Thousands of people are being assassinated amid a horrific surge in contract killings – with one murderer-for-hire declaring: ‘As long as there is money, we don’t care.’
More than 3,000 victims have died at the hands of paid killers, a new probe shows, with widespread deaths in countries including the US and South Africa.
Assassins have boasted of carrying out dozens of executions with fees charged as little as £115, according to a National Geographic documentary investigation.
Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller came face to face with not only terrified communities but also gang members up-front about having blood on their hands.
Her new series Trafficked, which goes live tomorrow, is described as going ‘inside the dark world of contract killers’ – and she has told of ‘staring down’ assassins.
Investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller has confronted hired assassins in her new series
The Portuguese reporter found contract killings have become rife in the US and South Africa
Ms van Zeller, 47, began her research after meeting a hitman in her home city of Los Angeles – just 15 minutes’ walk away from where she lives.
Her follow-up enquiries took her to the outskirts of Johannesburg in South Africa, where she met a college graduate who claims to have killed almost 30 people – after turning to crime to bump up his income.
The hitman named JoJo told her: ‘When there is no money coming in, then you mix with the people selling drugs – you become a hitman for the person selling drugs.
‘As long as there is money, we don’t care. There’s always killing that needs to be done – whether it drugs, taxis, even politics now, it’s busy constantly. People need to die.
‘You either die crying or you die fighting – most of the time it makes me feel better because I know the people I’m going after are also bad people.’
He told the programme he was paid 25,000 Rand, or just over £1,000, per killing.
Ms van Zeller’s first Los Angeles showdown confronted her with a menacing assassin taking a semi-automatic Glock pistol from his pocket as an apparent threat to van Zeller and her film crew.
He is seen warning that if he finds he has been set up, ‘I can easily take all of you out right now.’
The disguised hitman is also heard admitting: ‘Yes, I kill people – I don’t hesitate. No questions asked. It’s never easy but it always gets done.’
Ms van Zeller said afterwards: ‘The whole time I’m talking to him, I’m thinking, “If a police car shows up by chance, he’s going to think it’s because of us and we’re going to get killed”.’
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), a Swiss think-tank, says 2,700 people were assassinated worldwide in 2019 and 2020 – while the new documentary puts the number of victims at more than 3,000.
More than 1,000 contract killings are thought to have been carried out in South Africa over the past seven years – with prime targets including politicians, business leaders and campaigners.
Assassins are carrying out killings for fees as little as £115, according to the new series
Mariana van Zeller began her investigation in Los Angeles before travelling to South Africa
She says such murders are ‘happening in every country in the world’
The investigative reporter, seen here attending the 2022 ABC Disney Upfront event in New York in May 2022, has a new series of her National Geographic show Trafficked
Victims have included 11 travellers left dead after their taxi was ambushed in 2018 in Kwazulu-Natal, with more than 100 bullet holes riddling the vehicle.
The new series is fronted by Peabody Award-winner Ms van Zeller, originally from Portugal before working in London for broadcasters including CNN and Channel 4.
She found hired killers can be paid upwards of £1,000 per hit.
She told the Sun: ‘I have spent a lot of time surrounded by drug dealers, traffickers, smugglers and scammers but this is another level.
‘They are committing the worst of the worst crimes – they’re taking away somebody else’s life.
‘It’s really, truly the most horrific crime – and it is happening in every country in the world, which is absolutely chilling.’
The think tank GI-TOC issued a report highlighting the rising number of paid-for assassinations following the killing of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
Foreign nationals were linked with the assassination, including 13 suspected Colombian contract killers.
His wife Martine Moïse, former prime minister Claude Joseph and ex-head of police Léon Charles were last month indicted for alleged complicity in his murder.
GI-TOC said in the aftermath of the killing: ‘Employing hitmen to carry out the assassination of prominent figures is not a new phenomenon.
‘All over the world, thousands of people are assassinated yearly, in silence. In many countries, assassinations have become a daily occurrence.
‘Assassinations, or contract killings, are frequently used by criminal networks to achieve their political, economic and criminal interests.
‘They enable criminal actors to maintain control over communities, allowing them to take over lucrative markets or infiltrate public institutions.
Mariana van Zeller has described the ‘absolutely chilling’ world of assassins for hire
Her previous probes have included exposing online romance fraudsters
Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse (pictured in January 2018) was assassinated in July 2021
His wife Martine Moïse, centre, is pictured here at a tribute in Port-au-Prince in on July 21, 2021
‘They are also a way of silencing those who take a stand and threaten to challenge the status quo, or those who investigate and dismantle criminal activities.’
Ms van Zeller’s previous investigations have included finding an undercover romance fraudster who pretended to be a woman to con a ‘kind-hearted’ American man out of more than $10,000.
She also helped unite for the first time in war-torn Ukraine a mother and father meeting their baby son born to a surrogate.
Trafficked: Underworld with Mariana van Zeller is scheduled to be shown on National Geographic on April 1 at 10pm.
