View source for Contract killing

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{{For|the 2008 film|Contract Killers}}
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{{expert-subject|Crime|date=May 2009}}
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{{homicide}}

'''Contract killing''' is a form of murder in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an [[illegal agreement]] between two or more parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be a person, group, or an organization.

Throughout history, contract killing has been associated with [[organized crime]] and with [[Feud|vendetta]]s. For example, in recent United States history, the gang [[Murder, Inc.]] committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the [[National Crime Syndicate]].

Contract killing provides the hiring party with the advantage of not having to commit the actual killing,  making it more difficult to connect said party with the murder. The likelihood the 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 solve in many instances.

It is also often used by a person who do not have the fortitude to carry out the killing themselves, such as a spouse contracting the murder of their partner.<ref>{{cite web|author=The Canadian Press |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/01/23/ns-hitman-michael-ryan.html |title=Ex-husband in hit-man case says courts were wrong - Nova Scotia - CBC News |publisher=Cbc.ca |date=2013-01-23 |accessdate=2013-02-07}}</ref>

==Legal issues==
In the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], and many other countries, a contract to kill a person is void, meaning that it is not legally enforceable. Any contract to commit an indictable offense is not enforceable. Thus, if a hitman takes the money but then fails or refuses to perform, the customer cannot sue for specific performance or for damages for breach of contract.  Conversely, if the hitman performs the killing as promised but the customer refuses to pay, the hitman cannot sue the customer for monetary damages.

Furthermore, both the actual killer and the person who paid the killer can be found guilty of [[murder]].  Indeed, the acts of merely negotiating and paying for a contract killing (that is never actually carried out) are themselves punishable as [[attempted murder]], as they constitute the "substantial step" towards a crime which are essential for imposing liability for an attempted crime.  

In some U.S. jurisdictions with [[capital punishment]], a contract killing may be a special circumstance that allows for the contractor as well as the killer to receive the death penalty.

==Statistics==
A study by the [[Australian Institute of Criminology]] of 162 attempted or actual contract murders in Australia between 1989 and 2002 indicated that the most common reason for murder-for-hire was insurance policies payouts. The study also found that the average payment for a "hit" was $15,000 and that the most commonly used weapons were firearms. Contract killings accounted for 2% of murders in Australia during that time period.<ref name="lovers">https://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/australia.killings.offbeat.reut/index.html</ref>
Contract killings also make up a relatively similar percentage of all killings elsewhere. For example, they made up about 5% of all murders in [[Scotland]] from 1993 to 2002.<ref>[[Government of Scotland]]: https://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/11/18570/29572</ref>
According to ''[[America's Most Wanted]]'', [[Walker County, Alabama|Walker County]], [[Alabama]] is the #1 place in America to hire a hitman.

==Notable cases==

=== Hitmen ===
[[File:Vincent Coll leaving court NYWTS.jpg|thumb|[[Mad Dog Coll]] leaving homicide court surrounded by police officers, 1931]]
*[[Glennon Engleman]], American dentist who moonlighted as a hitman
*[[Christopher Dale Flannery]], reputed Australian hitman
*[[Sammy the bull|Salvatore 'Sammy the Bull' Gravano]], an [[underboss]] of the [[Gambino crime family]]. 
*[[Giuseppe Greco]], one of the most prolific [[Sicilian Mafia]] killers.
*[[Igor the Assassin]], ex-KGB operative turned hitman who is suspected of having killed over 40 targets internationally 
*[[Charles Harrelson]], American hitman, father of actor [[Woody Harrelson]]
*[[Richard Kuklinski]], American contract killer, linked to the murders of over 33 men and rumored to have murdered over 250 men
*[[Marinko Magda]], Serbian hitman convicted for 11 murders, including a Hungarian family
*[[Alexander Solonik]], Russian hitman who killed more than 30 [[Russian mafia]] bosses, and who was known for carrying a firearm in each hand
*[[Bugsy Siegel|Benjamin Siegel]], a Jewish hitman who headed the [[Bugs and Meyer Mob]] and headed and was a hitman for [[Murder, Inc.]]. Siegel was also the [[American Mafia|Italian mob's]] main hitman during [[Prohibition]].
*[[Mad Dog Coll|Vincent Coll]], an [[Irish American|Irish-American]] hitman who worked for [[Dutch Schultz]] and [[Owney Madden]].

