NEW YORK -- The gunman who cold-bloodedly executed a pair of undercover police officers during a 2003 gun deal gone bad was sentenced Thursday to death -- the first federal defendant to receive the ultimate punishment in the city since 1954.


Ronell Wilson, 24, received the sentence in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, where a federal jury had voted for the death penalty on Jan. 30 following his conviction for the Staten Island slayings.


The jurors, in reaching their verdict, said Wilson had shown no remorse for the killings.


But Wilson said at the hearing: "I'd like to say to the family of the victims, I'm sorry."


Undercover Detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin were in an unmarked car when they met with Wilson four years ago to buy an illegal gun.


Prosecutors said the defendant knew the two men were police officers but shot them anyway -- first Andrews and then Nemorin, who pleaded in vain for his life.


The jury's decision made Wilson the city's first federal defendant to receive a death sentence since 1954, when it was imposed on a bank robber who killed an FBI agent.


Wilson was convicted in December 2006 of two counts of murder, along with robbery, carjacking and firearms charges.


Attorneys for Wilson have indicated they plan to appeal the death sentence.


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Good riddance indeed.

What's all the hoopala about? In my parts, we'd Hang him and be done with it.

What parts may they be? We don't exactly live in the wild, wild West anymore.