Contract Killing Research Articles

Criminal Prosecution of Political Leaders: Narrative Analysis of Modern Power Elite Crimes

Political stories about deceit, terror and contract killings have a significant impact on the legal and political culture of all the nations. Crime narratives have the potential to fundamentally change international relations and national politics. From the description of the policy of violence pursued by Qin Shi Huang in ancient China to the criminal legends about Rodrigo Borgia in Rome, from the Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 to the death of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 in Chile, we observe an aura of mystery around the motives of political crime and note the constant drama of the power struggle. Digital transformation has changed the format of criminal political stories by creating multimedia narratives around political leaders. It turned a traditional political detective story into a postmodern tragicomedy. The influence of end-to-end digital technologies on the modus operandi of terrorists, corrupt officials and political adventurers is due to the new opportunities that virtual reality provides for creating an image of the enemy in the political consciousness of the electorate. Stories about crimes possibly committed by the leaders of the party in power, and narratives about the betrayal of national interests by the opposition compete for the attention of the audience, whose worldview is becoming increasingly disenchanted in the context of a correspondence dialogue between Niccolo Machiavelli and Max Weber on the methods of legitimizing domination. Power elite’s crimes studied by narrative research methods reveal special patterns of actions of the party in power against the key opposition figures and vice versa, driven by their desire to destroy each other’s reputation. The analysis of political crime narratives confirms the hypothesis that the digital transformation of politics encourages the use of criminal narratives instead of physical violence in an attempt to defame and eliminate political leaders.

Activities of authorized operational units regarding the detection and disclosure of contract killings committed by criminal communities

Activities of authorized operational units regarding the detection and disclosure of contract killings committed by criminal communities

The Waste Mafia [technology - waste

Waste crime is now more lucrative than contract killing, and criminals are getting more sophisticated. But could technology help end it once and for all? "OUR GOAL FOR waste crime is very simple: stop it. That's an audacious ambition, about which we are totally unapologetic," said a determined Sir James Bevan in a stirring speech to the waste industry earlier this year. Bevan, who is chief executive of the Environment Agency (EA), noted that waste crime costs the economy around £1bn each year and attracts organised criminals, who invest their ill-gotten proceeds into cycles of violence. This is because rewards are high - often greater than robbery, drug dealing or contract killing - and the chances of being caught "have always been relatively low, and the penalties if you are caught traditionally light", he said. The EA is talking tough. Yet the concern is that six years ago Bevan made a similar speech, in which he famously likened waste crime to the "new narcotics" and pledged to bring down the "waste mafia". Since then, the situation has deteriorated.

The processes, logics and economies of violence in organised crime

This paper provides an introduction to the articles that comprise this special issue on violence and organised crime. Bringing together research into money laundering, local elections, state interventions and interrelated processes, firearms and home robberies, enforcers and contract killings, this issue explores the relationship between violence and various facets of organised crime. Taken together, the articles offer empirical and theoretical insights into the processes, logics and economies of violence. In doing so, this issue both advances our current understanding of the role violence plays in organised crime and raises additional questions about the context within which violence is employed, thereby highlighting further avenues for future research.

Forensic classification of intentional murders, committed in conditions of obscurity

The article is devoted to the study of the problems of forensic classification of intentional murders committed in conditions of obscurity. It is noted that the detection and investigation of intentional murders is complicated by a large number of their varieties, each of which has its own characteristics: specific methods, traces, motivation of the offender, the nature of his connections with the victim, and so on. It is emphasized that the structure and content of the basics of the methodology of investigation of intentional murders committed in conditions of obscurity should be dictated by the place of such a crime in the forensic classification of pre-meditated murders. It is proved that the division of non-obvious murders into ones with sudden intent, and ones, intent to committing which arose in advance is the most significant for the proposed study. These subtypes of non-obvious murders differ in the typical features of the victim, the situation and methods of commission, the motivation of the offender. By the motivation of the offender, most often in conditions of non-obviousness, murders are committed for selfish, hooligan motives, murders for revenge, to satisfy sadistic (sadistic-sexual) needs, contract killings, and so on. It is concluded that intentional murder, committed in conditions of obscurity is a specific type of premeditated murder. It is proposed to define intentional murder, committed in conditions of obscurity as a murder committed in the absence of eyewitnesses, commitment of which resulted in a small number of traces (due to their concealment by a criminal or for other reasons), and the initial stage of the investigation of which characterizes by the lack of information a crime and the absence of signs that directly indicate the offender. It is stated that the "non-obviousness" of the murder is a characteristic of both the event of the crime (primarily the circumstances of its commission) and the initial stage of its investigation. Such murders can be further divided into subspecies (contract killing, murder with dismemberment of a corpse, disguised by staging, etc.). Each subspecies has its own specifics of disclosure and investigation.

