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In most countries with judicial systems, a contract to kill a person is unenforceable by law (in the sense that the customer cannot sue for specific performance and the contract killer cannot sue for his pay).
Both the actual killer or hitman and his customer can be found guilty of homicide. In some jurisdictions with capital punishment, a contract killing may be a special circumstance that allows for a murder to be tried as a capital crime.
Contract killing appeals to some people partially because it can be used to establish an "airtight" alibi for the person who takes out the contract--at the time of the killing, this person can plan to be far away and in a place where many people will see him. At the same time, the person who actually commits the murder may have little or no direct connection to the victim, making it much more difficult for investigators to establish what has happened. By contracting out a murder, a criminal can also avoid personally committing murder, which some may be unwilling or incapable of doing, especially if they had a close relationship with the victim.
Contract killings are often, though not always, associated with organized crime, primarily because career criminals are likely to know contract killers and to believe that contracting a murder will lessen the likelihood of being caught. Depending on the region and era, contract killers have frequently been used to silence witnesses testifying against criminals or to eliminate rival criminals or politicians who refuse to take a bribe (plata o plomo - a Spanish phrase meaning literally "silver or lead" which usually translates into "money or bullet" ? "accept a bribe or face assassination"[citation needed]). The use of anonymous contract killers also mitigates against the formation and continuation of vendettas, which would undermine a criminal organization. An example of this was the use of Murder, Inc. by the Mafia Commission and National Crime Syndicate in the mid-20th century.
Others contract a murder in an attempt to reap some kind of financial windfall--usually as a beneficiary of the victim's insurance policies, or as heir to their estate. However, the most common motive usually involves simply ending an intimate relationship, albeit for a variety of reasons.[1]
Contract killers may make their crime an obvious murder, but may also try to make the death appear to be a suicide or even an accident, or may hide or destroy the body so that it is not clear to authorities that the victim is dead, only that they have disappeared.
Payment for the actual killing (usually referred to as a "hit"), is usually divided by paying part of the total price to the contract killer beforehand, and the remainder after the successful completion of the hit. This is usually done like a security bond or deposit, ensuring for the hit man, that they will receive some portion of the pay should the client refuse to pay him or other issues arise and client cannot pay the full amount after the killing has been completed, and also to establish a binding relationship between the client and the hit man, a relationship ultimately enforceable by murder.[citation needed] Another common arrangement is a reciprocal exchange or barter of contracts, in which two or more parties each agree to kill individuals wanted dead by the other person. In such an arrangement, suspicion is kept from the contracting party for each hit, who will usually have an alibi, as each killing is carried out by persons not known to be connected to the victim.
The actual amount for a particular hit will obviously vary considerably based on such factors as these[citation needed]:
the hit man in particular and his standards and usual fee,
the difficulty and danger in accomplishing the actual "hit," based upon
who the person to be killed is,
where they are, and
any likely police, security and media attention, and also specifically
whether the client wants the target to be killed in a specific manner (for example, to make the killing appear as an accident).
Though figures reported in the media and in criminological studies suggest the usual fee is in the tens of thousands of dollars, this amount is obviously difficult to verify.
In some countries law enforcement agents will sometimes pose as contract killers to arrest the people trying to hire them.[2]
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