From the New York Times story of 2004 that I posted:

Yesterday, an assistant United States attorney, Patricia E. Notopoulos, said the order was that ''people were to be killed because of the manner in which they engaged in certain prosecutions.'' William Aronwald, however, has said he knew of no case he had handled in which his actions might have offended Mr. Persico.

I't has also been unclear why the hit men focused on the elder Mr. Aronwald, a judge who ruled on city parking tickets.