International Law Enforcement Observer IV.

The column flashes excellent and also internationally interesting research results from several fields of law enforcement management and law enforcement practice at this time. Here you can get acquainted through several historical surveys and by use of statistics the course of contract killings in the Russian Federation between 2003 and 2019. Two further recensions focus on the coherences of law enforcement and public policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. On one hand you can get known the practice in the United States, characteristic for the role of the police in management of the pandemic, and on the other hand you can get a picture of the effects of coronavirus pandemic on environment protection and public health. A recurring topic is the corruption meeting the police organisations, through Turkish examples at this time. You can read in a new aspect about the „hybrid” practice of public and private security. An exciting topic is the review of debate questions between law enforcement science and practice. Here is a key question whether the scientific researches on the fields of security and law enforcement theory can be realised within the frames of an independent discipline and if they can consort with other scientific branches, too. A special area of crime prevention is architecture, where an important aspect is the increase of urban security in the environment of housing estates. To realise that, a cooperation among urban planners, criminologists and police experts is needed.

Correction to: Contract killings: a crime script analysis

Correction to: Contract killings: a crime script analysis

Contract killings: a crime script analysis

This article contributes to our existing knowledge through a crime script analysis of contract killings, based on six extensively analyzed police investigations in the Netherlands. Starting from a universal crime script, a more specific crime script for contract killings is elaborated. To provide a clear picture of the whole process, the description of the scenes focuses on requirements, facilitators, modi operandi, and preparatory actions. A comparison of liquidation investigations is made through a crime script analysis, which results in three types of requirements: vehicles, automatic weapons, and technical equipment, including PGP-telephones and beacons. In addition, spy shops turn out to play a major role in liquidations as facilitators. Due to a lack of licensing and regulations, the owners of spy shops can decide to a large extent on their own procedures. This leads to the possibility of buying and selling equipment anonymously and with large amounts of cash, which facilitates the preparation of liquidations and crime in general. Hitmen are the second type of important facilitators. The analysis reveals that all liquidation investigations contain indications of a principal to whom account has to be held. Two investigations clearly demonstrate financial rewards for contract killings.

Corruption System against Russia

Today the corruption has become a major threat for the national security. Not only individual corrupted officials and embezzlers turn against Russia, but also a huge and powerful corruption system. Analysis of the corruption as a negative social phenomenon shows that it implies the totality of all corruption acts, all corrupted officials, as well as an entire independent corruptogenic system. This system often lacks the attention of analysts. Corruption has now acquired a systemic character in Russia. The institutions involved in the study of the corruption phenomenon in Russia include the Law School of Far Eastern Federal University, where in June 1997 the Vladivostok Centre for the Study of Organized Crime was established as part of a wider initiative of American University’s Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) to create and support United Research Centres on Organized Crime in Eurasia. The Centre researchers study the patterns and development of organized crime as well as methods of defeating the socially devastating manifestation of organized crime and the closely associated phenomena of corruption, money laundering, contract killings, illegal narcotics trade, etc. The Vladivostok Centre has produced a large body of research, analysis, translated international literature and popular scholarly works; it has prepared a number of books, textbooks, and academic articles, including many concerning corruption. The inefficiency of the state’s efforts to combat corruption is explained by the fact that the main corruption-causing factors remain unaddressed. They include deformation of the political sphere (privatization of the state, the absence of a real separation of powers, the dominance of the executive branch of government over all others, lack of necessary rotation, irreplaceable officials, lack of transparency, the presence of “shadow” power and “shadow” law)

Violent Minds: Modernism and the Criminal

Violent Minds: Modernism and the Criminal

Who are the enforcers? The motives and methods of muscle for hire in West Scotland and the West Midlands

