Hit men. Advice?

Folks, I need your advice.

As you can imagine, hiring a hit man may be a once-in-a-lifetime proposition. It isn't something that comes up very often for most of us, so it is probably the rare individual who has a "How to hire a paid assassin" handbook immediately to hand. So, some questions:

1) Sure, the extent of security measures protecting your intended target may affect the amount of risk involved (and could influence price), but, assuming that the protective security is the same, should degree of fame influence the contracted price? Meaning, should you expect to pay more for a Huey P. Long than an Anton Cermak?

2) How much of a premium for timeliness? Like "I need this by Wednesday" versus "any time in 2008 is OK".

3) What is the accepted premium for plausible deniability? Meaning the cops go "Gee whiz we found this guy with a big hole in his head and we are a-thinkin' that what we got here is a homicide" versus the coroner saying "Mister Victim seems to have aspirated a few gallons of cream-of-tomato soup under circumstances that we are still investigating."

4) If deniability is not a paramount concern, how much of a premium is it reasonable to pay for having things done *exactly* the way you want? Meaning like if you want to make some things obvious. Send a message, you might say. is it typical to spend time negotiating methodology?

5) What's up with expenses? Are you smarter just to go fixed price or is it worth spending some time working through a time-and-materials arrangement?

6) Assuming everybody wants to be deniable, is it reasonable to accept some allowance for legal expenses? How do you do this? Lump sum? Retainer? Escrow? Anybody familiar with law firms that specialize in legal support of paid assassins? Or, as a customer, should this really be your problem at all?

7) Outsourcing and/or brokerage. Is it smarter to go direct or can you save some time and effort by working through an agent? Are any of these brokers reputable?

8) Prepayment. Is there an accepted standard for prepayment? It's not like you can have "progress payments". I mean, somebody is either dead or they are not. 50 percent? 40 percent? Less?

9) Certificate of completion. OK in some cases, a front-page story in the New York Times or a coroner's report might suffice, but what if you just want to make somebody disappear???

10) References. This is a tough one. Any ideas?


So, this is what I can think of, but I am hoping some of you can chime in with some "gotchas" that just aren't occurring to me at this time. This seems like this is one of those cases where I don't know what I don't know. "Unknown unknowns" as that wise man said.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Unrelated to the Starbucks thread, right?

Hugo

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2) How much of a premium for timeliness? Like "I need this by Wednesday" versus "any time in 2008 is OK".

A fairly hefty multiplier would apply for tight time constraints. A successful hit (and getaway) requires painstaking and time-consuming advance surveillance and planning. Taking shortcuts with that will greatly increase the risk, especially with a hardened target. Expect to pay 5-10X for any deadline under than 4 months or so.

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4) If deniability is not a paramount concern, how much of a premium is it reasonable to pay for having things done *exactly* the way you want? Meaning like if you want to make some things obvious. Send a message, you might say. is it typical to spend time negotiating methodology?

Deniability should be accounted for in the timeliness equation. The trigger man doesn't really normally care if the victim is known to have been murdered or not, so long as he has time to escape the scene with no significant evidence left behind. But adding method constraints to the equation is going to cost extra, for sure, as it limits the escape options somewhat.

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5) What's up with expenses? Are you smarter just to go fixed price or is it worth spending some time working through a time-and-materials arrangement?

Real professionals work strictly on a fixed price basis. If the would-be elimination consultant haggles for expenses, it's time to question credentials.

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8) Prepayment. Is there an accepted standard for prepayment? It's not like you can have "progress payments". I mean, somebody is either dead or they are not. 50 percent? 40 percent? Less?

The industry standard seems to be 50-60% up front, and the remainder paid very promptly on completion. For time-constrained jobs, the full amount may be required up front.

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10) References. This is a tough one. Any ideas?

Check with any friends or acquaintances who have recently lost a spouse under less than clear circumstances..

Cheers!