Two Illinois men have been charged in federal court with a murder for hire plot whose targets were a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and an Assistant United States Attorney, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana said.

Charged with solicitation to commit a crime of violence, specifically attempting assault or intimidation of a federal officer, and with attempting to kill a law enforcement official of the U.S. are Frank Caira, 39, of Downers Grove, and Jack Mann, 41, of Naperville.

“Because the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois has been recused from further involvement in this matter, these charges will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Mann has been detained, while Caira is scheduled for a detention hearing on Thursday.

The case was investigated jointly by the Chicago Federal Bureau of Investigation Violent Crimes Task Force and the U.S. Marshal’s Service Northern Illinois Threat Assessment Task Force.

Posted 1/20/2010