Have you ever really not wanted to do something, so you decided to pass it off to someone else?
Well, this is sort of like that, except the “something” is an assassination plot and the “someone” is a hitman. Well five, to be exact. Oh, and in this scenario you’re a hitman, too. Confused yet? Well, just do your best to keep up.
According to CNN , five men in China have been jailed after an elaborate web of outsourcing saw each one hire the other to complete a hit, which apparently none of them wanted to do themselves.
It all started with one man, a real estate developer named Tan Youhui, who wanted to get rid of his competition for good.
Apparently, Tan had some beef with his business competitor, identified only by his last name, Wei, who had recently filed a lawsuit against Tan’s company over a development project dispute.
So Tan decided Wei needed to go , and hired a hit man to make that happen.
Xi Guangan was paid two million Chinese yuan (about $282,000 USD) to do the deed.
But rather than complete the hit himself, Xi took that money and spent half to hire another hitman, Mo Tianxiang.
Mo, as it turns out, was also reluctant to assassinate Wei, and outsourced the job to another hitman, Yang Kangsheng. I think you know where this is going.
Fast-foward six months and Wei is still alive, despite a total of FIVE hitmen being hired to take him out.
Here’s how you can break it all down to understand it just a little easier:
Tan hired Xi, who hired Mo, who hired Yang, who hired a different Yang, who then hired the fifth and final hitman, Ling Xiansi.
By the time the job was assigned to Ling, the money had decreased from an initial two million yuan to just 100,000, (or $14,000), with each hitman keeping some for himself and spending the rest to hire the next guy.
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Ling didn’t want to kill Wei himself, but this time he didn’t hire a sixth hitman because that would just be CRAZY.
Instead, he met with the businessman and told him about the unbelievably elaborate plot, offering to help him fake his death rather than kill him.
Ling took pictures of Wei tied up and gagged, which were then sent up along the extensive chain of subcontractors until it reached the original client, Tan the real estate developer.
However, Wei wasn’t just about to let Tan get away with his attempted hit, and he told the police what was going on.
Tan, as well as all five hired hitmen, were arrested and charged with intentional homicide.
For initiating the murder plot, Tan was sentenced to five years in jail , while the middlemen all received prison sentences between two to four years.
h/t: CNN