Professional hitmen don’t actually exist. It’s a ‘business’ that you can’t possibly advertise for and has no way for the customer to assess the quality of the provider in advance. Sometimes killings do happen in exchange for money, but they don’t involve someone that is a professional killer that works with the public as their primary source of income. It just doesn’t exist. But there are some cases where killing does happen for money.
Sometimes two people will conspire to kill another for profit. Maybe one spouse hates another spouse. They ask a close friend or relative to kill their spouse, and they offer a portion of proceeds from life insurance as a payment for their risk and trouble. Or they’re cheating on their spouse with someone else, stand to inherit all their spouses assets upon their demise, and promise to marry the person they’re cheating with, thus sharing all the assets with them. In this case, it’s not a stranger being hired; the killer has known the person ‘hiring’ them for decades.
Some killings-for-hire are gang related. A gang wants someone killed. They don’t hire a random person to do it. They get one of their own members, who they’ve already known for many years and is a full member of the gang. In compensation for the huge risk the person is taking on to perform the deed, they offer a large sum of cash. Again, an unvetted stranger is not being hired. This person has likely already committed numerous crimes on the gang’s behalf in the past. When you’ve already committed enough crimes on a gang’s behalf to get you years in prison, a murder isn’t such a stretch.
Some killings-for-hire are done at the behest of nation-states. Spycraft. The KGB or CIA hire someone in a foreign country who is already sympathetic to them to kill someone the intelligence agency wants taken out. The intelligence agency doesn’t just select anyone, they go through a long vetting process just like they would any other intelligence asset. In fact, the potential assassin has likely already provided good intelligence and assistance to them for years, already risked extensive jail time or worse. If you’re a US military member that’s been providing intelligence to the KGB for a decade and have already participated in sabotage efforts, you’re already looking at treason charges if you’re caught. Offing someone for the KGB isn’t such an escalation. And when a nation-state hires someone to perform a killing, they also offer the person a plausible way out. The CIA can hire someone to kill someone for them in a foreign country and hand that person a US passport along with a few million safely in a US bank account in their name. Hell, they can make sure the assassin’s family has been given US citizenship and is already in the US before the deed is done. The CIA assassin can perform the killing, and as long as they can get to US or friendly territory before the foreign cops catch up with them, they’ll be completely free and clear. And regardless, their family will already be set for life in the US.
These are the kinds of scenarios where killings actually do occur in exchange for money. No one hires someone to kill another that they haven’t heavily vetted. If a random civilian is going to hire someone else to kill someone, they won’t hire a professional assassin. They’ll hire their brother or their lover. Otherwise contract killings only are done by organizations like gangs or national intelligence agencies, and they only hire people to do so that they’ve worked with for years and who has already committed numerous less severe crimes for them in the past.
In short, there really is no such thing as a professional assassin that serves the general public. Maybe if you are the spouse of a high-level violent gang member, you might be able to convince them to use the gang’s resources to pay one of their trusted members to kill someone in exchange for cash. But if you’re just a random average person? Forget it. There simply are not professional contract killers hiding in the shadows that a random civilian can hire if they have the cash. Anyone claiming to be that is simply a cop. Any person who DID try to start a career like this would be caught very quickly and have a very, very short career.
This applies to the US and western Europe. There are places in the world where hitmen can be hired by normal people, but they are closer to homeless drug addicts than the sort of professional you are probably envisioning.
Professional hitmen don’t actually exist.
Sammy “The Bull” Gravano would probably disagree with you. He’d likely consider himself a professional since he admitted to involvement in 19 murders. Granted they were all mob related, and not “for hire” by anybody with a pile of cash and a grudge…
Sure. But when I say, “professional hit man” I don’t mean a gangster, a mobster, or a spy. I’m referring to more of the professional hitman as seen in popular culture: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProfessionalKiller
Think the trope in fiction. Someone wants someone killed. They find the shadiest person they can, like their tweaker cousin’s dealer. They then ask this shady person if they can put them in touch with a contract killer. Through the grapevine, they meet with someone who is literally a professional killer-for-hire. The usual trope is some extremely well-put together gentleman; he probably wears a 3-piece suit and black leather gloves. He probably views killing as an art form. He takes professional pride in it. He’s probably obsessed with expensive firearms and their various accessories, and he personally owns an arsenal big enough to take down the government of a modestly-sized city. Killing is his passion; he only charges at all because he has bills to pay like anyone else. The usual trope is to imagine someone as professional and presentable as the most formal lawyer or doctor you can imagine, except their business is killing.
