Deputies had to intervene when a friend of Dennis Zecca confronted Bruce Schmitt last month, according to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office offense report.

Zecca is charged with conspiring to hire a hit man to kill Schmitt.

According to the deputies' report, here is how the incident went down: Peter Policastro, 57, a 10-year friend of Zecca, arrived at an American Caribbean Real Estate office in Marathon on the afternoon of Jan. 19 to talk to Ginger Henderson, Schmitt's girlfriend.

Schmitt was helping Henderson at the office, which was in the final stages of construction, when Policastro walked up and began to "speak about business dealings and claimed to have met Bruce before and knew him," the report states.

Policastro and Schmitt began talking about Policastro's intention to work for Publix when Schmitt recognized Policastro as a friend of Marathon Planning Commission member Ralph Lucignano.

Both men exchanged words and, "at one point Peter got into Bruce's face during a now-heated argument," the report states.

Schmitt then called 911, fearing Policastro was trying to "bait him into doing something."

Policastro told the deputy he recently resigned his manager job at a local resort and "was looking for a simple life," and that he stopped to speak only to Henderson, not Schmitt. He said he stayed on the scene because he wanted to clarify that he had done nothing wrong, the report states.

The deputy reportedly asked Policastro to leave, and he complied.

Policastro and Zecca were involved in a company called KVL Property Management that is no longer in business, according to state Division of Corporations records.

-- alinhardt@keysnews.com