Contract killing is a form of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not ha ...

in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an

illegal agreement An illegal agreement under the common law of contract, is one that the court will not enforce because the purpose of the agreement is to achieve an illegal end. The illegal end must result from performance of the contract itself. The classic exa ...

which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies,

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

s, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the

Jewish-American organized crime Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been referred to variously in media and popular culture as the Jewish Mob, Jewish Mafia, Kosher Mob, K ...

gang

Murder, Inc. Murder, Inc. (Murder, Incorporated) was an organized crime group, active from 1929 to 1941, that acted as the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicatea closely connected criminal organization that included the Italian-American Mafia, the ...

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 Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...

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 Forensic identification is the application of forensic science, or "forensics", and technology to identify specific objects from the trace evidence they leave, often at a crime scene or the scene of an accident. Forensic means "for the courts". H ...

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 The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is Australia's national research and knowledge centre on crime and criminal justice. The Institute seeks to promote justice and reduce crime by undertaking and communicating evidence-based research ...

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 In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract (generally a standard form contract) between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claims which the insurer is legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial payment, known a ...

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 A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

. 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 Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

from 1993 to 2002.

Notable persons

Perpetrators

* Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, an

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

hitman from

Gweedore Gweedore ( ; officially known by its Irish language name, ) is an Irish-speaking district and parish located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some from Glasserchoo in the north to Crolly ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrco ...

, who worked for

Salvatore Maranzano Salvatore Maranzano (; July 31, 1886 – September 10, 1931) was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. ...

Dutch Schultz Dutch Schultz (born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer; August 6, 1901October 24, 1935) was an American mobster. Based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, he made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the nu ...

, and

Owney Madden Owen Vincent "Owney" Madden (December 18, 1891 – April 24, 1965) was a British-born gangster of Irish ancestry who became a leading underworld figure in New York during Prohibition. Nicknamed "The Killer", he garnered a brutal reputation within ...

. *

Elmer "Trigger" Burke Elmer "Trigger" Burke (1917 – January 9, 1958) was a notorious hitman during the mid-to-late 1940s. He was brought up by his older brother, Charlie. In 1941, he was sent to reform school, but later had his sentence cut for joining the army, wher ...

, notorious hitman and supporting player in the

Great Brink's Robbery The Great Brink's Robbery was an armed robbery of the Brink's building in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1950. The $2.775 million ($ million today) theft consisted of $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, ...

* Maia "Mainha" Cunha, a notorious Brazilian hitman, he is considered the biggest hitman in

Northeast Brazil The Northeast Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Nordeste do Brasil; ) is one of the five official and political regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises ni ...

and his targets were usually northeastern politicians, mostly mayors of cities in the interior of northeastern Brazil. *

Glennon Engleman Glennon Edward Engleman (February 6, 1927 – March 3, 1999) was an American dentist, contract killer, and serial killer. Engleman, a United States Army veteran and a St. Louis dentist, planned and carried out at least five murders for monetary g ...

, American dentist who moonlighted as a hitman. *

Ray Ferritto Raymond W. Ferritto (April 8, 1929 − May 10, 2004) was an Italian-American mobster from Erie, Pennsylvania. Ferritto is best known for the 1977 assassination of Irish mob boss Danny Greene. He served as hitman and soldier for the Clevelan ...

, Italian-American hitman and soldier for the

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

and Los Angeles crime families, best known for the October 1977

car bombing A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

murder of

Irish mob The Irish Mob (also known as the Irish mafia or Irish organized crime) is a collective of organized crime syndicates composed of ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia, and have been i ...

boss

Danny Greene Daniel John Patrick Greene (November 14, 1933 – October 6, 1977) was an Irish-American organized crime figure based in Cleveland, Ohio. Greene gained power first in the local chapter of the International Longshoremen's Association, where ...

Lyndhurst, Ohio Lyndhurst is a small city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and an eastern suburb of Cleveland. The population was 14,050 at the 2020 census. A small part of Lyndhurst was originally part of Mayfield Township. History The land currently c ...

; later Ferritto became a government witness and testified against the mob. *

Christopher Dale Flannery Christopher Dale Flannery, nicknamed "Mr Rent-a-Kill" (born 1948 – disappeared 9 May 1985) is alleged to have been an Australian contract killer. Background and early career Flannery was born in Brunswick, Victoria. He left school at the age ...

