text: Singer Justin Bieber performs at Z100's Jingle Ball 2012 presented at Madison Square Garden on Friday. There are reports of a plot to kill the Canadian singer. (Evan Agostini/Invision/Associated Press) 
   
   Two men from Albuquerque, N.M., may have been plotting to kill singer Justin Bieber and his bodyguard, a New Mexico state police investigation has revealed. 
   
   Mark Staake, 41, and his nephew Tanner Ruane, 23, were arrested in late November, New Mexico state police said in a release, after an investigation found they might be plotting to commit murder. 
   
   Mark Staake, 41, was arrested by Vermont police on probation violation charges Nov. 19. (Vermont State Police/Associated Press) Mark Staake, 41, was arrested by Vermont police on probation violation charges Nov. 19. (Vermont State Police/Associated Press) 
   
   "Through follow-up investigation it was discovered that Justin Bieber may have also been a target of the murder plot," wrote Lt. Robert McDonald in an emailed statement. 
   
   The alleged plot was revealed to police by Dana Martin, 45, a convicted killer who says he hired two men for a hit while in state prison. 
   
   According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant, Martin wanted all four victims, including Bieber, strangled with a paisley tie, which is similar to how Martin had killed his victims. 
   
   The affidavit suggests the first two victims were to be castrated — with a total of $2,500 US paid to Staake per testicle. However, it does not say the third victim, believed to be Bieber, was to be castrated, as was previously reported. 
   
   Martin requested the two men kill four people in two separate attacks, according to the affidavit. According to the document, the ultimate target was a victim referred to as "J.B," whose bodyguard "M.B." would have to be killed first. 
   
   Convicted killer felt snubbed by 'J.B.' 
   
   Martin told investigators he wanted J.B. killed because he "has a measure of fame" and Martin had "become infatuated" with him. 
   
   Martin has a tattoo of J.B. on his leg and attempted to contact him several times, but became upset when J.B. did not respond, the affidavit says. 
   
   The affidavit said this perceived slight and Martin's belief he was a nobody in prison led him to start plotting to kidnap and murder J.B. 
   
   Martin told investigators "he was seeking a measure of notoriety so that there would be people outside of prison who would know who he ... was." 
   
   The Canadian singer's management, asked to comment on the reports, released a statement saying only that they take "every precaution to protect and insure the safety of Justin [Bieber] and his fans." 
   
   Martin, Staake met in prison 
   
   Police in Vermont originally arrested Staake on Nov. 19 for violating probation. He is also wanted in New Mexico on two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree and two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, Vermont police told CBC News. 
   
   Staake and Ruane "are being investigated for their part in the criminal conspiracy to locate and murder two individuals in Vermont," according to the Vermont police statement. 
   
   The New Mexico affidavit explains the first two victims Martin ordered to be killed were located in Vermont, but does not provide any identities. 
   
   Justin Bieber performs during the halftime show of the 2012 Grey Cup. The Canadian singer may have been a target of a murder plot uncovered by U.S. police. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters) Justin Bieber performs during the halftime show of the 2012 Grey Cup. The Canadian singer may have been a target of a murder plot uncovered by U.S. police. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters) 
   
   The New Mexico Corrections Department has confirmed it is in the process of extraditing Staake to New Mexico, but Cristina Rodda, the public affairs director, could not confirm whether Staake was the accused in a plot to kill Bieber. 
   
   Staake and Martin have both served time at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility. 
   
   Staake was released on Oct. 22, according to a statement by the state corrections department. He reported and complied with the conditions of his parole until Nov. 14 when he absconded, officials said. 
   
   Martin is currently being held in segregation at Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Las Cruces, N.M., according to the corrections department. His sentence was just short of 989 years for first-degree murder. 
   
   No killings planned in the alleged plot were committed. Instead, Martin revealed the plots to police before Staake and Ruane could act. 
   
