Study: Real-Life Hit Men Nothing Like 'Sherlock' Shadowy Snipers

Live Science ^ | January 27, 2014 | Stephanie Pappas

[DogByte6RER]

In the second season of the BBC's hit show "Sherlock," shadowy snipers threaten the eponymous detective's friends by skulking around stairwells with high-powered rifles or infiltrating their homes and workplaces.

In real life, targets of assassination in Britain are more likely to be killed while walking their dogs or going shopping, new research finds.

The study of contract killings spanning from 1974 to 2013, published in The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, finds that assassinations are often rather mundane.

"Hit men are familiar figures in films and video games, carrying out 'hits' in underworld bars or from the rooftops with expensive sniper rifles," David Wilson, a criminologist Birmingham City University's Center for Applied Criminology, said in a statement. "The reality could not be more different."

• The four types of hit men

Wilson and his colleagues were interested in studying contract killing, in which someone pays another person to carry out a murder. These types of killings are rarely studied, the researchers said.

They combed through newspaper archives for examples of hits in Britain and found evidence of 27 murders carried out by 35 hit men — and one hit woman. They also used court transcripts and interviews with offenders to find out details such as how much killers had been paid.

The results revealed a wide variety of ages and expertise in killing. Hit men were as young as 15 and as old as 63, with an average age of 38. There were four types of hit men: Novices, who were caught after their first murder; dilettantes, who are the least likely to have a criminal background and may lack enthusiasm for killing; journeymen, who are career criminals but not particularly stealthy; and masters.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

There was a famous American assassin who killed numerous victims using the same technique. All that was required was for them to visit a particular bar. He would come up behind them and quickly stick an icepick through their ear into their brain, then pull it out again. Then he would hold them up with one arm, acting like they were drunk, and carry them to the back where they would be fed down a laundry chute into a waiting vehicle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Reles

[Secret Agent Man]

hey it’s still a fun ride. i’ve been watching them again as there is just nothing on tv worth watching.

[warsaw44]

Lilyhammer on Netflix.

A lot of fun.

[AnAmericanInEngland]

If you’re just seeing that episode in the US (assassins watching Sherlock’s friends) you’re about a year behind in the states.

[Nepeta]

I tried this show last night for the first time and gave up on it almost immediately when “Sherlock Holmes” abruptly kissed some woman. sorry, that’s not the Sherlock this woman knows and loves, in the purest and most chaste sense of the word.

He was manipulating her to gain access to a tightly secured location. I advise going back and watching the first and second seasons to understand what is going on. This is NOT the Basil Rathbone Sherlock, or the print Sherlock, but on balance, it is a good series.

[Revelation 911]

agreed = season one and two were enjoyable, but if anything analytically frenetic. - the “resurrection” episode didn’t work for me

[morphing libertarian]

That was the end of season two. The US ran the last episode of season 3 last night. Still I think we’re a couple of months behind. It was reported this week there will be a fourth season.

[BradyLS]

OK, I’ll heed what you say. For me nobody will ever top Jeremy Brett as Sherlock.

I've seen them both and while I won't begrudge Brett's place in the hearts of millions, I think every Holmes fan should take a look at the BBC SHerlock Holmes series from 1964 that featured Douglas Wilmer and Nigel Stock played in the principal roles.