'Dirty deeds done dirt cheap', so goes the classic AC/DC rock song, but throughout civilization
there have always been real men and women perfectly willing to do dirty deeds, but not
so much dirt cheap.
From witness intimidation, to full on assassinations of political and criminal enemies, hitmen
have routinely been the go-to for getting a messy situation sorted out favorably.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look
at some of the world's most notorious real life hitmen.
Bugsy Siegel
Born into a family of poor Jewish immigrants, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel's criminal career
began early with petty thefts as a teenager, culminating in a protection racket he ran
along with childhood friend Moe Sedway where they threatened to burn up pushcart owners'
merchandise unless they paid the duo a dollar.
Charged early with armed robbery, rape, and murder, Siegel began making a name for himself
and he and Sedway formed their own gang, seeing a need for the Jewish kids to organize like
the Italians and Irish had.
Becoming involved in bootlegging during the Prohibition, Bugsy also worked as the Bugs
and Meyers mob's hitman, and was often hired out to other crime families.
Siegel would go on to form Murder, Inc.- a hitman for hire service utilized extensively
by different warring factions to eliminate rivals.
After a disagreement with the Fabrizzo brothers, the duo tried to kill him, and in retaliation
Siegel murdered both.
After the death of his brothers, Tony Fabrizzo then wrote a memoir detailing Murder, Inc.'s
national operations and gave it to an attorney, but the mob discovered his plans before Fabrizzo
could make the information public and Siegel murdered him- avoiding suspicion by checking
into a hospital and sneaking out.
With many enemies and his hospital alibi in jeopardy, the East Coast mob sent Siegel to
California.
Once on the west coast he began setting up gambling rackets with LA family boss Jack
Dragna.
He also established a drug trade route from Mexico to the US, and its thought Siegel was
largely responsible for laying down the foundations for the massive drug trade we have today between
South America and the US.
A charismatic man, Siegel was nonetheless welcomed into the innermost Hollywood circles,
and even considered acting himself, arranging for a screen test.
Striking up a relationship with Dorothy DiFrasso, the wife of an Italian count, Siegel traveled
to Italy in 1938 and met Benito Mussolini whom he tried to sell weapons to.
On that same trip he met Nazi leaders Hermann Goring and Joseph Goebbels, whom he instantly
despised and even offered to kill- but relented only after DiFrasso's desperate pleas not
to.
Imagine how different history may have been.
After being implicated in the murder of a would-be informant by one of the co-killers,
the newspapers began to reveal Siegel's past publicly, much to his dismay.
They also took to calling him “Bugsy” in the press, which Benjamin Siegel hated
as the term was slang for “bugs”, which meant crazy.
Seeking to reinvent his image, Bugsy went into legitimate business with William R. Wilkerson
by helping him finance the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.
It wasn't long though before the allure of running a legal front for mob gambling would
prove too much for Siegel and his associates, and so Wilkerson was eventually coerced into
selling all stakes in the Flamingo under threat of death.
The Flamingo Hotel and Casino would now be fully mob-owned and operated.
However in a rush to open his casino, Siegel launched a disastrous opening with work half-finished.
Dreaming of hosting the biggest celebrities and luring big gamblers in with decadent luxury,
the sound of construction and jackhammers were all that welcomed the few celebrity guests
that showed up.
The unfinished casino very quickly went into the red, but bailed out by mob money Siegel
was given a second chance.
Finally reopening a year later in 1947, the casino began to turn a profit, but mob bosses
above Siegel were tired of waiting.
On the night of June 20th, 1947, Siegel sat with an associate in a Beverly Hills home
reading the Los Angeles Times when an unknown assailant shot him twice in the head and numerous
times in the body with a .30 caliber M1 carbine.
Theories on why he was killed differ, but most believe that Siegel was murdered because
of his excessive spending and potential theft of mob money.
As they say though- you live by the sword, you die by the sword.
Charles Harrelson
Most people know of beloved American actor Woody Harrelson, but have you ever heard of
his estranged father, Charles Harrelson- the real life hitman?
Born in 1938, Harrelson lived a relatively normal life, even working as an encyclopedia
salesman and a professional gambler, but in 1960 he was convicted of armed robbery.
