Hitmen: True Stories of Street Executions
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11. Stephen Dalligan was shot six times in the Old Kent Road in 1990. Dalligan, 27, was the brother-in-law of Brinks-Mat robbery suspect Tony White. Although detectives insist he refused to help with police investigations, it is widely believed that suspicions about his involvement with the police led to his death.
12. Daniel Morgan was found with an axe embedded in his skull in a south London car park in 1987. The one-time police detective had been working as a private eye investigating police corruption when he was murdered. No one was ever arrested for the killing and there have been rumours in the south-east London underworld that a group of crooked policemen clubbed together to pay a hitman to wipe out Morgan.
13. Daniel ‘Dannyboy’ Valliday was at first thought to have died in a road accident, but the Ulster drugs baron was actually the victim of a clever assassin who made his death look like a hit-and-run. Valliday was so notorious that the IRA had ordered him to leave Ulster because of his outrageous drug deals. His killer was never found.
CONTRACT KILLERS
1. Danny Roff and Billy Edmunds were the successful hitteam behind the death of Charlie Wilson in Marbella. However, Wilson’s criminal associates finally got their revenge when Roff was himself shot dead outside his home in Wanstead Road, Bromley, Kent, in March 1997. Roff was executed as he arrived home in his Mercedes. Two masked gunmen shot him at least five times in the head and chest before escaping in a stolen van. Meanwhile, Roff’s accomplice in the Wilson hit in Spain – Edmunds – remains on the run from both criminals and police.
2. Jeremy Debonnaire arranged his own murder rather than face a painful, lingering death from cancer. He paid two men £3,000 to make his death appear like a botched burglary at his detached bungalow in Bearstead, Kent, in August 1997. His death must surely be one of the most bizarre contract killings in criminal history.
3. Pat Tate was probably Essex’s most notorious E dealer when he decided to save the cost of hiring hitmen to wipe out business rivals by personally killing at least three criminals in an orgy of death that, not suprisingly, ended in his own brutal demise in his Range Rover in December 1995.
4. Terry Bewdley was paid to kill Bob Wignall in 1992 by his cheating wife Sandra, who even gave hubby Wignall oral sex in his car in a lay-by in Surrey to ensure that hitman Bewdley could walk up and kill Wignall when he was at his most defenceless. A hefty life insurance policy was at stake.
5. Bob Bell shot and killed businessman Terry Daddow on his own doorstep in a sleepy East Sussex village. Bell was hired by Daddow’s wife, Jean, and her drug-dealing son, Roger Blackman. They were angry at Daddow’s meanness and obsessed with getting a share of his life insurance payout.
CONTRACT KILLER FILMS
Leon (1995): By the mid-Nineties, even hitmen on the big screen had hearts of gold, and this one – played superbly by French actor Jean Renoir – makes you question your own morals.
Grosse Point Blank (1996): Brilliant low-budget movie, starring John Cusack as a hitman who goes back to his old school’s reunion.
Pulp Fiction (1995): Tarantino’s homage to the B movies of the Fifties provides audiences with Travolta and Samuel L Jackson as the two most bizarre hitmen you’ll ever meet.
The Killer (1989): John Woo’s bloodfest that many believe was the best movie he ever made, despite a big-budget Hollywood career in the Nineties.
Fargo (1996): The Coen Brothers’ finest film, in which two bumbling hitmen make a balls-up of killing the wife of a twitchy used-car salesman.
Red Rock West (1992): Grossly underrated movie in which Nicholas Cage finds himself mistaken for a hitman, played brilliantly by cowboy Dennis Hopper.
The Hit (1984): A supergrass hiding in Spain is sought by two London gang executioners. Worth a look just to see Tim Roth in dark, sombre pre-Reservoir Dogs mood.
The Killers (1946): In a small, sleazy town a gangster – Burt Lancaster – waits for two assassins to kill him. This is the original film noir based on an Ernest Hemingway short story and it’s brilliant! It also spawned a brutal remake intended for TV called The Killers (1946), starring Lee Marvin as one of the shootists and featuring Ronald Reagan in his last role before hitting the political trail.
Kill Her Gently (1958): Little-known low-budget B special about a madman who hires two convicts to murder his wife.
About the Author
Wensley Clarkson is an investigative journalist who has written numerous non-fiction books, screenplays and television documentaries. His books have sold more than a million copies in 17 countries worldwide.
Other Books by Wensley Clarkson
Dog Eat Dog
Hell Hath No Fury
Like a Woman Scorned
Love You to Death, Darling
Mel
Tom
Slave Girls
Doctors of Death
Deadly Seduction
Death at Every Stop
The Mother’s Day Murder
Shooting from the Hip
Back in Character
Public Enemy Number One
Sting
Killer on the Road
Gangsters
Hitman
Caged Heat
The Railroad Killer
The Boss
The Good Doctor
Child’s Prey
The Babyface Killer
Rio!
The Mother from Hell
Hit ’em Hard
Inside the Cage
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