Contract killing (Redirected from Hitman)

Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an agreement which includes some form of compensation, monetary or otherwise. It is an illegal agreement. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies, dictatorships, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the Italian- and Jewish-American organized crime gang Murder, Inc. committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and '40s.

Contract killing provides the hiring party with the advantage of not having to carry out the actual killing, making it more difficult for law enforcement to connect the hirer with the murder. The likelihood that authorities will establish that party's guilt for the committed crime, especially due to lack of forensic evidence linked to the contracting party, makes the case more difficult to attribute to the hiring party. Contract killers may exhibit serial killer traits, but are generally not classified as such because of third-party killing objectives and detached financial and emotional incentives. Nevertheless, there are occasionally individuals that are labeled as both contract killers and serial killers.

A contract killer is colloquially known as a hitman. Contract killers who work for criminal organizations are often known as enforcers.

Statistics

A study by the Australian Institute of Criminology of 162 contract murders and attempted contract murders in Australia between 1989 and 2002 indicated that the most common reason for murder-for-hire was insurance policy payouts. The study also found that payments varied from $5,000 to $30,000 per killing, with an average of $15,000, and that the most commonly used weapons were firearms. Contract killings accounted for 2% of murders in Australia during that time period. Contract killings generally make up a small percentage of murders. For example, they accounted for about 5% of all murders in Scotland from 1993 to 2002.

The Hired Assassins (Ernest Meissonier, 1852)

Notable persons

Perpetrators

Mad Dog Coll leaving court surrounded by police officers, 1931

Victims

Employers

In popular culture

Fictional cases of contract killing or "hitmen" are depicted in a range of popular fiction genres in the 20th and 21st century, including comic books, films, and video games.

Contract killing is a core aspect of the video game franchise Hitman, wherein the player controls a hired hitman simply known as Agent 47. In the game Hotline Miami, the player controls a man who receives mysterious calls telling him to kill members of the Russian Mafia.

The website RentAHitman.com is a satirical homepage for a fake contract killing agency. Its owner passes on details of those who try to use his services to law enforcement agencies.

Nothing Personal is a television documentary series that presents stories of contract killings.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ His nickname, "Karate" is due to the fact that he is a martial artist and also to the fact that he is a black belt in Goju-ryu Karate.
  2. ^ According to Julio Santana himself, he stopped counting the number of targets he killed after the 492nd victim, implying that the actual number of victims he killed would be (unofficially) 500 or more.

This page was last updated at 2024-03-15 17:34 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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