Dixie Wible wanted to be married to the mob, but authorities said a self-described Philadelphia “gangster” instead tricked her out of $41,600 and threatened to put her on a hit list.

Nicodemo “Nicky Slick” DiPietro, who is serving a life sentence for murder, pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing $10,000 from a woman who authorities said “wanted to be married to a mobster.”

DiPietro, 46, is serving a life sentence for a first-degree murder conviction in the Feb. 28, 2000, shooting death of Tad Rice-Green in a Philadelphia bar.

He was to be tried this week in Uniontown on allegations he convinced a 49-year-old woman to mail him $41,600 while he was in a state prison in Luzerne County, only to threaten to use the woman's own money to have her killed.

DiPietro instead pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal use of a communications facility and taking only $10,000 from Wible. But during his plea hearing, DiPietro told President Judge John F. Wagner Jr. he threatened to harm her.

“I intended to whack her out, but I let her go,” DiPietro said.

In exchange for the guilty plea, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli dropped charges of theft by deception and terroristic threats. Wagner immediately sentenced DiPietro to one year on probation and ordered him to make $10,000 in restitution to Wible.

During the hearing, DiPietro described the investigators who filed the charges as “Keystone Kops” who froze his $35,000 inmate account and falsely tried to brand him a mob informant.

“I'm already doing life in prison,” DiPietro said. “If I'm gonna rat, I'm the worst rat in Mafia history.”

Although the affidavit of probable cause in his case doesn't accuse DiPietro of informing on organized crime figures, DiPietro asked that it be sealed. Wagner took no action on the request.

According to the affidavit, DiPietro was incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Luzerne between May and August 2013 when Wible made 54 deposits into his inmate account totaling $41,600.

Wible, also known as “Dixie Diamonds” and “Dixie DiPietro,” told a state Corrections Department investigator she used various aliases to make the deposits because she believed DiPietro “was a wealthy, connected member of the Mafia,” according to the affidavit.

“She explained that she has always been infatuated with the Mafia and always wanted to be married to a mobster,” investigator Daniel E. Meinert said in the affidavit. “Wible stated inmate DiPietro was her ‘mobster and that they are in love and going to be married.'”

Wible didn't deposit any money into DiPietro's account until after he sent her $4,709 to buy the pair engagement and wedding rings, the investigator said. Wible then began to pay DiPietro's bills, tried to help him obtain a divorce, purchased a cemetery plot and had her and DiPietro's names engraved on a tombstone.

A photo of the tombstone that DiPietro brought to the hearing shows it is inscribed with the names “Dixie Diamonds, wife and moll,” and “Lil Nicky Slick, husband and friend.”

In the affidavit, Meinert said investigators learned of the fraud when they discovered Wible was the source of anonymous letters and faxes sent to the Department of Corrections indicating DiPietro had a gun and a cellphone at one of the institutions.

Wible told investigators she sent the anonymous letters because DiPietro's promises of marriage had turned into threats to “use her own money to have her killed,” according to the affidavit.

According to Meinert, DiPietro initially told Wible he would tell prosecutors the cash she sent him was actually “hush money from the Scarfo organized crime family in Philadelphia ... so he would not rat them out for killing one of his family members.”

But instead of keeping quiet, DiPietro was to give prosecutors false information on crimes in exchange for a reduced sentence so he and Wible could “be together forever,” according to the affidavit.

DiPietro ultimately sent Wible a letter indicating he never planned to testify against members of organized crime.

“Inmate DiPietro claimed that he never had any intention of testifying against the Mafia, as he wrote in his letters,” Meinert said in the affidavit. “He explained that the sole reason he told Wible he wanted to testify against the Mafia was to get more money from her.”

During an interview with Meinert, DiPietro “admitted he lied to Wible to convince her to send him the funds” and described himself as a “forty-something-year-old gangster and it is his job to lie,” according to the affidavit.

Wible didn't testify during DiPietro's plea hearing and couldn't be reached for comment afterward.

Wagner ordered DiPietro remanded as soon as possible to the state correctional facility at Houtzdale in Clearfield County.

Liz Zemba is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-601-2166 or lzemba@tribweb.com.

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