THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF HIT MEN

This dissertation discusses the ancient profession of the hit man from its early, mythical origins to our present day. By drawing from a literature comprising of historical sources, US Secret Service data, and auto-biographies of renowned hit men, the paper will first provide an approximate understanding of these law-offenders by looking at their backgrounds and goals, and then compare their characteristics to those expressed by "makeshift killers." Hence the paper will aim at defining that 1) our modern, business-oriented society is affecting the modus operandi adopted by freelance professional killers in reaching their clientele, which often resembles the customary approach of other legally recognized professions, and that 2) due to astounding improvements in transport and communication technologies, hit men are becoming further delocalized from their areas of origin to operate on a truly global scale. Data at hand, the dissertation will finally argue that with modern wealth and opportunity, hit men are no longer restrained to work for criminal organizations, politicians or businessmen, but have become available to an ever-growing and varying demand, thus following the democratizing process undergone by other professions.