   Staake was arrested in the Vermont area and Ruane in New York, where Bieber gave a concert on Nov. 28. 
   
   With files from The Canadian Press ||||| Police say 41-year-old Mark Staake (LEFT) and his 23-year-old nephew Tanner Ruane (RIGHT) were part of a murder-for-hire plot to mutilate and kill Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. 
   
   Accused Anonymous/AP Police say 41-year-old Mark Staake (LEFT) and his 23-year-old nephew Tanner Ruane (RIGHT) were part of a murder-for-hire plot to mutilate and kill Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. 
   
   In an email to the Star, Melissa Victor, vice president of media and artist relations at Island Def Jam Music Group, said: “We take every precaution to protect and insure the safety of Justin and his fans.” 
   
   Justin Bieber Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo In an email to the Star, Melissa Victor, vice president of media and artist relations at Island Def Jam Music Group, said: “We take every precaution to protect and insure the safety of Justin and his fans.” 
   
   Jeff Green and Shawna Richer 
   
   Staff Reporters 
   
   
   
   WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC DETAILS 
   
   Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when teen pop star Justin Bieber played two sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 28 and 29. 
   
   There were thousands of screaming girls, and Bieber seemed especially pumped to be performing at what is widely considered the world’s most prestigious entertainment venue. In the 10 concerts witnessed by a Star writer on Bieber’s Believe tour, a bra flying onto the stage during an encore at the second Garden show was the only thing unusual that night. 
   
   But behind the scenes, there was something both sinister and bizarre going on, though it is not known whether Bieber or his people knew of it. 
   
   A police affidavit alleges that two prison inmates and a nephew were hatching a plot to murder Bieber and his director of security while the singer was in New York for those shows. 
   
   Details of the grisly plan — which involved strangling two other victims with a paisley tie and then castrating them — were revealed Wednesday in an affidavit for arrest obtained by New Mexico State Police. 
   
   But the plot may have been thwarted by a missed highway exit and a pair of recorded phone calls between an inmate and one of the accused. 
   
   According to the affidavit, the plan was hatched behind bars after inmate Dana Martin was transferred from a Florida prison to the Southern New Mexico Corrections Facility in April. 
   
   Shawna Richer travelled North America for two months, watched the superstar perform 11 concerts, and met hundreds of fans, in search of what it means to be a Belieber. Available Friday Dec. 21 at stardispatches.com 
   
   Martin, 45, serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Vermont, was reportedly obsessed with Bieber. He had written him letters and even had a tattoo of the singer on his leg. 
   
   He allegedly recruited Mark Aaron Staake, 41, a fellow inmate at the time, after Staake noticed the tattoo on his leg. The plan was to kill four people in two states, with Bieber as the main target. 
   
   Oddly, the details were spilled on Nov. 20, when Martin asked to speak to police, telling them Staake (who had been released on probation on Oct. 22) and his nephew, Tanner Ruane, 23, had been planning to commit the first two murders, neither of them Bieber. New Mexico police declined to identify those intended victims. 
   
   In his interview with police, Martin described how the first two killings were to be carried out: strangulation with a paisley neck tie, followed by castration with Fiskars “Durasharp” brand garden clippers. The affidavit said there was a bounty of $2,500 on each testicle. 
   
   “Martin stated that a paisley tie needed to be used because that was what he (Mr. Martin) had used previously,” the affidavit reads. 
   
   Martin is serving consecutive life sentences for murders committed in 2000. The strangulation murder of the 15-year-old girl was a “case of jealousy,” police told The Associated Press. 
   
   In his police interview, Martin said that in addition to the two Vermont slayings, there would be two more targets. The main one was identified in the affidavit as J.B., who “has a measure of fame.” 
   
   Lt. Robert McDonald of the New Mexico State Police told the Star that “J.B.” was Bieber. However, investigators from New Mexico State Police have yet to make an official statement. 
   
