A drug trafficker in prison tried to hire an undercover FBI officer as a hitman to kill an assistant US attorney. It was 2nd time he fell for a sting operation.

• An undercover officer thwarted a drug trafficker's plan to kill an assistant US attorney.
• A judge tacked on an additional 21 years to Richard Gilbert's 11-year sentence for the failed hit.
• It was the second time in two years that Gilbert fell victim to a law enforcement sting operation.

An imprisoned methamphetamine trafficker tried to get revenge on the informant and assistant US attorney that locked him up.

The mistake?

The hitman he tried to hire was an undercover officer in the Federal Bureau of Investigations - and it wasn't the first time the drug dealer fell prey to a police sting.

Richard Gilbert was sentenced in 2019 to nearly 11 years in prison for selling five ounces of methamphetamine to an officer working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in Kentucky. While in prison, he plotted his revenge, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

According to federal court filings, an informant from the prison said Gilbert spoke to him for months about his desire to kill the original informant who helped imprison Gilbert. Gilbert told the new informant he didn't have enough money to kill the assistant US attorney on his case just yet and would need to sell a piece of property after his release from prison to foot the bill.

The new informant connected Gilbert, once again, to an undercover officer posing as a hitman who said he could help Gilbert out. Using a contraband cellphone set to "speakerphone" mode, Gilbert coordinated a plan to kill the original informant and the assistant US attorney on his case via the "hitman."

"He's a no good dirty son a b----, man," investigators said Gilbert told the fake hitman. "He's f---ing everybody he comes in contact with. He's f----ing everybody up."

Gilbert ultimately agreed to pay the officer posing as a hitman $4,000 for the homicide in two installments. According to the court filing, he successfully sent $2,000 to the officer's requested PO Box with the memo of the payment listed as "investment firm." He also mapped out where the target lived to the officer down to the last security camera to avoid detection.

A US district judge tacked on an additional 21 years in prison to Gilbert's previous sentence on Tuesday followed by 5 years of supervised release.