Randy Greene, Brandi Blanco Get 5 Years in Murder-for-Hire Plot

AMARILLO, Texas — A twisted scheme to cash in on a $1 million life insurance policy led to a federal prison sentence for Randy Exavier Greene, 21, formerly of Stratford, Texas, and Brandi Nicole Blanco, 31, of Dalhart, Texas. The engaged couple was sentenced this week to 60 months each by U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater after pleading guilty to conspiracy to use an interstate facility in a murder-for-hire plot. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

From February to April 2016, Greene and Blanco, then living in Florida after relocating from Texas in January, made repeated phone calls to an individual known as Person A in Texas. During these conversations, they laid out a cold-blooded plan: pay $100,000 to have a targeted victim killed. Greene explicitly told Person A that Blanco was the beneficiary of a $1 million life insurance policy on the victim and promised a cut of the payout in exchange for the hit.

The plot thickened on February 22, 2016, when Greene called Person A and asked if they knew the victim. The next day, Blanco upped the offer, swearing on God that she’d pay $125,000 to get the job done. She insisted Person A act alone and promised to provide all necessary details. Person A, playing along, warned they could ‘go to the chamber for this,’ to which Blanco responded with chilling precision: just follow her instructions and pull the trigger.

Greene wanted the murder to happen after he and Blanco were already arrested — ensuring airtight alibis. He instructed Person A to carry out the killing while Blanco was on camera at a Walmart. On February 26, 2016, Blanco told Person A to strike while the victim was at work. When the idea of staging an accident was floated, she agreed — as long as the payout was secured.

By March 3, 2016, Person A claimed they were ready to ‘take care of the situation’ upon arriving in Texas. Blanco stressed the need for the insurer to locate her immediately after the death so she could collect the money and regain custody of three of her children upon release from jail. But the hit never happened — because Person A had already reported every call to the Dalhart Police Department.

The FBI, Texas Rangers, and Dalhart Police Department dismantled the plot before blood was shed. Arrested on state charges first, Greene and Blanco were later indicted federally in May 2016. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Taylor and Joshua Frausto led the prosecution. The murder was never carried out — but the consequences were real: five years behind bars for a crime that lived only in their words, but carried the weight of federal justice.