Enforcement, ranging from threats to intimidation to assault to homicide, has long been an established practice within criminal networks. However, comparatively little academic research exists about the nature and role of enforcers within and beyond the context of contract killings. Drawing on qualitative interviews with criminal enforcers from two contrasting sites within the UK—the West Scotland and the West Midlands—the current study examines the articulated, identifiable pathways into criminal enforcement. Also it examines the nuanced nature of enforcement and the roles those men commonly adopt within the context of organised crime, as well as the relationship between these men’s activity, the wider context of organised crime, and presence of social and cultural capital within it. This article provides insights into how one becomes an enforcer; how contact is made between all parties involved; the degree of planning involved; and costing arrangements, with important implications for research and practice.

Female Victims and Offenders in South African Parricides, 1990-2019

ABSTRACT Women have been primarily discussed as victims and offenders in intimate partner homicides and offenders in infanticides. In the parricide literature, women have been depicted as overly domineering and controlling figures who keep a tight leash on their offspring. Female parricide offenders have been explained as a reaction to prolonged abuse. Most of the parricide literature, however, has examined female offenders and victims in Western contexts. This study examines the unique characteristics of women victims and women offenders in South African parricides. One unique finding from our study indicates that contract killings of parents in murder-for-hire plots involve sociological processes.

Культура насилия в Колумбии?

When explaining the phenomenon of political violence, researchers usually focus on the socio-economic factors of this phenomenon. According to the author, the evidence from Colombia shows that the reason for the widespread violence in the country lies, primarily, in the socio-cultural predisposition to violence. The author tries to identify structural causes and conditions under which such cultures emerge. The study attempts to define the concept of the culture of violence, its characteristic and typical forms and manifestations in modern Colombia. In order to conduct a heuristic analysis of the issue, the author proposes to identify three structural indicators of the culture of violence, which should help to characterize this phenomenon. They include: (1) the ubiquity of violence; (2) the multiplicity of collective violent actors and their routines; and (3) the frequency and ease with which the transition from “simple”, rationally understandable acts of violence to violent excesses occurs, and the glaring discrepancy between the brutality of the means and the modesty of the ends pursued. The article also analyzes the manifestations of extreme forms of violence, which include mass and contract killings. The author of the article concludes that the Colombian society as a whole tolerates this kind of violence because, firstly, it is confident in at least partial guilt of the victims themselves, and, secondly, because if there is the slightest possibility of reaching a peaceful compromise, it is ready to accept a wide amnesty and neglect of crimes. The author then briefly discusses the main approaches and works of modern researchers focusing on the same issue. As a result, the author concludes that large-scale violence in Colombia cannot be explained without taking into account the socio-cultural factors that take place in the country, and the prospects for the elimination of this culture or its transformation in a more humanistic direction are unlikely in the near future.

Differentiating Contract Killers: A Narrative‐Based Approach

AbstractPrevious attempts to determine contract killers’ behaviour have not benefited from any formal psychological framework of behavioural distinction. The Narrative Action System model (NAS model; Canter and Youngs 2009) offers an empirical basis for differentiating contract killings and examining the psychological underpinnings of different contract killer styles. The model identifies four major narrative offender types: Professional, Revenger, Hero, and Victim. The present study aims to examine whether these themes can be applied to contract killing. Content analysis of 75 contract killer cases identified 56 crime scene actions. Data were subjected to a non‐metric multidimensional scaling procedure, namely Smallest Space Analysis (SSA‐I). Findings revealed four distinct types of contract killers that could be related to the four modes of offending proposed by the NAS model. Differences in the thematic structure of contract killing offences are discussed, and implications are offered for clinical and investigative purposes.

