Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors

Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors is a book written under the pseudonym Rex Feral and published by Paladin Press in 1983. It has been claimed that the book started life as a detailed crime novel written by somebody described as a Florida housewife, and that the format was later changed to appeal to Paladin's reader base. The book is a how-to on starting a career as a hit man and fulfilling contracts.

Existing copies at Paladin Press were destroyed, after the book was claimed to be used as a guide during a triple murder in 1993 (see below), but one can easily read the book online pdf or purchase a used copy of the book from independent sellers. It is believed that 13,000 copies were sold, although Reason Magazine estimates there are 20,000 copies of the book in existence.

Controversy

In 1993, a triple murder was committed in Montgomery County, Maryland by a man who used this book, Hit Man, as his guide[1]. James Perry, who had been previously imprisoned for violent crime, was caught, convicted and sentenced to death. He had been hired by Lawrence T Horn, who sought to receive the proceeds of a life insurance policy. The families of Mildred Horn, her son Trevor and her nurse Janice Saunders sued Paladin Press, the publisher of the book Hit Man, saying Paladin Press "aided and abetted" the murder. The suit, Rice v Paladin Press, claimed that Paladin Press had a share of responsibility in the murders by virtue of their publication of a book that, by Paladin's own admission, it intended would immediately be used by criminals and would-be criminals in the solicitation, planning, and commission of murder for hire.

May 21, 1999, Paladin Press' insurance company decided to settle the case, giving the families of those killed by the hit man several million dollars, agreeing to destroy the remaining 700 copies of the book in their possession, and surrendering any rights they have to publish and reproduce the work. However, the families were not entirely successful in stifling the book. With the surrender of the publishing rights by Paladin Press, the book was illegally published on the Internet at Overthrow.com in its entirety on May 22, 1999. The book is not in the public domain, and all copyrights remain with the anonymous author — an author who declines to distribute his or her works does not lose the exclusive right to do so.

The book was also cited as a source of information in a similar crime committed by Robert Vaughn Jones in 1999[2].

See also

• The Poor Man's James Bond (referenced in Hit Man)
• Anarchist Cookbook
• Jolly Rogers Cookbook - Hit Man often appears under the Jolly Roger writings.

External links

• eBook version: pdf, html
• Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors by Rex Feral ISBN 0-87364-276-7
• "The Day They Came to Sue The Book" by David Kopel, Reason Magazine, August/September 1999
• "Murder by the book: Free speech takes a hit" by Paul McMasters, First Amendment Center