=== Victims ===
*[[Li Fuguo]], a Tang Dynasty Eunuch killed by a hitman hired by Emperor [[Tang Daizong]].
*[[Shiori Ino]], a 21-year-old University student killed by hitman Yoshifumi Kubota, who served 18 years in prison for the killing. He was paid by her ex-boyfriend and his brother; the case gained some notoriety in Japan.
*[[Grady Stiles]], [[freak show]] performer whose family hired a hitman to kill him because of his abusiveness.
*[[Ji Yunqing]], a Chinese Shanghai Triad boss affiliated with [[Wang Jingwei]]'s [[Reorganized National Government of China|puppet regime]] in the late 1930s murdered by BIS hitman Zhan Seng.
*[[Harry Greenberg]], a [[American Mafia|Mafia]] associate of [[Charlie Luciano|Charles "Lucky" Luciano]], [[Meyer Lansky]], and Siegel. He was killed by Siegel, [[Whitey Krakower]], [[Albert Tannenbaum]], and [[Frankie Carbo]] in 1939.
*[[Joe Masseria]], was a [[Castellammare del Golfo|Castellmammarese]] [[Sicilian Mafia|Mafia]] [[crime boss|boss]] that was murdered by Siegel, [[Vito Genovese]], and [[Lepke Buchalter]] in 1931.
*[[Salvatore Maranzano]], was a Castellammarese Mafia boss and rival to Masseria in the [[Castellammarese War]] and was killed by Siegel and several other men in 1931.
*[[Bugsy Siegel|Benjamin Siegel]], [[Las Vegas]] [[Las Vegas crime family|mob]] [[crime boss|boss]] and [[Flamingo Hotel]] owner, killed by unknown assailants in 1947.

=== Employers ===
*[[R v Ryan|Nicole Doucet Ryan]] attempted to hire an undercover [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] officer to kill her husband. After ruling she could not use the defense of [[duress]], the [[Supreme Court of Canada]] ordered she not be retried.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/01/23/ns-hitman-michael-ryan.html | work=CBC News}}</ref>
*[[Silas Jayne]], [[Chicago]]-area stable owner, was convicted in 1973 of hiring hitmen to murder his half-brother George.<ref name=SJSI>{{cite news|last=Boyle|first=Robert H.|title=End Of A Bloody Bad Show|url=https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1087415/index.htm|accessdate=21 March 2013|newspaper=Sports Illustrated|date=4 June 1973}}</ref> 
*[[Mike Danton]], former [[NHL]] player, hired an undercover federal agent to kill his sports agent.
*Italian [[crime boss]] [[John Gotti]] hired hitmen to murder [[Paul Castellano]] outside of [[Sparks Steak House]]; the murder was carried out in December of 1985.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/mob-boss-john-gotti-dead|title=Mob Boss John Gotti Is Dead|publisher=The Smoking Gun|date=June 10, 2002|accessdate=May 10, 2015}}</ref>
*''[[Wanda Holloway]]: [[The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom]]'' is based on Holloway's hiring a hitman to kill the mother of a girl competing with her daughter at cheerleading.
*[[Lawrence Horn]], record producer whose hiring of a hitman led to the case ''Rice v. [[Paladin Press]]''
*[[2007 hitman case|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.
*[[Pamela Smart]] of [[Derry, New Hampshire]], who made national headlines in 1991 for hiring *****age lover Billy Flynn and his friends to murder her husband Gregory Smart.
*[[Wallace Souza]], [[Brazil]]ian [[television]] [[presenter]] who was accused of hiring hitmen to murder at least five people in 2009 to increase his [[Canal Livre|programme]]'s ratings.
*[[Ruthann Aron]], convicted of hiring a hitman to kill her husband and a lawyer who had won a fraud case against her.
*[[Charlie Luciano|Charles "Lucky" Luciano]], [[American Mafia]] and [[Luciano crime family]] [[crime boss|boss]]. Ordered Siegel, Tannenbaum, Genovese, Buchalter, Carbo, and Krakower to murder [[Mustache Pete|Mustache Petes]] Joe Masseria and Sal Maranzano in 1931, and [[informant|stool pigeon]] Harry Greenberg in 1939.
*[[The Commission (mafia)|The Commission]], [[American Mafia]] ruling body that ordered Siegel's murder in 1947.

== In fiction ==
{{main|Contract killing in popular culture}}

== See also ==<!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER -->
*[[Ambush]]
*[[Assassination]]
*''[[Confessions of an Economic Hit Man]]''
*[[Espionage]]
*[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI)
*[[Hit and run tactics]]
*[[List of controversies involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] 
*[[Mercenary]]
*[[Murder Inc]]
*[[Organized crime]]
*[[Private military company]]
*[[Sniper]]
*[[Sniper Rifle]]
*[[Suppressor]]
*[[Wetwork]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
*''[[Nothing Personal (TV series)|Nothing Personal]]'', a television documentary series that focuses on stories of contract killings.

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Targeted killing}}
* [https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/january/murder-for-hire/murder-for-hire Murder-for-Hire: Web Hits of a Deadly Kind] ([[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]])

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[[Category:Contract killers| ]]
[[Category:Assassins| ]]
[[Category:Gangland warfare tactics]]
[[Category:Organized crime activity]]