Wensley Clarkson - Hitmen. True Stories of Street Executions

These are the characters who come up through the ranks to become professional hitmen. Their so-called skills are known to the countrys most powerful underworld gangsters. They keep a low profile and tend to live anonymous, almost normal lives. They also tend to only hit other criminals and avoid the high-profile jobs that end up in the tabloids. These pros thrive on the fact that their line of work is low profile and often hold down more respectable careers within the traditional criminal fraternity. Many are so low-key its virtually impossible for police to prove a link between them and the murders they have committed.

There is a smack-crazed posse of West Indian gangsters who dispose of rivals and, sometimes, their families with cold-blooded, execution-style killings that serve as a warning to anyone who dares to double-cross them in drug deals. Often their hitmen target rival drug dealers, rip off their produce and then wipe them out. As a final calling card they have been known to sexually assault their victims, whether male or female. In June and July 1998, the Yardies carried out three barbaric murders, including the execution of two young mothers. Scotland Yard linked the slayings after forensic tests revealed the victims were shot with the same 9mm self-loading handgun.

This gang, with its sickening brand of maiming and killing rival gang members, has been operating on Britains streets for the past 30 years. But most of these murders go unreported and unsolved because of the Triads Mafia-style secrecy and the fears of those within the Chinese community. Four main Triad societies, the 14K, We On Lok, Wo Shing Wo and San Yee On, rake in vast profits from protection rackets, prostitution, fraud, illegal immigration and illicit gambling. The Triads train up their own hitmen by importing previously unknown individuals from the Chinese mainland.

These are small-time hoods prepared to knock off other villains, cheating lovers and work rivals. They underprice the pros and are often desperate for cash to feed a drug or drink habit. One recent classic example of this was when the shooter intended to hit a little boys stepfather whod double-crossed local drug lords instead the youngster was shot dead. These hitmen are more often caught because they dont think through the science of being a hired killer and take necessary precautions. And, chillingly, some of them are mere teenagers prepared to kill for a few hundred pounds.

These categories are just the tip of the iceberg. The cold, hard reality is that hitmen can come from every type of background and, as this book will show, they share one common factor: an appalling lack of regard for human life.

Wensley Clarkson 2005