, reputed Australian hitman. * El Chino Ántrax, a notorious Mexican

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

and hitman, he was a high-ranking member of

Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in ill ...

and the leader of Los Antrax, a feared hitman squad and an armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel. * Giuseppe Greco, a Sicilian hitman who killed at least 58 people during the

Second Mafia War The Second Mafia War was a period of conflict involving the Sicilian Mafia, mostly taking place from the late 1970s to the early 1990s and involved thousands of homicides. Sometimes referred to as The Great Mafia War or the ''Mattanza'' (Italian ...

. * Charles Harrelson, American hitman, father of actor

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

. * Patrick Holland, Irish alleged hitman for the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

-based drug trafficking ring led by John Gilligan and John Traynor. Accused by Irish law enforcement of having been responsible for the 1996 murder of investigative journalist

Veronica Guerin Veronica Guerin (5 July 1958 – 26 June 1996) was an Irish crime reporter who was murdered by drug lords. Born in Dublin, she was an athlete in school and later played on the Irish national teams for both football and basketball. After study ...

. * Richard Kuklinski, an alleged hitman for the

DeCavalcante crime family The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York, and various other North Jer ...

and the

Five Families The Five Families refers to five major New York City organized crime families of the Italian American Mafia formed in 1931 by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the Castellammarese War. Maranzano reorganized the Italian American gang ...

who claimed responsibility for more than 200 murders. * Marinko Magda, Serbian hitman convicted for 11 murders. * Tommy "Karate" Pitera, an Italian-American hitman and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

in the

Bonanno crime family The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the ...

. He was known for having serial killer-like characteristics, and was a skilled

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

. * Alexander "Sasha-Soldier" Pustovalov,

Russian Mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...

hitman and

Orekhovskaya gang The Orekhovskaya Organized Crime Group (russian: Ореховская организованная преступная группировка) was a powerful criminal organization based in Moscow active between the late 1980s and early 2000s. H ...

soldier. Pustovalov has 22 confirmed kills. *

Abe Reles Abraham "Kid Twist" Reles (; May 10, 1906 – November 12, 1941) was a New York Jewish mobster who was a hit man for Murder, Inc., the enforcement contractor for Meyer Lansky's National Crime Syndicate. Reles later turned government witne ...

, hitman and initial leader of

along with Martin Goldstein. * Julio Santana, a notorious Brazilian hitman, he is considered by the Brazilian and international media as "the deadliest hitman in history", for having killed more or less 492 people officially (more than 500 unofficially), considered the highest number of fatal victims killed by a single hitman. * Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran, a union official and mob hitman, who was associated with

Russell Bufalino Russell Alfred Bufalino (; born Rosario Alfredo Bufalino, ; September 29, 1903 – February 25, 1994) was an Italian-American mobster who became the crime boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Italian-American Mafia crime family known as the ...

. Sheeran claimed to have murdered former

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the un ...

president

Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975; declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. F ...

. * Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, a Jewish hitman who headed the Bugs and Meyer Mob and was a hitman for

; Siegel was also the Italian mob's main hitman during Prohibition. * Alexander Solonik, Russian hitman, known for carrying a firearm in each hand. Alexander Solonik was a main killer in the Kurganskaya criminal group. *

Harry Strauss __NOTOC__ Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss (July 28, 1909 – June 12, 1941) was a prolific contract killer for Murder, Inc. in the 1930s. He reportedly killed over one hundred men (some historians put the number as high as 500)Carl Sifakis, ' ...

, hitman for

he is possibly the most prolific hitman to have ever lived, committing 100 (possibly 500) murders during his career. * Jhon Jairo "Popeye" Velásquez, Colombian hitman who was part of the

Medellín Cartel The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered ...

. * Robert Young, Willie Sanchez, an escaped convict and contract killer employed by an

African-American organized crime In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African-American organized crime emerged following the first and second large-scale migration of African-Americans from the South to major cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and later the West Coast. In ...

gang headed by

Nicky Barnes Leroy Nicholas Barnes (October 15, 1933 – June 18, 2012) was an American crime boss, active in New York City during the 1970s. In 1972, Barnes formed The Council, a seven-man African-American organized crime syndicate that controlled a sign ...

. * Z, a 15-year-old minor who was convicted of murdering an insurance agent under the orders of her husband in Singapore in 2001. He was detained at the President's Pleasure for 17 years.

Victims

Griselda Blanco Griselda Blanco Restrepo (February 15, 1943 – September 3, 2012), known as ''the Black Widow'', was a Colombian drug lord of the Medellín Cartel, and in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld, during the 1970s through the early ...

