# How come so many people end up hiring undercover cops as hitmen ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563 "2010-06-09T18:21:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/41 "2010-06-13T02:56:17Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I noticed that as well. Why would any sane person think that a hit man would commit murder for fifty bucks? They conflate concepts. You and I would imagine a true professional hitman would charge dearly. Mr. Gottagedridofthebitch, OTOH, has heard, usually from hysterical news outlets, that “among them drug gangs in the 'hood” people get killed for chickenfeed. So it must be plausible to find someone who’d kill on the cheap. They forget that \*\*\*real \*\*\*gangbangers/mobsters may have other, nonmonetary, motivations quite their own for killing. Motivations that wouldn’t be at work with some Schmo who just walked into the bar looking to arrage a hit. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/42 "2010-06-14T11:05:53Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The mafia hired this guy to kill a bunch of people > > [Richard Kuklinski - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kuklinski) > > He was not in the mafia There is actually not much evidence that Kuklinski did murder people for the mafia. He certainly did kill some people, but he made up most of his stories about working as a professional hitman. Most people hired by organized crime syndicates to commit murders (at least in the contemporary United States) are not “professional hitmen.” They usually make their primary living doing something else (selling drugs, labor racketeering, being police officers etc) and accept a “contract” to earn some extra cash. The people who get set up by undercover cops pretending to be hitmen are usually set up by paid informants. Lots of people (usually petty criminals but not always) receive money from the government in exchange for turning in other criminals. “Regular non career criminal types” who are looking for hitmen probably ask people they think would know about such things, such as that guy who sells coke in their favorite bar. The only people who usually take them up on such risky and generally low paying jobs are people who then sell them out to the police. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/43 "2010-06-14T12:19:52Z")
> [@digs](#): > > So, no professionals here? This’d be a perfect opportunity to post your resume, and a link to your [ItchyTriggerFinger.com](http://ItchyTriggerFinger.com) page. Alternately you can reach them by phone at 36.24.36 (hey!) I understand the prices are dirt cheap. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/44 "2010-06-14T19:50:39Z")
Mmmm… neckties… contracts… HIGH VOLTAGE!!! ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/45 "2010-06-14T19:59:25Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Yeah, the probably is too many people look in the Yellow Pages under “Assassination” when they should really look under “Troubleshooting, Executive, Extreme Prejudice”. > > Seriously, as **astorian** said, the profession of expert freelance assassin is as much an artifact of Hollywood screenwriters as the Hooker With A Heart Of Gold, the Cop With Five Days To Retirement, and the Jet Setting Interpol Terrorist Hunter. There are honest-to-god expert snipers who are trained to kill people at long range or despite high security, but most of them work for established professional special forces military or paramilitary-type organizations, such as the CIA’s Special Activities Division or the Army’s 1SOFD-D. High priced freelance hitmen would be short of paying work, even in today’s post-Cold War lassiez-faire world economy, nor would they likely have the logistical support to conduct assassinations around the world without getting caught. Most “hitmen” are pretty stupid people trying to make a quick buck at something that has grave consequences if they screw up or get caught. Clearly, they’re not doing the cost vs. benefit analysis. > > Stranger For someone who was a member of one of those elite forces that you mention, and was in financial difficulty, today’s internet technology would seem to make being a hitman quite easy to accomplish, if that someone is intelligent enough. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/46 "2010-06-14T20:06:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Mmmm… neckties… contracts… HIGH VOLTAGE!!! You ain’t got the guts! ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/47 "2010-06-14T20:08:11Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The mafia hired this guy to kill a bunch of people > > [Richard Kuklinski - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kuklinski) I mentioned Kuklinski above, and **SecretaryofEvil** mentioned that he may have lied about much of his exploits. Whether he did or not, the guy was fucking bonkers (apologize for the language in GQ, but he was fucking bonkers). I saw an interview he did shortly before he died, and suddenly realized where Heath Ledger might have gotten the inspiration for his portrayal of The Joker. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/48 "2010-06-14T21:48:02Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I mentioned Kuklinski above, and **SecretaryofEvil** mentioned that he may have lied about much of his exploits. Whether he did or not, the guy was fucking bonkers (apologize for the language in GQ, but he was fucking bonkers). I saw an interview he did shortly before he died, and suddenly realized where Heath Ledger might have gotten the inspiration for his portrayal of The Joker. Thank you! I had been thinking that, and the people that I mentioned it to apparently never saw the [Iceman interviews](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iTmoeFsjDs&feature=PlayList&p=CBF7471760F6DC0E&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1) … ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563/49 "2010-06-14T23:00:56Z")
A good good friend of mine who was once a bad bad person once gave a junkie a half pound of weed to shoot someone. Shooter got the wrong guy, who lived, and junkie got some cheap weed. That is probably how most of that stuff goes down. I know that’s how I would do it, if I were looking to off someone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-so-many-people-end-up-hiring-undercover-cops-as-hitmen/542563.md?page=2)