What Price for a Human Life: Murder for Hire

The recent arrest of Dr. Akram Ismail in Leesburg, Florida, for offering to pay for the demise of Nehme Gabriel, his former business partner had all the elements of a good Hollywood production. There was the prominent physician, highly regarded in his own community and in the medical world. There was his unsuspecting former business partner, also running a successful medical practice. Then there was a hitman. Or, in this case, two.

Ismail allegedly paid the first hit man $40,000 to blow up Gabriel's business, break his legs, and hire women to "sexually exploit" and "publicly discredit" the victim, an affidavit said. He then offered the second hitman $25,000 to kill Gabriel as well as the first hit man who had failed to carry out his paid for services. Which brings up an interesting question: how does one determine the cost of another person's life?

Perhaps Ismail considered the number of tasks required for the first hitman to entail more time and effort. Breaking legs and blowing up buildings requires a bit of planning, and who can speculate the logistics nightmare of hiring women to sexually exploit someone. That in itself could be time consuming, especially if one were to allow for the fact that the women had to deal with a couple of broken legs. The second hitman, therefore, only had two tasks: kill, and kill again.

Ismail is not the first person to pony up some cash to get rid of another human being. Dennis Lingmann, 46, offered a cell mate at the Salt Lake City jail $16,000 to kill a fourteen year old girl and her entire family. Lingmann was in jail for having a sexual relationship with the girl and wanted to prevent her from testifying.

St. Louis Blues hockey player Mike Danton pleaded guilty to charges he offered $10,000 to kill his agent, David Frost. The motive was unclear.

South Philadelphia mortgage broker Mahn Huu "Bruce" Doan offered a hitman cash and property to kill an attorney who represented a civil suit against Doan. That hitman was ordered to kill one of the plaintiffs as well, and maim a third individual.

According to the FBI website, between 70-90 people a year are caught in murder for hire schemes. Add to that the number caught by local law enforcement agencies around the country, and the figure is likely much higher. The motives change, the prices change, but one thing remains constant. Some people are willing to place a dollar amount on the life of another human being.