A Dorchester man who bargained down some hitmen from $10,000 to just $4,000 apiece to kill his his wife and her boyfriend, only to learn the killers were really undercover FBI agents, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

The US Attorney's office reports that could get him 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 23.

In a hearing at US District Court in Boston, Mohammed Chowdhury, 47, admitted he tried to get his wife, from whom he'd been estranged for several years, and her boyfriend murdered.

He initially paid somebody he knew in December, 2022 to do them in, but then he ran off with the money - after first talking to the FBI, which set up a three-man group of alleged professional killers to see if they could hook Chowdhury.

As one of the agents recounted, that started a series of meetings with Chowdhury in different Dot. Ave. restaurants. Initially, the agents said it would cost $10,000 apiece to kill the two in what would appear to be robberies, but Chowdhury said that was too rich for his salary as a convenience-store clerk and that he could afford no more than $4,000 per murder.

The agents agreed - demanding $500 up front before each murder - but he had second thoughts at their first meeting and didn't bring any money. After one of the agents angrily texted him he better not pull that again, unless he wanted to "find some other schmuck," Chowdhury agreed to pay. On Jan. 17, 2023, he handed over $500 - and was promptly arrested.

Chowdhury had been on bad terms with his wife for several years. In October, 2019, according to the US Attorney's office, he admitted to sufficient facts in Roxbury Municipal court to a charge of violating an abuse-prevention order by contacting or coming near his wife.

Chowdhury has been held in a federal prison in Rhode Island since his arrest. If he is sentenced to prison, that time will be credited toward his sentence.