, the subject of the film '' Cocaine Godmother'' (2018), a former drug lord gunned down on September 3, 2012. * Harry Greenberg, a

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

associate of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. He was killed by Siegel, Whitey Krakower, Albert Tannenbaum, and Frankie Carbo in 1939. * Danny Hogan, an

boss based in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

, whose 1928 assassination, allegedly by disgruntled associate Harry Sawyer is believed to be the first murder by

in the history of American organized crime. * Annie Leong, an insurance agent in Singapore who was murdered by a minor hired by her husband, who was subsequently sentenced to death and later executed. * Walter Liggett, an investigative journalist specializing in exposes of collusion between

Depression era The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagi ...

organized crime in the

and senior politicians from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

's ruling Farmer-Labor Party. Assassinated before his wife and children in December 1935, allegedly by Kid Cann, an enforcer for a

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

-based

gang called the "AZ Syndicate". *

Li Fuguo Li Fuguo ( 李輔國; 704 – November 12, 762According to Tang Daizong's biography in the ''Old Book of Tang'', Li was killed at night on the ''dingmao'' day in the 10th month of the 1st year of the Baoying era of Tang Suzong's/Daizong's reign. ...

, a

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingd ...

eunuch killed by a hitman hired by Emperor Tang Daizong. *

, a Castellammarese Mafia boss and rival to Masseria in the

Castellammarese War The Castellammarese War () was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American Mafia that took place in New York City, New York, from February 1930 until April 15, 1931, between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Sa ...

who was killed by Siegel and several other men in 1931. * Dan Markel, an attorney and legal academic murdered in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

, in 2014. *

Joe Masseria Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria (; January 17, 1886April 15, 1931) was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia's Five Families, from 192 ...

, a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

murdered by Siegel,

Vito Genovese Vito Genovese (; November 21, 1897 – February 14, 1969) was an Italian-born American mobster who mainly operated in the United States. Genovese rose to power during Prohibition as an enforcer in the American Mafia. A long-time associate and chi ...

Albert Anastasia Umberto "Albert" Anastasia (, ; ; September 26, 1902 – October 25, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster, hitman, and crime boss. One of the founders of the modern American Mafia, and a co-founder and later boss of the Murder, Inc. organizatio ...

, and

Joe Adonis Joseph Anthony Doto (born Giuseppe Antonio Doto, ; November 22, 1902 – November 26, 1971), known as Joe Adonis, was an Italian-American mobster who was an important participant in the formation of the modern Cosa Nostra crime families in New Yo ...

in 1931. * Harry Millman, gang leader and former Purple Gang member, killed by

and Harry Maione. * Nativo da Natividade, a well-known union leader from the Center-West of Brazil (who was originally a rural worker), he was one of the 492 people who were killed by the notorious Brazilian hitman Julio Santana. * Dion O'Banion,

boss of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

North Side Gang The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was an Irish-Polish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s. It was the principal rival of the South Side Gang, also ...

, whose 1924 assassination by

Frankie Yale Francesco Ioele (; January 22, 1893 – July 1, 1928), known as Frankie Yale or Frankie Uale, was an Italian-American gangster based in Brooklyn and second employer of Al Capone. Early life Yale was born in Longobucco, Italy, on January 22, ...

, John Scalise, and Albert Anselmi touched off almost a decade of gangland warfare. * Maria Lúcia Petit, a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, far-left militant and communist guerrilla, was a member of the

Communist Party of Brazil The Communist Party of Brazil ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista do Brasil, PCdoB) is a political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and student m ...

( PCdoB) and the Guerrilha do Araguaia. She was one of the 492 people who were killed by the notorious Brazilian hitman Julio Santana (as well as Nativo da Natividade). * Shiori Ino, a 21-year-old university student, who was stabbed to death in 1999. Hitman had been hired by Ino's abusive ex-boyfriend (who committed suicide before he could be apprehended) and the ex-boyfriend's brother, who was sentenced to life imprisonment. * Alexander Solonik, was strangled to death by Russian hitman and ex-Marine Alexander Pustovalov in his villa in 1997. * Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel,

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

mob

killed by unknown assailants in 1947. *

Barry Seal Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 – February 19, 1986) was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel. When Seal was convicted of smuggling charges, he became an informant for the Drug ...

