Whaddaya mean, none of them attempted it? Four of them hired a hitman to do it! That's not attempted murder for you? :-O

I think that would still count as just conspiracy to commit murder. Not a good thing to do by any means, but not everyone follows through on their plans, so it's a lesser crime.

An attempt likely requires an actual failed attack against the target. It's much more severe.

EDIT: On second thought, I can see how you could consider hiring a hitman as an attempted attack, since once you have agreed upon the hit, the "weapon" has in effect been "fired".

Based on watching Law and Order back in the day they seem to portray hiring a hitman as first degree murder in NY at least.

_Attempted_. Just like shooting a guy and missing is attempted murder, not murder.

Intent. Hiring a hitman is like pulling the trigger.