   The affidavit describes Martin as “a very good manipulator,” who, “as part of his ruse,” convinced Staake he had access to large sums of money and a multimillion-dollar historic home where Staake and Ruane could hide out. 
   
   He also allegedly told Staake he had connections to Chinese gangs in New York, who had “sanctioned” the murders. 
   
   Martin told police he had been in contact with Staake since his release, and that Staake was to be in New York City in late November. 
   
   McDonald declined to speculate on why Martin revealed the plot to police when he did, but a pair of phone conversations on Nov. 19 hint at a plot unravelling. 
   
   The plan, according to the affidavit, called for two murders in Vermont, followed by two in New York. But the would-be assassins missed an exit in Vermont and were headed toward Canada on Nov. 19 in a 1983 BMW. When they spoke with a U.S. border agent at the Highgate Springs crossing, Staake was arrested on an outstanding New Mexico warrant. 
   
   That same day, Ruane phoned Martin in a call, recorded by the prison, telling him of Staake’s arrest. “Mr. Ruane did not want to ‘move it forward’ without Mr. Staake,” reads the affidavit, referring to the two Vermont killings. 
   
   Ruane then made his way south, phoning Martin again from a truck stop in Rotterdam, N.Y. The focus of that call was on Victims 3 (Bieber) and 4. 
   
   In the recorded conversation, Ruane tells Martin that Staake was going to “handle the whole putting down of the ‘dogs’ and I (Mr. Ruane) was going to go ‘snip, snip.’” 
   
   Martin went to police the next day and Ruane was arrested Nov. 26 by New York State Police, who had been on the lookout for the BMW. 
   
   New Mexico State Police are working to get Staake and Ruane back to that state. “Paperwork is in the process to get them extradited,” said McDonald. 
   
   The question now is could the alleged hit men have got close enough to Bieber to carry out the abduction and gruesome attack? 
   
   The pop star employs an imposing security detail. Chief among them are security director Moshe Benabou, a former Israeli soldier, and Dustin Folkes, a celebrity bodyguard based in Los Angeles. They are never far from him. Nor is tour manager Kenny Hamilton, who formerly served as Bieber’s bodyguard. 
   
   “We take every precaution to protect and ensure the safety of Justin and his fans,” Melissa Victor, vice-president of media and artist relations for Island Def Jam Music Group, told the Star in an email. 
   
   These bodyguards are obsessively protective of Bieber when it comes to paparazzi and sometimes even well-meaning fans. 
   
   Given the number of teenage girls who follow Bieber and stake out his hotels, his security detail is vigilant. He was the target last year of an allegation that he fathered a child with an obsessed fan after a brief encounter in a backstage bathroom. Bieber supplied DNA to prove he was not the father. 
   
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target: – One of the downfalls of being an international pop star beloved by tweens everywhere: Sometimes you end up the target of two would-be assassins hired by a convicted killer to murder you. That's what happened to Justin Bieber, police say. CBC News and the Toronto Star have details of the bizarre plot: Dana Martin, 45, was both the mastermind and the person who alerted police to the plot. He says he hired New Mexico men Mark Staake, 41, and Staake's nephew, Tanner Ruane, 23, to kill four people. Staake and Ruane were arrested late last month, but authorities just discovered Bieber may have been a target. Martin wanted all four of the victims, which were to include both Bieber and his bodyguard, strangled with a paisley tie. Martin is currently in state prison for murder; he killed his victims in a similar fashion. Martin wanted two of the victims castrated, and was willing to pay $2,500 per testicle, but Bieber is not believed to be one of those he wanted castrated. Martin was obsessed with the singer, having written him letters and gotten a Bieber tattoo on his leg. He got upset when Bieber never responded to him. If the whole thing sounds like a macabre publicity stunt, there's reason for that. Martin told police "he was seeking a measure of notoriety so that there would be people outside of prison who would know who he ... was." Oh, and he had nothing to lose: He's serving a sentence of 988 years and change.