On 5/2/18, a Federal Judge ordered Hector Rivera, 66, a Vietnam veteran, to serve life in prison plus 25 years for paying a hit man to kill a jeweler on a busy Midtown Manhattan street in 2004.  Rivera’s sentence was announced 6 months after a jury found him guilty for the death of jeweler Edward Nektalov.
Rivera led a violent robbery crew and paid two individuals a total of $30,000 to murder Nektalov. On May 20, 2004, Nektalov was shot in the head on Sixth Avenue in New York City. The gunman then fired two more shots in Nektalov’s back.
Rivera, was awarded five medals for his service in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, including a Purple Heart. Rivera’s lawyer, Mark DeMarco, unsuccessfully argued that Rivera came from an impoverished family and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.