Priests Hired Hitmen in Suicide Plots

Two Colombian priests who were found shot dead a year ago reportedly hired assassins to kill them, Colombian authorities said Tuesday. Prosecutors said investigators had determined the two Roman Catholic priests hired hitmen in an apparent suicide after one of them discovered he had AIDS. Relatives of the dead priests—Reverend Richard Piffano, 37, and Rev. Rafael Raetiga, 35—insist that they were victims of an armed robbery and denied reports that the two were in a relationship. The priests paid gang members the equivalent of $8,500 to complete the job, and two of them have now been charged with aggravated homicide.