Article

2011-01-10 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Everything's cheaper in Mexico, including hired assassins

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Posted by gromky 2011-01-10 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 Karachi killers also draw a salary.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-10 00:41|| 2011-01-10 00:41|| Front Page Top

#2 IIRC STARS-N-STRIPES OP-ED > THE BORDER WID MEXICO IS OUR [US] "THIRD FRONT", after Afghanistan + Iraq despite the fact that it is CARTEL = DRUG, CRIME-VIOLENCE, NOT RADICAL ISLAM [for now]???

Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-01-10 02:11|| NA 2011-01-10 02:11|| Front Page Top

#3 THE BORDER WID MEXICO IS OUR [US] "THIRD FRONT"

That's why Rantburg added regular reports on the cartel war in Mexico, JosephM, filed on the War on Terror pages.

Posted by trailing wife 2011-01-10 07:29|| 2011-01-10 07:29|| Front Page Top

#4 pretty obviously they need to unionize and demand health and dental benefits as well as a prevailing wage

Posted by Frank G 2011-01-10 08:16|| 2011-01-10 08:16|| Front Page Top

#5 The karachi killers at the link draw a salary (retainer?) of $500/yr after converting Pak rupees into dollars.

Al

Posted by Frozen Al 2011-01-10 12:34|| 2011-01-10 12:34|| Front Page Top

#6 I knew a guy who was offered 30k in the mid-Nineties to kill someone, apparently on the theory that he had a Sicilian last name & thus was obviously mobbed up. (What can I say, central Pennsylvania, they grow 'em pretty parochial in the back-hollers.)

Interestingly enough, murder-for-hire is one of those classic examples of "market failure", as there generally isn't enough information for a reliable and predictable pricing mechanism to allow a properly-clearing market. Which is a *good* thing - it cuts down on the actual occurrence of murder if there isn't a functional market for it. (Let's say my personal example resulted in jail time for the soliciter, eventually. This is what is known as "properly aligned incentives" at work.)

Posted by Mitch H. 2011-01-10 12:59|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/ 2011-01-10 12:59|| Front Page Top

#7 got to include:

Posted by CrazyFool 2011-01-10 13:22|| 2011-01-10 13:22|| Front Page Top

#8 Government statistics in Spain state that 40 assassinations take place each year, with prices for the hit ranging between $27 to $69,000.

This assumes there was some kind of post-hit debriefing of the hit man or woman.

What I wonder is where the author of this piece got the data? This data is not exactly the kind of data kept by governments.

I'm thinking the author had to meet a deadline for a story. Possibly one of those NYT's made-up stories? In other words fiction.

Posted by JohnQC 2011-01-10 15:52|| 2011-01-10 15:52|| Front Page Top

#9 When hitmen get caught, they tend to get asked how much they were paid. NYT hardly.

Source: Virdiana Ross, "Mexico: Assassins on the 'Cheap'," International Relations and Security Network, October 11, 2010.

Posted by gromky 2011-01-10 17:52|| 2011-01-10 17:52|| Front Page Top

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