Feds: Father Tried To Hire Hitman To Kill Witnesses Against His Son

(STMW) -- Euripides "Caca" Caguana was trying to help his teenage son beat a murder rap, the feds say. But his plot to pay a hitman to gun down two witnesses backfired, badly, the Sun-Times is reporting.

Instead of springing Travis Caguana from jail, the 59-year-old dad is now also locked up, facing a murder-for-hire case of his own.

That's because the hitman the elder Caguana thought he was hiring was actually an undercover cop, according to court papers.

"We can do them both at the same time," he allegedly told the 'hitman' during a secretly recorded meeting at Chase Park in Lakeview on Wednesday morning.

When the undercover officer asked, "You want 'em both dead?" Caguana replied, "Yup, I want both of them," prosecutors say.

Worse still, when the officer repeated the offer, a clueless Caguana allegedly cautioned him, "Oh, don't say that out loud."

Arrested moments later, Caguana was ordered held until at least next Wednesday by a federal judge.

He was nabbed after a cooperating witness told the FBI that he'd called on Sunday, saying he wanted the witnesses killed, according to a federal affidavit.

Introduced to the would-be hitman by the informant, Caguana agreed to pay $2,000 up front, plus a further $5,500 once the witnesses had been killed, it's alleged.

He handed the undercover officer photos of both witnesses, who he said he'd been following, the feds say.

Travis Caguana, 19, faces multiple murder counts in Cook County Circuit Court, stemming from the June 8, 2011, drive-by murder of Dante Smallwood, 18.

Smallwood was gunned down by the younger Caguana in the 3400 block of West 79th, county prosecutors say.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)