NJ ex-cop admits stabbing, bludgeoning childhood friend to death

A former Hasbrouck Heights police officer has admitted he killed his childhood friend  in a dispute over money, the Record reports.

It said Scott J. Smith admitted he killed John Amendola of Wood-Ridge by stabbling him with a knife and bludgeoning him with a hammer. In exchange for a guilty plea to aggravated manslaughter and other charges, he's set to received a 25-year jail term, according to the report.

According to the report, Smith — after more than 3 years in jail — admitted that in 2011 the two had been fighting over several hundred dollar. The victim ran Amendola’s Italian Deli in Hasbrouck Heights before it closed.