# Anonymous Hiring of Contract Killers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703 "2012-10-14T17:07:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/41 "2013-10-06T10:42:32Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > Well, if 4 billion a year passes through a hypothetical drug market, and that market charges a 1 percent commission, that’s 40 million a year in revenue. I imagine a higher commission would be charged, but still I think the order of magnitude is about right. Maybe I was a little low. Ok - so the \*\*earnings \*\*are 1% of 1% of the global traffic. I too suspect that they would want a lot more than 1% for their trouble though. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/42 "2013-10-06T11:56:41Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Ok - so the \*\*earnings \*\*are 1% of 1% of the global traffic. Well what do you mean by “earnings”? I would take it to mean revenues minus expenses. And I would take revenues to mean the total of the cut charged by the site. That’s how I meant it, anyway. > [@](#): > > I too suspect that they would want a lot more than 1% for their trouble though. According to one article I found, Silk Road was charging 6.23 percent. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/43 "2013-10-06T14:31:33Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > If I wanted to remain in the shadows as a colourless criminal mastermind I would eschew adopting such a title as **Dread Pirate Roberts** as my online persona. Well in hindsight, it seems that the (alleged) mastermind behind Silk Road was pretty careless. For example making a few early astroturf posts to promote the web site under accounts which could be connected with him. I think the idea behind “Dread Pirate Roberts” was to suggest that a new person was running the web site. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/44 "2013-10-06T14:55:11Z")
Personally I would stick to ‘admin’. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/45 "2013-10-06T19:19:15Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > It occurs to me that one way around the “trust” problem is the use of a reputable escrow agency. > … > Of course people will not know the exact revenue figures of the New Silk Road, but they will know it is profitable enough that it has a strong incentive to maintain its reputation. > > At that point, the New Silk Road could easily decide to start offering escrow services for assassinations. > > Thoughts? The main flaw I see is that the drug market is orders of magnitude larger than the murder market. And that any organization offering murder for hire would attract disproportionately greater attention from law enforcement, intelligence services and even diplomats. The cost/benefit just doesn’t make sense. Also, an escrow agency would have to verify that the murder actually took place. I would assume their investigation would be limited to reading articles on the web, but that’s hardly an ironclad mechanism. But this issue might be manageable, unlike the other one. I suppose a drug cartel could set up an account on New Silk Road and offer murder services to its best customers. But I suspect they would insist that their best customers offer murder services to them as well. And if it is a longstanding relationship, you don’t really need New Silk Road. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/46 "2013-10-07T01:08:29Z")
If you’re willing to pay up front, there’s no need for escrow services and if you trust the service you’re contracting with, you’ll have no objection to paying up front, especially if the fee is reasonable. The problem is really with the middleman being able to guarantee the reliability of the service. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/47 "2013-10-07T07:02:08Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > The problem is really with the middleman being able to guarantee the reliability of the service. I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem. What happens is that when the assassin accepts the contract, he places a small deposit with the escrow agency and sends a prediction (encrypted if necessary) as to the week the target will die. If the target dies during that week, then the assassin gets paid and his deposit returned. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/48 "2013-10-07T07:03:08Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > The main flaw I see is that the drug market is orders of magnitude larger than the murder market. And that any organization offering murder for hire would attract disproportionately greater attention from law enforcement, intelligence services and even diplomats. The cost/benefit just doesn’t make sense. Well if it could be done with very little risk, then what are the costs? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/49 "2013-10-07T09:22:36Z")
Can’t believe this hasn’t been mentioned yet: One of the things this Dread Pirate Roberts character is getting charged with is [trying to hire a - you guessed it - hitman](http://www.businessinsider.com/ross-ulbricht-charged-in-2nd-silk-road-murder-for-hire-plot-2013-10), to whack some fella who’d rubbed him the wrong way. Now for the mind-blowing twist: Would you _believe_ that the hitman turned out to be a… _drumroll_… _undercover agent_!? Like, actually working for the cops the whole time? _Crazy_, right!? Right? ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/50 "2013-10-07T09:39:31Z")
It’s getting so you just can’t trust anyone these days. But I guess it’s just as well that you can’t reliably hire hitmen on the internet. I mean think about it. Imagine the sort of spam that you would start getting if that really became ‘a thing.’ Nigerian hitmen offering to pay YOU for the privilege of taking out your enemies and all you’d have to do help them with some troublesome int’l financial transaction. Craigslist ads for hit-hookers. I’m not sure exactly how that would work but I’m sure someone would figure out an angle or twenty. And that’s not to mention the whole cottage industry that would probably spring up around it the same way it did around bounty hunting or repossessions. Sure it would nibble away at the fabric of society too, but think of the inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/51 "2013-10-07T12:20:15Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Can’t believe this hasn’t been mentioned yet: > > One of the things this Dread Pirate Roberts character is getting charged with is [trying to hire a - you guessed it - hitman](http://www.businessinsider.com/ross-ulbricht-charged-in-2nd-silk-road-murder-for-hire-plot-2013-10), to whack some fella who’d rubbed him the wrong way. > > Now for the mind-blowing twist: Would you _believe_ that the hitman turned out to be a… _drumroll_… _undercover agent_!? Like, actually working for the cops the whole time? _Crazy_, right!? Right? Thanks for the link. I read a lot about this case but for some reason I was not aware of the second indictment until now. I’m starting to think that even with a trusted escrow agency, law enforcement will throw enough resources at the problem that it would (thankfully) not work. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703/52 "2013-10-07T12:33:02Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Craigslist ads for hit-hookers. I’m not sure exactly how that would work but I’m sure someone would figure out an angle or twenty. “Kill my husband and I’ll be your f\*\*\*toy for a month. Send pic w/ first response.” That would get responses if you posted it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-hiring-of-contract-killers/637703.md?page=2)