You’ve seen the movies. John Wick falls through a glass ceiling, adjusts a perfectly tailored suit, and takes out a room of high-security goons with a pencil. It’s stylish. It’s sleek. But honestly, the reality of assassins and the underworld is way grittier, a lot more bureaucratic, and significantly less glamorous than Hollywood wants you to believe.
People are obsessed with the idea of a secret society of hitmen. We love the "Continental Hotel" trope because it implies order in the chaos. But if you look at the actual history of contract killing—from the Hashshashin of the 11th century to the modern-day cartels—it’s less about "codes of honor" and more about cold, hard logistics.
It's about money.
The Myth of the "Professional" Hitman
Most people think of an assassin as a specialist. A ghost. Someone who spends months scouting a target from a rooftop with a long-range rifle.
In reality? Most hits in the criminal underworld are messy.
Take the era of Murder, Inc. in the 1930s. This wasn't some mystical guild. It was a group of mostly Italian and Jewish gangsters in Brooklyn who acted as the enforcement arm for the National Crime Syndicate. They didn't use silenced pistols or high-tech gadgets. They used ice picks. Why? Because an ice pick is easy to hide, leaves a small wound that bleeds internally, and doesn't make a sound.
It was brutal work.
The "underworld" isn't a separate dimension; it's just the dark underbelly of our own economy. When we talk about assassins and the underworld, we’re usually talking about people like Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. Reles was one of the most prolific killers for Murder, Inc., but he didn't have a "code." When the law caught up to him, he turned informant faster than you can blink. He eventually "fell" out of a hotel window while under police protection. The joke at the time was that "the canary could fly, but he couldn't fly very well."
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How the Underworld Actually Operates
The term "underworld" makes it sound like a basement. But modern organized crime is decentralized.
There is no "High Table."
Instead, you have a shifting web of freelance contractors. In places like Mexico or Brazil, the line between a "hitman" and a "soldier" is non-existent. The sicario culture is built on desperation and systemic poverty. It’s not a career choice; it’s a survival mechanism.
Let's look at the numbers. While we don't have a "census" for criminals, criminologists like David Bright have mapped out criminal networks using social network analysis. They found that these groups aren't structured like a pyramid with a "Boss" at the top and "Assassins" at the bottom. They look more like a spiderweb. If you cut one strand, the web stays up.
That’s why it’s so hard for the FBI or Interpol to shut these things down. You aren't fighting an organization. You're fighting a marketplace.
The Tools of the Trade (It's Not What You Think)
Forget the sniper rifles.
- The Moped: In Europe and South America, the most common tool for an underworld hit is a cheap scooter. Two people, one driving, one shooting. It’s easy to weave through traffic and even easier to ditch in a river.
- The Smartphone: Encryption is the new silencer. Apps like Signal or Telegram are where the deals happen now.
- Social Media: This is the weirdest part. Modern sicarios often post their exploits on TikTok or Instagram. It’s brand building. If people are scared of you, you don't actually have to kill as many people to get what you want.
The Hashshashin: Where the Word Came From
We can't talk about assassins and the underworld without mentioning the Nizari Isma'ilis. These were the original "Assassins."
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Led by Hassan-i Sabbah from the mountain fortress of Alamut, they didn't have a massive army. They couldn't win a conventional war against the Seljuk Empire. So, they used "asymmetric warfare." They would send a single devotee to infiltrate a target’s inner circle, sometimes for years.
They weren't "hit and run" guys. They were "hit and stay" guys.
Often, the assassin would be killed immediately after the strike. It was a suicide mission. This created a level of psychological terror that modern terrorists can only dream of. When a Vizier wakes up with a dagger pinned to his pillow next to a note saying "We could have killed you tonight," he’s going to do whatever you want the next day.
That’s the real power of the underworld. It’s not the killing. It’s the threat of the killing.
The Digital Underworld: 21st Century "Hired Guns"
The world has changed. The most dangerous "assassins" today aren't holding guns; they're holding keyboards.
Cyber-assassination is a real thing, though it's usually called "character assassination" or "doxing." But on the Dark Web, there are (allegedly) marketplaces for actual physical hits. Sites like "Besa Mafia" popped up years ago claiming to offer hitman services for Bitcoin.
Here’s the kicker: Most of them were scams.
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The FBI and various researchers have found that these sites are almost always "honeypots" run by law enforcement or just scammers looking to steal crypto from people who are—let's be honest—not exactly "law-abiding citizens." It turns out that if you try to hire a killer on the open internet, you're probably just going to get your wallet emptied or a knock on the door from a SWAT team.
The real underworld stays off the grid. It’s built on face-to-face trust, or more accurately, face-to-face leverage.
Why We Are Obsessed With This Dark World
Basically, we like to believe that there’s a secret logic to the world. Even if it’s a violent logic.
The idea that there’s a secret society of assassins and the underworld with rules and rituals makes the world feel less random. It’s easier to handle the idea of a "professional hit" than the reality of a stray bullet in a street fight.
But the reality is messy.
It's "Ice Pick" Willie hitting people in crowded bars so fast no one noticed. It's the "Council of Nine" in New York deciding who lives and dies over a plate of pasta. It’s not cinematic. It’s cold. It’s transactional.
Actionable Insights: Separating Fact from Fiction
If you're researching this for a project, a book, or just because you're curious, here is how you spot the real stuff:
- Follow the money, not the "honor": Real underworld figures don't do things for "respect" unless that respect leads to a bigger cut of the drug or extortion trade.
- Look for the mundane: Real hits are usually described as boring until the moment they aren't. They happen at gas stations, in driveways, or during a morning jog.
- Read the court transcripts: If you want to know how the underworld works, read the testimony of people like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. He describes the "life" not as a glamorous adventure, but as a series of stressful meetings and constant paranoia.
- Check the geography: The underworld is always tied to trade routes. Whether it's the Silk Road in the 1200s or the Port of Antwerp today, assassins go where the money flows.
The real story of assassins and the underworld isn't found in a glowing neon hotel in a movie. It’s found in the shadows of the global economy, in the gaps where the law can't reach, and in the very human reality that some people will do anything for the right price. It’s a world that is constantly evolving, moving from daggers to pistols to pixels, but the motivation remains the same as it was a thousand years ago.
To truly understand this world, look past the suits and the gadgets. Look at the logistics. Look at the power vacuums. That’s where the real assassins are hiding.