if i go stab that jackass who makes too much noise down the hall, i’ll undoubtedly get caught. BUT if I pay a professional to do the job, my odds are substancially improved. THEN if I arrange have a thorough conspiracy and a top-of-the-line assasin, I’m pretty sure it could be painlessly arranged.
so yeah, everyone knows bill gates can get away with murder, but realistically, how much would it cost to arrange an accident these days?
Hmmm… give me 50K and I´ll let you know. 
The same as O.J. Simpson’s defence. (hey, someone had to start the cliched topical humor)
probably not the best forum for this, but as I see it, there are at least three ways to get away with murder:
(1) don’t get caught.
(2) have really good lawyers and hope there exists some facts that they can capitalize on.
(3) be above the legal system.
(1) requires no funds, probably some planing and luck
(2) requires … i don’t know… probably about $1/2 mil
(3) requires bill-gates type money. Hire a PR firm to run round-the-clock advertisements explaining how the 7-11 video showing you blow away 1/2 dozen people is a fabrication, pay every network lots of money to have every commentator yell about the injustice of it all, and then have enough political pressure brought to bear on the prosecutor that he will drop the case and/or have the president/govenor pardon you.
The easiest and cheapest way to get away with murder is to not do it at all. Don’t ever speak of it, don’t acknowledge the object of your disaffection, don’t post hypothetical questions on message boards.
Instead, let nature take its course. Chances are, the guy (it’s usually a guy) who is pissing you off isn’t powerful, isn’t well connected, and isn’t filthy rich. If he’s an asshole too–a real asshole–then he’s going to run into bigger trouble than you can afford to generate for him yourself. They say that only the good die young, but more than one of the bad ones has gasped a night or two away with his face pressed into a dirty springless mattress with a Lou Ferrigno clone tickling his lower intestine.
If the guy doesn’t meet that sort of bitter near-end, then you might want to reflect on whether or not he’s worth killing, anyway.
Here’s a true story for you. One night a good pal of mine and a guy I don’t know were walking from a party to a convenience store when some gangster wannabes stopped them, brandished a taped-up stock-sawed shotgun, and demanded their money. My friend gave his wallet up, but the guy with him had a two-dollar bill from his dead father in his, so he only offered the money. Gangster-boy said, “he thinks I’m joking,” and shot him–tried to shoot the guy in the groomies, in fact, but missed and put a load of bird shot into his thigh. A touching story about the victim, his two dollar bill, and his dad graced the local papers, I forget which one. Anyway, he wasn’t in good shape, but he survived. My friend took care of him until the ambulances arrived, and wasn’t mentioned in the article.
But the gangsters weren’t smart enough to finish the job, and my pal had the car description and I think a partial plate number. I worked at a dealership, and had access to DMV records. Other friends of ours had guns–a lot of guns. Others had boats on big deep lakes and the Chesapeake Bay. Others had bags and bags of sack-crete, and old bathtubs and pickup trucks. Some of our distant pals were cops, and lawyers, and relatives of Presidential candidates. We were all outraged, and over the course of a few nights, plans were “hypothetically” suggested.
In the great American tradition of beer-drinking guys we elected to do what comes easiest to us–we drank beer and forgot about it.
And lo and behold, a few months later, my friend visited his brother in jail. His session ended, and as the was on his way out he saw someone’s mother sit down on his side of the wall. He glanced over, and there was the bastard who pulled a gun on him. My pal knew the shooter was in the can–he had been picked up a month or two after the assault and my friend testified against him and the trial was ongoing, but meeting him there under those circumstances was either an act of Province or the prison staff, who often have a fairly sentimental sense of justice.
My buddy crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and leered over the gangster’s mom for the duration of the visit, making near-constant, hostile eye contact with a young man destined for the horrors of the damned in a real prison with real consequences. That last, modestly tender jail-moment was stolen from him, perhaps forever.
And I say, “good.”
Nobody is above the law.
Thanks, Blalron, I needed a good laugh.
You wait.
And you wait.
And you wait.
Then, one day, they die. You wouldn’t believe how many people have been snuffed this way.
It takes a while, but it’s free.
According to this site, O.J.'s Defense cost somewhere between $3—6 Million. Not counting the civil trial. And that’s just the money he actually spent. He probably could have afforded more, if he’d needed to.
$3-6 million doesn’t sound too bad for beating a murder conviction…of course, the defense was helped by the fact that the defendant was a celebrity, and the whole underlying “racial issue.” (i.e., the general speculation that the jury was afraid that they would cause mass riots if they convicted him) If you’re just plain ol’ Joe Q. WASP, anonamous millionaire, you’d probably have to spend more on your defence…if it would even still work.
Plus, to be frank, your “venue” would probably have a bearing on the outcome of the case…you’d probably have better chances of getting “off the hook” in Hippieville, CA, than Lynchburg, TX.
So, in short, you’d probably just be better off having someone killed, then fleeing to a country with no extradiction treaties with the U.S. I’m sure you can find a web page listing such countries.
Am I the only one who thinks that the OP is stupid? It seems to me that there is no way to guarantee the jury will let you off the hook. A big-bucks lawyer can turn the odds heavily in your favor, but there are no guarantees. Isn’t it obvious?
I don’t know where this belongs.
If the question is “How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Hitman?” then it doesn’t belong anywhere on our boards at all, since that is an illegal activity.
If the question is “If you’re rich enough, can your lawyers thwart the justice system?” then it’s probably a Great Debate about the criminal justice system. I’ve made that assumption, and therefore have moved it to Great Debates and left it open.
The OP assumes hiring a surrogate improves one’s chances of not being detected. This assumption can not be supported by the facts, nor can I furnish facts to the contrary.
The majority of murders are never solved. It’s not possible to know facts about the unknown.
educating yourself about criminal investigations would be more efficient than giving money to people. Even if you had money its not like you could find a quality hitman.
if you live in dense gang territory, i’d guess a few thousand dollars would suffice. I have no idea about the suburbs or what it would cost there.
Wealth, no matter how great, will not make you immune to justice, because no matter how much money you spend, you just never know with juries. The most adept killers are the ones you never suspect, and never see.
First, you don’t hire anyone, that puts another person in the equation, and as we all know, two can keep a secret, only if one is dead. Moreover, the hire is probably a cop.
Second, be anonymous. This is how the idiots get caught. They brag, they thump their chests, they openly have heated debates with their targets, and then bam, they kill them, and the trail glares like a motel sign right in their direction.
You got an issue with someone, work the thing out in your head, and if the end result is still the good ol’ southern defense "he needed killin’ " then knock on the door, stick the guy, and move on. Remeber, murder is illegal. Karma will catch up with you. And eventually, you may succumb to the tell-tale heart.
And BTW, the price for getting somebody whacked in the suburbs has bloody skyrocketed, i mean how does one pay for a 5,000 sq. ft. house AND an SUV without raising prices?
—What Would Scooby Doo
I suppose it makes a difference WHERE the killing would take place and WHO the victim would be.
Some parts of the world “justice” is cheaper than others. Some victims cases are more ardently investigated/prosecuted than others.
Maybe if you picked an enemy of the investigating officers’ it’d help?
While the majority of murders are never solved, it’s impossible to guarantee that you will never be caught. Investigative techniques evolve. Maybe, in thirty years, a new form of evidence gathering will implicate you even though you and/or your hitman thoroughly covered all the bases according to police procedure of 2003.
My advice is this: If you are already rich enough to hire an elite assassin or a team of superlawyers, the best way to deal with that “jackass down the hall” would be to just pay him to go away.
This is too dark for me now. I don’t care to visit Great Debates anyway. I think I’ll stay out of this.