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   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: lol@whata.joke   
      
   The estranged husband of a prominent Chelsea art dealer paid a pal at   
   least $5,000 to stab the gallery owner to death in his bedroom in Brazil   
   in a sordid murder-for-hire plot, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.   
      
   Daniel Carrera Sikkema, a 54-year-old former prostitute who married   
   gallery owner Brent Sikkema in 2013, is now facing the death penalty in   
   the high-profile slaying that rattled the Big Apple art world, the US   
   Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said in a press release.   
      
   “In the midst of a tense divorce, Daniel Sikkema allegedly financed the   
   premature death of his estranged husband,” FBI Assistant Director in   
   Charge James Dennehy said in a statement.   
      
   “The defendant allegedly hired a hitman to facilitate the international   
   murder of his husband, and attempted to conceal his involvement in this   
   callous plan,” Dennehy said. “The FBI will continue to vigorously   
   investigate any individual who selfishly and mercilessly orders the end to   
   another’s life, regardless of where the crime may occur.”   
      
   According to the feds, Carrera hired the hit man — identified in reports   
   as Cuban national Alejandro Triana Prevez — to sneak into Sikkema’s   
   bedroom in his Rio de Janeiro apartment on Jan. 14, 2024 and stab the 75-   
   year-old victim to death as they fought for custody of their young son.   
      
   Carrera made several secret payments to Prevez and the hit man’s lover,   
   totaling $5,000 “and promised to make an additional payment at a later   
   date,” federal prosecutors said.   
      
   However, the hired killer was picked up by Brazilian authorities just four   
   days after the murder.   
      
   Once in custody, Prevez allegedly came clean on the murder plot and told   
   police he stabbed the victim 18 times in his face, chest and throat after   
   being hired by Carrera.   
      
   He allegedly told cops that Carrera gave him a key to Sikkema’s apartment   
   in Rio and was seen on surveillance footage staking out the scene for 14   
   hours before the murder.   
      
   Carrera, who worked as a male prostitute in Havana and Madrid before   
   hooking up with the wealthy dealer, stood to inherit Sikkema’s multi-   
   million estate, but was in the midst of an ugly divorce.   
      
   He surrendered to police on April 14 and was charged with passport fraud —   
   before being hit with the murder and conspiracy charges in a superseding   
   indictment on Tuesday.   
      
   He is charged with one count of murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in   
   death, one count of conspiracy to murder and maim a person in a foreign   
   country and one count of passport fraud, prosecutors said.   
      
   If convicted he faces life in prison or death, according to the feds.   
      
   Sikkema co-owned the Sikkema Jenkins Gallery in Chelsea and repped   
   prominent artists like painter Kara Walker and photographer Vik Muniz   
   before his death.   
      
   A familiar figure in city art circles, he rubbed elbows with Michelle   
   Obama and other high-profile figures.   
      
   His marriage to Carrera began to dissolve in 2022 and lapsed into a bitter   
   legal battle. He disinherited his former paramour in May 2022 and left   
   money to another lover in his will.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2025/02/11/us-news/estranged-husband-of-nyc-art-dealer-   
   brent-sikkema-paid-to-have-him-killed-in-brazil-after-bitter-split-   
   prosecutors/   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)