Hospitality and the Scene of Contract in Dial M for Murder

Hospitality and the Scene of Contract in Dial M for Murder Ned Schantz (bio) Alone in an urban apartment after hours, a man pours another man a drink. The two meet only once, and yet their transient encounter is not without rules. The guest thinks he is there to sell a car, but due to the irregular time and place, expects a certain hospitality—not just the drink, but a comfortable seat, a chance to smoke, and pleasant interaction. Little does he know that he has it badly wrong. The men are not strangers, but old college acquaintances; the guest is not selling a car, but slowly being coerced into a contract killing. And the apartment does not belong to the host, but to the wife he wants dead. What looks like hospitality is both a stage set and a strange form of trespass and usurpation, as the ostensible host maneuvers his way toward actual ownership. As we watch all of this in a movie, where do we come in? What determines our access to this scene of twisted hospitality, the defining one of Dial M for Murder (1954)? Our perspective aligns with the host, since we meet him before the encounter and watch him prepare. But our understanding lags behind, little better than the guest's whose fate we learn along with him. And we remain tied to another character, the wife who is the one true host of both the apartment and the movie—or who would be were it not for Hitchcock himself, host and stage manager behind it all, whose contract with the viewer is also a lot more complicated than selling cars.1 The uncertainty of modern hospitality forms a major premise of Hitchcock's career, which most agree finds its true beginning with a film helpfully called The Lodger (1927), and [End Page 40] which only fully consolidates once he begins hosting a television show.2 Hospitality underpins and intensifies more evident concerns, operating continually and often alongside the primary focus of awareness.3 I believe one reason hospitality has not been given the critical attention it deserves is that the concept needs renovation.4 An ancient institution, hospitality conjures up quaint scenarios. But despite Hitchcock's occasional visits to stately manors or humble cottages, more often he takes us to newer sites of interaction: motels, train compartments, automobiles, or the urban apartment of Dial M for Murder, not to mention those of Rope (1948), Stage Fright (1950), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), and Frenzy (1972), every one of which brings a guest on the premises under suspect circumstances.5 Abuses of hospitality preoccupy the thriller genre in general, from both the host's and the guest's perspectives. For the host, the guest becomes an intruder, challenging the control of the space, threatening person and property. For the guest, drawn by offerings that range from basic shelter to sophisticated socializing, the space of hospitality ensnares her in the designs of others. Hospitality thus devolves under duress into a struggle for position, both physical and social. And a good deal of what makes Hitchcock's thrillers distinctly uncanny is the way seemingly strong positions turn out to be weak, a mere matter of appearances.6 As we see most explicitly in films like Stage Fright, Rope, and Murder! (1930), domestic space is always theatrical in Hitchcock, not just in the way that all social roles involve performance, but at a more calculated level of deception. Who directs this theater becomes the question. The power to wield the norms of civility, to conscript objects as props, to narrate unfolding events—these abilities determine who will define the situation and control the stakes of hospitality. As the real guests of honor, viewers have a particular role to play in Hitchcock's special brand of thriller, a role based on our own advantageous position.7 Suspense, as Hitchcock defines it, requires that viewers know more [End Page 41] than characters—it is the height of our privilege.8 Relevant therefore to the films' much discussed ethical and political hazards, this advantage can nonetheless easily be taken for granted as the first clause of the viewer's contract...

The Hammermen: Life and Death as a Gang Hitman in Cape Town

AbstractContract killing and hitmen are underexplored in criminology. Recent studies, including an ongoing project in South Africa, have examined a large number of individual cases relating to contract killings, producing a series of typologies of hitmen. Despite this thematic ordering, few empirically‐based studies – incorporating interviews with hitmen themselves – exist, especially given the practical and ethical issues involved. Such information remains essential, however, to more clearly understand the socialisation and criminal careers of contract killers. Our subjects occupy a specific place within the gangs of Cape Town: they are ordered to kill for gang bosses as well as being recruited by external parties to conduct ‘hits’. On the basis of seven interviews with ‘hammermen’ and two with senior gang bosses, we explore the experiences of gang‐associated hitmen. We conclude that the current literature, by seeking to identify a series of typologies of contract killers that focus mainly on their level of ‘professionalism’, provides only a one‐dimensional and – in some respects – stereotypical picture of the realities of contract killing. Instead, we show that hitmen occupy an ambiguous and tenuous position within local gangs and gang culture: essential to the security of gang bosses, but also a threat to it as a result of what they know and what they do. As a result, ‘hammermen’ express a surprising degree of vulnerability, and may themselves be subject to assassination.

Contract killings in old scandinavian society (in the late VIII - middle XI.)

