Michael Dippolito’s new partner is a woman named Gloria, whom he met at a restaurant and became engaged to after his ex-wife Dalia’s failed plot to have him killed. Their engagement was reported in September 2017, roughly two months after Dalia was sentenced to 16 years in prison for solicitation to commit first-degree murder.1Daily Mail. Man Engaged After Ex Sentenced for Hiring Hitman No public reporting has confirmed whether the couple has since married, so the frequent “new wife” shorthand outruns what’s actually on the record.
How Michael and Gloria Met
The two met at a restaurant and started dating in the years between Dalia’s overturned first conviction and her final sentencing. Gloria has said she knew about Michael’s past before they got together. Their relationship went public in September 2017, in the weeks after Dalia was sent to prison.
Michael described the engagement in quiet terms. “It’s nice,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to accept something this good is happening to you.” Gloria was more direct: “I really felt bad for him but my thing is just moving on from there. I love him a lot. He’s very lucky to be alive to be with me.”2Fox 5 NY. Man Finds Love Again After Ex-Wife Tries to Have Him Killed
Beyond her first name, her comments in that interview, and the fact that she began the relationship knowing what Michael had survived, the public record on Gloria is thin. She has not sought media attention, and Michael has not made her a subject of it.
The Divorce From Dalia
Michael and Dalia formally divorced on October 14, 2011, roughly two years after the murder-for-hire arrest and while the criminal case was still working its way through the courts. Under the settlement, Michael kept the Boynton Beach townhome that had been at the center of the couple’s short marriage, and each party retained the assets they brought in.3CBS News Miami. Divorce Final for Woman Who Hired Hitman to Kill Hubby
What Dalia Did
Michael and Dalia married in February 2009, four months after they met. According to Michael’s later testimony, the marriage went bad almost immediately: he said Dalia took about $100,000 from his savings, got him to sign the couple’s townhome over to her, and planted drugs in his truck in an attempt to sabotage his probation.4Palm Beach Post. Boynton Beach’s Michael Dippolito He also alleged she tried to poison him with antifreeze in his iced tea before moving to a more direct plan.5WPBF. Prosecutors Drop Bomb on Dippolito Defense
In the summer of 2009, Dalia asked a former lover, Mohamed Shihadeh, if he knew anyone who would kill Michael. Shihadeh went to the Boynton Beach Police Department instead. Police made him a confidential informant and introduced Dalia to an undercover officer, Widy Jean, posing as a hit man. In a recorded 23-minute meeting, she said she was “5,000 percent sure” she wanted her husband dead and agreed to pay $7,000 for a killing staged to look like a botched burglary.6NBC News. Dalia Dippolito Gets 16 Years for Trying to Have Husband Killed
On August 5, 2009, officers moved Michael to safety and staged a fake crime scene at the couple’s home. They told Dalia her husband was dead. Her reaction was captured on camera, in part by a crew from the television show Cops that was embedded with the department. At the police station, investigators played back her recorded conversations, brought in the undercover officer, and then produced Michael, alive. She pleaded with him. He refused, telling her, “I can’t… I heard you.”7ABC News. Dalia Dippolito Trial: Police Testify
Where Dalia Is Now
Dalia’s case took three trials to resolve. A 2011 conviction was overturned on appeal in 2014 over problems with jury selection, and a 2016 retrial ended in a hung jury. A third trial in June 2017 produced a guilty verdict after roughly 90 minutes of deliberation, and Judge Glenn Kelley sentenced her on July 21, 2017, to 16 years in prison, with credit for time on house arrest and in jail.8Palm Beach Post. Dalia Dippolito Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison
She has since lost every appeal she filed, in state court, at the Florida Supreme Court, at the U.S. Supreme Court, and in federal habeas proceedings. Her projected release date is August 24, 2032.9Sun-Sentinel. Dalia Dippolito For Michael and Gloria, that puts the case that defined his adult life firmly in the past tense.