Life plus 25 for jeweler hit slay

A MANHATTAN federal judge ordered a Vietnam veteran to serve life in prison — plus 25 years — for paying a hit man to rub out a Manhattan diamond dealer on a busy Midtown street in 2004.

Hector Rivera was slapped with the stiff sentence on Wednesday after a jury found him guilty in November in the murder-for-hire death of jeweler Eduard Nektalov (right).

Rivera, who was the leader of a violent robbery crew, paid a total of $30,000 to an assassin in Puerto Rico and to another participant to kill Nektalov.

“Your crime is heinous. It could scarcely be more serious,” Judge Paul Engelmayer told Rivera before he announced the sentence.

The jurist said Rivera “plotted and planned” the murder to “get revenge.” Rivera wanted Nektalov dead after the jeweler had a falling out with one of his criminal associates, prosecutors said.

“(The) manner in which it was carried out was particularly cowardly,” the jurist said. “How cynical and selfish and cruel.”

On the afternoon of May 20, 2004, the hit man shot Nektalov in the head on a crowded Sixth Ave., less than a block away from the jeweler’s W. 47th St. store. The hired gun then plugged him twice in the back.

At the time of his death, Nektalov and his father were facing money-laundering charges involving Colombian drug cartels. Nektalov’s dad was later convicted.

Rivera, 66, was awarded five medals for his Army servicein the Vietnam War. His lawyer, Mark DeMarco, said his heroics included saving his platoon.

The lawyer told the judge that his client came from an impoverished family and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Rivera’s conviction carried a mandatory life sentence.

Nektalov’s brother, Leon, attended the sentencing hearing but declined to comment.