The article deals with the phenomenon of contract killings in early medieval Scandinavian society (VIII - middle XI.). It is shown in the research that the transformation of tribal system of feudal relations gave rise to numerous political and social conflicts. It was a major factor in the increase of violence during the Viking Age. Relationships in Scandinavian society regulated early medieval oral law, what was codified later in the XII - XIII centuries. Its social function was to create a system of compromises and peace. The publication traces the main forms of liability provided for murder. All the way it explains the basic forms of the revealed outlaw, exile and, in fact, a large quantity of illegal persons. In the article was considered a significant role of the contract killings. Head of state or community used to do contract killings in the political struggle. Most of all them were realized also in the vendetta conflicts. There were use killers to escape the people who were in outlaw position of society. The main categories of killers were such as: arms - professional soldiers. For confidential solve problems they were getting more influence and improved its financial situation. Freemen who received compensation from the customer. In some cases they acted at their own risk. Some are regularly made such job. Outlaw persons. Sometimes they was allowed to having patronage of famous bonds or hesrirs. In moments of crisis there was hunting process in the community for the people who were in a similar status. The opportunity gave them chance to withdraw the sentence and return to normal life. The author of the article analyzes the possibility of entering women miliary formation and their possible part in the contract killings area. Attention is paid to identity the perpetrators, their relationship with elements of ritual worship of the god Odin (as the patron saint of soldiers), criminals and infringer boundaries of social norms.

The gangs of Bangladesh: Exploring organized crime, street gangs and ‘illicit child labourers’ in Dhaka

This article presents a study of street children’s involvement in organized crime in Bangladesh. It is based on an empirical case study conducted in Dhaka and draws on interviews with 22 street children, 80 interviews with criminal justice practitioners, NGO workers and community members and over three years of participant observation of the Bangladeshi criminal justice system and wider society. The article explains how street children work for ‘mastaans’, Bangladeshi organized crime bosses. These children are hired to carry weapons, sell drugs, collect extortion money, commit political violence and conduct contract killings. This article argues that these children are neither victims nor offenders; they are instead ‘illicit labourers’, doing what they can to survive on the streets.

Entrepreneur of the Regime Change - the Fusion of the Hungarian Economy with Organized Crime

In recent years the Hungarian administration of justice trialed some of the most famous murder cases of the 1990’s which were contract killing between organized crime groups. These trials brought up many new information about the life of organized crime gangs and given a better opportunity to criminologist to understand the recent activity of the organized crime gangs. I wrote my thesis about how organized crime successfully survived the crisis of the regime change. The following research based on a tight cooperation with Pest County Police Headquarters where I analyzed criminal files about organized crime gangs after the regime change. The main question of the research was: what sociological and economical factors contributed to the strengthening of organized crime In Hungary? Where can we discover the responsibility of the state? How state regulation affected organized crime? The present days organized crime roots from illegal criminal groups existed in the socialist period. Thanks to the liberal economic reforms in 1981 the second economy had a great economic potential during the socialist period. Organized criminal groups often invested in private sector thus corporate crime became linked to organized crime. Due to their better economic conditions the criminal networks could establish different kind of private ventures, like restaurants, pubs or tobacco shops. After the declaration of democracy many organized crime networks took advantage of regulatory gaps. They preserved their status and informal capital from the second economy. Due to the economical change the new entrepreneurs informally forced to borrow capital from organized crime groups, or they used these group’s money to recover their debts. They could not turn to court because of their illegal transactions. Other organized crime networks misused government subsidies and created semi-firms, which could operate successfully due to the problems of state control. My research seeks to show that during the third Hungarian Republic from the 1990's organized crime groups have worked with the help of entrepreneurs. Due to the economic crisis of 2008 and the emergence of political extremism the organized crime groups became number one public enemies, who are again using the same methods what were successful during early 1990’s. A kind of semi-legal market and entrepreneurship has developed since 2008. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s2p219

The British Hitman: 1974–2013

AbstractThis exploratory article presents a typology of British ‘hitmen’ as identified within newspaper reports about contract killing. Demographic and criminological data related to these hitmen and their victims are analysed and, on the basis of this analysis, a typology of British hitmen is developed. Our typology suggests that British hitmen are: ‘Novices’; ‘Dilettantes’; ‘Journeymen’; or ‘Masters’. It is hoped that this typology will be of use to law enforcement.