While the real world version of a professional killer wouldn’t be so extreme, the core should remain if they are to be a professional killer. They don’t need to dress in a suit, have a private arsenal of rare expensive weapons, and speak in a British accent. But they should still meet the minimum definition of professional to count as a professional hitman. A “professional” is generally someone who offers a specific service to the public as their primary occupation. Lots of people know first aid. But only a doctor or a nurse makes medical care their actual profession. Most people can replace a light switch, but that doesn’t make them a professional electrician. A professional usually sees some higher purpose or artfulness in their services and seeks to provide them to all that can afford them.
Sammy Gravano was a mobster, a terrible human being, and a ruthless killer. But he was a mobster first, and a killer second. He committed numerous other crimes on behalf of the mob, not just murder. And he didn’t commit murders that weren’t at the behest of the mob. You, as a random stranger, couldn’t just knock on his door, hand him a bag full of cash, and get him to off someone for you. In fact, he would probably kill YOU just for trying.
Per OP’s original question, Sammy Gravano does not count. There was no way for some random person back during his day to find him, hire him, and have him take someone out for them. He was a mobster, not a professional hitman-for-hire. And that is a crucial distinction.
Every case of a random person hiring a “hitman” that I have heard of has, in fact, been someone hiring an undercover cop. And the people soliciting the services went to jail for a good long while.
Its pretty easy to hire a hitman on the dark web. Just be aware, they all seem to be undercover FBI agents.
So what I just type in Hitman…not the game and there it is? Also how does one use the dark web? Never thought about it. But a friend or so called friend just got busted for hiring a hit man to kill her adult son. And when I knew here I had to teach her how to use windows and type. So I am guessing and correct me if I am wrong it must be pretty easy to use the dark web.
Please don’t go further with your curiosity.
Or she just used Facebook marketplace.
You need a browser such as Tor to access the dark web, from there its similar to the rest of the internet. I’ll let you figure out the rest and you too could be targeted by your own FBI sting!
Well it makes sense to hire an FBI guy, they have the training and experience.
Contact your local FBI office - they’ll put you in touch with some of the people they’re keeping an eye on. You’ll have to wear a wire though.
It’s always a cop, not a hitman
Asking for a friend?
There was a movie about this last year. It was based on a true story, but strays a bit from what actually happened. It’s pretty good. It’s called Hitman.
Last year? I only know 2007 and 2015 with 2007 being better IMO.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit_Man_(2023_film)
That one. Glen Powell actually showed some serious acting chops in that movie, I really enjoyed it.
deleted by creator
Oh, lol. I’ll take a look!
DM me, I’ll hook you up 😇
This is not an examplary behavior for an admin.
I was only making a joke…
Lol I know, so was I. No hard feelings :)
Asking about it on lemmy, i would say incredibly hard.
eBay has them for cheap using the Buy it now option. ☺️
The dark web is a pretty good bet. Going into a bar is probably going to get you arrested.
If you go through the dark web don’t meet the hit man in person. Remain anonymous (plausible deniability). Use an anonymous way to send money. I have no experience in the dark web but I’d assume there is a way to do the equivalent of an escrow account. Where you put the money in and it won’t release until contract is complete.
Well don’t know about the dark web but it kind of seems like the people who are caught get caught by UI’s. But even in that case someone would have to set person A to person B.
Just contact the ICA and ask for Agent 47.
US:
A common murderer-for-hire is difficult to hire because they’ll probably take your money and disappear. A muderer-for-hire that won’t get caught is impossible to hire because they don’t advertise to the common person.
If you want the full package then it’ll cost you five to ten years: Commit a somewhat violent crime to avoid being sentenced to minimum security prison. You’ll have lots of time. There’s not much to do except be violent and learn whatever you want from other inmates and books. Choose your friends wisely.
Ask Tiger King 😂
