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Fairfax man pleads guilty to murder-for-hire scheme as payback for stolen cigarettes  

Xing Xiao, aka Andy, of Fairfax, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to hire a hitman to murder someone he believed had stolen more than 15,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes from him.

Xiao, 32, is the last of 14 people charged in a 14-month investigation started by the Stafford County Sheriff's Office that involved individuals paying or trading more than $8 million, nearly 40 firearms and drugs to purchase 388,000 cartons -- totaling more than 77 million contraband cigarettes -- to sell in New York.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Charles E. Jett, Stafford County sheriff; and Willie Brownlee, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division, made the announcement after the Xiao's plea was accepted by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.

"The defendants admitted that they sold illegal cigarettes, dealt drugs, guns and even hired someone for murder," said MacBride. "The work of these dedicated law enforcement officers has made our community safer."

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