It seems this would signal a change for Harrelson who would go on to murder Alan Harryberg on
the 28th of May, 1968.
Acquitted by a jury, Harrelson was then tried for the murder of Sam Degelia Jr., where he
was paid $2,000 ($14,000 in today's money) for the job.
His first trial ended with a deadlocked jury, but on his second trial in 1973 he was found
guilty and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Released after 5 years for good behavior, Harrelson was immediately hired to kill federal
Judge John H. Wood Jr. by a drug dealer.
Wood hard earned the nickname “Maximum John” for his harsh sentences for drug offenses,
and was scheduled to have the dealer who hired Harrelson to kill Wood appear before him on
the day of his murder.
Apprehended with the aid of an anonymous tip and a tape recording, Harrelson initially
claimed he didn't kill Wood but simply took credit for it in order to secure payment.
A jury was unmoved however and Harrelson was sentenced to two life terms.
In 2003 the dealer who had hired Harrelson to murder Wood recanted previous statements
and claimed that Harrelson had in fact not shot Wood.
His son, Woody, tried to have his father's conviction overturned and secure a new trial
but was not successful.
Harrelson would go on to die at the hands of the ultimate hitman- heart attack- on July
2008.
Interestingly during an armed stand off with police as they attempted to arrest him for
the murder of Judge Wood, Harrelson claimed to have killed both Wood and US President
John F. Kennedy, though he'd later claim that he was simply really high on cocaine.
Kim Hyun-hee
Everyone is familiar with the Marvel superhero Black Widow- trained from childhood to be
a deadly assassin, Black Widow was ripped from her family's arms and taught to be a
master of weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and all matter of spy techniques.
Yet while the Black Widow is a piece of fiction, a real life Black Widow was carefully groomed
for years by the North Korean government.
As a young pre-teen, Kim Hyun-hee saw a black sedan roll up to her school one day and party
officials exit.
After a brief conversation with her teachers, the officials informed Kim that she would
be coming with them and that she had to go home and pack her belongings.
She would be allowed one last night with her family before becoming property of the North
Korean state.
Leaving her family and childhood behind, Kim was taken to a remote and secret mountain
spy school- Batman style- and given a new name.
There she was trained for eight years in martial arts, gunplay, spy techniques and various
languages.
When South Korea was picked to host the Olympic Games in 1988, Kim Jong-Il was determined
to prevent it from happening, so he picked his new secret weapon to travel to the South
and stoke fears of terrorism that would force the Olympic committee to rethink their decision
and scare foreigners away.
Kim was teamed up with an older North Korean spy, Kim Seung-il, and the two disguised themselves
as Japanese father-and-daughter tourists with fake passports.
They boarded a South Korea jet to Baghdad and planted a bomb inside a transistor radio,
setting it to blow nine hours later.
Arriving in Abu Dhabi for a stopover, the pair disembarked, and as the plane turned
back to Seoul it exploded in mid-air, killing all 115 passengers onboard.
Realizing they were traveling on forged passports, the spy duo were arrested in Bahrain.
As they were being searched however, the two swallowed secret cyanide pills- Kim Seung-il
died but Kim Hyun-hee was later revived.
Tried and sentenced to death in South Korea, Hyun-hee began to realize that she had been
brainwashed about South Korea by the north.
After thorough psychological examination, South Korea decided that Hyun-hee had been
brainwashed as a child by North Korea and pardoned her.
Today she lives in hiding and under protection of the South Korea intelligence service with
a husband- a former South Korean intelligence agent- and two children, 56 years old and
still fearful of retaliation from North Korea over her defection.
Hitmen specialize in doing the dirty work that their organized crime, or murderous regimes,
don't want to do themselves.
However unlike Hollywood movies, most hitmen aren't highly trained killers, merely thugs
with a willingness to commit the violence the rest of us rise above.
Also like Hollywood movies, the vast majority of hitmen are taken down after their first
killing thanks to an extremely efficient criminal investigation system, and if the long arm
of the law doesn't get them, hitmen are typically done in themselves by others they've angered
or offended in their often very short and violent careers.
Who was the most prolific hitman of all time?
What would history be like if Bugsy Siegel had really killed two of the most important
Nazi figures?
Also, be sure to check out our other video The United States (USA) vs The World - Who
Would Win?!
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See you next time!