Bungling Chinese Hitmen Jailed After Repeatedly Outsourcing Murder

A businessman named Wei sued a real estate developer, Qin Youhui, in 2013. Qin paid an assassin two million yuan to have Wei killed. That assassin subcontracted it for half the price. The contract passed hands four more times, each hitman taking a cut and handing off what remained to the next, until the price bottomed out at 100,000 yuan, five percent of the original sum.

The fifth and cheapest hitman, Ling Xiansi, decided the payout wasn’t worth a possible life sentence, so he contacted Wei directly and staged a fake murder. Wei agreed to be photographed bound and gagged at a cafe, then walked straight to the police station. The full chain, five hitmen plus the original businessman who ordered the hit, was jailed last week, with sentences from two years and seven months to five years.

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• The chain ran Qin (two million yuan) to Xi Guangan, then Mo Tianxiang, then Yang Kangsheng, then Yang Guangsheng, and finally Ling Xiansi for 100,000 yuan, five percent of what Qin originally paid.
• Each hitman handed the job down for less money than they’d received, keeping a cut and passing the rest along in the hope someone further down the chain would actually do it.
• Ling Xiansi, the last and cheapest in the chain, faked the killing instead. He met Wei at a cafe and photographed him bound and gagged as staged proof.
• Wei went straight from that photoshoot to the police station, which is how the whole chain came apart.
• All six men, the five hitmen and the businessman who ordered the hit, were sentenced last week, from two years and seven months to five years.