole for two separate attempted-murder convictions. They say Koltun is also an ex-con who served 57 months in prison for conspiring to commit bank and mail fraud.
Fennel is currently being held without bail. Lewis is being on $2 million bail and Koltun on $1 million bail.
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