Do Hitmen get to keep the money from when they were hired, if they turn the person that hired them in to the police?
My guess is they money is kept as evidence.
Posted Jul 10, 2017, 3:56 AM UTC
46
Technically, no. Even if you're doing something legal, you don't have the right to keep money you didn't earn (unless it's a gift or an inheritance or something--but those are different topics). Suppose you and I have an agreement that I will paint your house, and I accept some money from you in advance. Then suppose I don't actually paint your house. I would be obliged to return the money, and if I didn't, you could sue me to get the money.
The difference is: courts won't enforce a contract that was illegal in the first place. A contract in which I promised to kill your wife in exchange for money would not be a legal contract. If I accepted the money and then didn't kill your wife, and you sued me to get your money back, the court would refuse to act. So the money would be in a sort of legal limbo at that point; the government could take it, and neither of us would have the legal standing to try to get it back. It might be considered evidence, but even if it were useless as evidence, I don't think either of us would ever get it back. Ordinarily, evidence is returned to the rightful owner once a court case is closed, but in this case, there wouldn't be a rightful owner.
IANAL.
1
You may find this surprising, but it depends on the location. There are two different sets of guideline/rules hit men follow.
Back in the late 40s there was a big push in the US to keep "Paris" rules east of the Mississippi and "Mascow" rules to the west. But all the cocain money pouring into Florida during the 70s gave the East coast a lot of power. They were able to push their influence upto Kansas. There has been a lot of back and forth, but basically Kansas is still the deciding line today.
Anyway, the Paris rules follow the phillosophy "half up front, the other half when the job is done." The money is part of the whole crime.
Moscow rules consider the upfront money to be a consulting fee to a life coach you pay to help brain storm solutions to your problems. On the plus side if the hit doesn't go through you have pretty good deniability if the cops show up.
On the downside, you have to pay the "consulting" fee even if the "life coach" turns down the job. With the Paris system you only pay if there is an agreed contract, but that means you have already committed a crime before any hit takes place.
Bottom line: Paris rules the hit man has to turn over the money, Moscow rules get to keep the money.
0
It would be, yes.
It is important to understand that the professional, freelance hitmen you see in the movies and such do not exist in real life. When some average person hires a hitman in real life, it's just some goon who agreed to kill somebody for money (or more likely, an undercover cop), they do not own an attache case that contains a perfectly-fitted breakdown sniper rifle.
Well, there have been some professional hitmen. For instance Alexander Solonik is pretty close to the classic movie hitman. Richard Kuklinski was a poisoner for hire.
But certainly, few have made a living at it.
Obviously I'm not talking about Agent 47 or whatever.
I'm just talking about those hillbillies you see on forensic files.
Right: there is no such thing as a professional, freelance hitman.
You can always find some goon who is willing to shoot somebody for extra cash...and then go brag about it in a bar.