Frank Morris was a hitman who attempted to kill Judge Linda Karlin.
History[]
Morris was from Paterson, New Jersey, and, despite having no criminal record, wanted to make a name for himself as a hitman. In order to attain this, he murdered a pusher-turned-state's witness on behalf of a Camden heroin dealer and was investigated by the New Jersey State Police as a result. Later, he was contacted by a Rikers Island inmate named Jimmy McGowan, who was pressuring fellow prisoner Randall Wylie to hire a hitman to kill Linda Karlin, a New York State Supreme Court judge infamous in the criminal underworld for her harsh sentences. Karlin had put Wylie in prison pending trial despite the fact that he was a mere white-collar criminal, which enraged him.
While reluctant, Wylie discussed the hit with Morris and, when Wylie refused to carry on with it, Morris threatened him and his family to silence him. Later, Morris went to Lodi to steal a .38 revolver from his uncle. Then, he filed off the serial number and attempted to kill Karlin in front of the Manhattan Municipal Building, only to be shot dead by her bodyguard. (L&O: "Judge Dread")