, American airline pilot and undercover CIA informer, who became a major drug smuggler for the Medellin Cartel. * Brian Stidham, a pediatric ophthalmologist who was killed in a murder-for-hire plot by his colleague, Dr. Bradley Schwartz. * Grady Stiles, a

freak show A freak show, also known as a creep show, is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with ...

performer whose family hired a hitman to kill due to his abusiveness. * John H. Wood Jr., an American Federal judge known as "Maximum John" for giving severe prison sentences for drug offenses, murdered by Charles Harrelson at the behest of Lebanese-American

Jamiel Chagra.

Employers

* Dana Ewell, convicted of hiring his college roommate to murder Ewell's mother, father, and sister for the US$8,000,000 estate. *

John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 (, ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American gangster and Crime boss, boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of ...

, Italian- American

crime boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

, hired hitmen to murder

Paul Castellano Constantino Paul Castellano (; June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985), was an American crime boss who succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family. Castellano was killed in an unsanctioned hit on December 16, 1985. Early life Cas ...

outside of Sparks Steak House in December 1985. * Robert Fratta, ex-police officer, hired two men to kill his wife. * Lawrence Horn, record producer whose hiring of a hitman led to the case ''Rice v.

Paladin Press Paladin Press was a book publishing firm founded in 1970 by Peder Lund and Robert K. Brown. The company published non-fiction books and videos covering a wide range of specialty topics, including personal and financial freedom, survivalism and p ...

'' * Mike Danton, former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player, hired an undercover federal agent to kill his sports agent. *

Wanda Holloway Wanda Webb Holloway (born 1954) is an American woman from Channelview, Texas who was convicted of attempting to hire a hitman to kill the mother of her daughter's junior high school cheerleading rival. Background In 1991, after Holloway's daughte ...

hired a hitman to kill the mother of her daughter's cheerleading rival, inspiring a film. * Silas Jayne,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-area stable owner, was convicted in 1973 of hiring hitmen to murder his half-brother George. * Tim Lambesis, heavy metal vocalist who attempted to hire an undercover police officer to murder his wife. * Charlotte Karin Lindström, Swedish waitress/model who attempted to hire a hitman to kill persons testifying against her boyfriend in a drug trial in Australia. * Charles "Lucky" Luciano,

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its memb ...

and

Luciano crime family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American ...

. Ordered Siegel, Tannenbaum, Genovese, Buchalter, Carbo, and Krakower to murder

Mustache Pete A Mustache Pete is a member of the Sicilian Mafia who came to the United States (particularly New York City) as an adult in the early 20th century. History Unlike the younger Sicilian-Americans, known as the "Young Turks," the old-guard Mustache ...

s Joe Masseria and Sal Maranzano in 1931, and

stool pigeon An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

Harry Greenberg in 1939. * Joseph Maldonado-Passage (better known by his stage name Joe Exotic), an American zoo owner who attempted to hire an undercover FBI agent to murder a rival, the CEO of Big Cat Rescue (with whom he had a long-running and public feud). * Diana Lovejoy, a technical writer, and her gun instructor Weldon McDavid were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder of Lovejoy's husband in 2016. * Jennifer Pan, a Vietnamese-Canadian woman who hired three men to stage a

home invasion A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary (or in some jurisdictions, a separately defined crime) in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching i ...

in order to assassinate her parents in retaliation for a decades of tiger parenting in 2010. * Nicole Doucet Ryan attempted to hire an undercover

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

officer to kill her husband. After ruling that she could not use the defense of

duress Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...

, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered she could not be retried. *

Pamela Smart Pamela Ann Smart (née Wojas; born August 16, 1967) is an American woman who was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and witness tampering. In 1990, at age 22, Smart conspired with her underag ...

hired teenage lover Billy Flynn and his friends to murder her husband. * Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, an American man who hired people to attack his parents and brother in a home invasion in 2003. * Anthony Ler, a Singaporean who hired a 15-year-old student in 2001 to murder his wife with promises of money and sex, as well as manipulation and death threats.

In popular culture

Fictional cases of contract killing or "hitmen" are depicted in a range of

popular fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

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 Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may ...

'', wherein the player controls a hired hitman simply known as

Agent 47 Agent 47 is a fictional character, the protagonist and the player character of the ''Hitman'' video game franchise, developed by IO Interactive. He has been featured in all games of the series, as well as various spin-off media, including two th ...

. 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.

Notes

References

External links

Murder-for-Hire: Web Hits of a Deadly Kind
(

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

)
Satire Site Rent-A-Hitman—Has gun, will Gavel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contract Killing * Gangland warfare tactics Organized crime activity Temporary employment Killings by type Illegal occupations Speech crimes