A Derived Cardinal Rules for Assassins

The United States has suffered a number of assassinations over its period upon this planet and a goodly number are high level ones. That said, many of the lower level ones are masked by the professionals in this business as *something else*. Now, when I look to this area it specifically does NOT include: Gangland Slayings (these are turf wars and most killings are done by everyday thugs, and some few are to *prove* manliness or worthiness to lead and are not, truly, the same category as high level assassinations), killings done in the heat of passion, lovers quarrels, feuds, and all killings done as part of robbery, assault, rape, home invasion, etc. No, what I am looking towards are the high-level assassinations of leaders or very high ranking officials or other prominent figures. They do happen and are quite rare and they are differently motivated than the areas being discounted above.

A short list of some assassinations and the one who did them, with a pithy summary of them is as follows:

John Wilkes Booth - Assassinated President Abraham Lincoln - Booth was a believer in the Confederacy, did not like being on the losing side of the conflict, took part in a possible plot although much is conjectured upon that, was disaffected and an actor at a time when acting had not sheared itself from its disreputable connections to prostitution. Basically a self-important individual with delusions of righting wrongs and, by sticking to the losing side and not making adjustments to the outcome of the war, a loser. Even with some sort of plot running deeply to *whoever*, this individual had enough motivations, on his own, to do this with or without lots of help.

Charles J. Guiteau - Assassinated President James Garfield - An individual with mental disturbances, possibly due to child abuse, and history of fraudulent creation of background and credentials so as to make himself look important. He plagiarized one author for a religious tract, in its entirety, and tried to re-write a speech praising Grant to one of praising Garfield, without actually changing the events attributed to the first which possibly confounded the two in his mind. He felt that this speech, perhaps given all of twice, led to Garfield's victory and wanted an ambassadorship for his work. Not getting that he had decided that God had told him to kill the President. Basically a mentally deranged individual without the necessary mental skills to lead a normal life and, thus, fraudulently created one for himself so as to make himself seem more important. He believed this and the harshness of his total insignificance pushed him over the edge and led to the act that he believe would gain him favor in his final judgment.


Leon Czolgosz - Assassinated President William McKinley - Czolgosz was a Polish immigrant disaffected with the United States and its society and adhered to Anarchy. He was poor, had few skills, little opportunity and blamed the entirety of society for these things, by all accounts. But so suspicious in his demeanor that even regular Anarchists wanted nothing to do with him, and so he was pushed even from that last of social areas. When one comes down to it he was a loser, one who could not better himself and blamed all else save himself for his problems, and did little to better his own situation before making his hatred of society embodied in the act of assassination.

Lee Harvey Oswald - Assassinated President John F. Kennedy - Oswald grew up being told he was unwanted and took that to heart and attempted to make his mark on society. To do so he took up polar opposition to the rest of the United States and espoused Communism and Socialism, even when in the Marine Corps. Within the Corps he was noted for being confrontational, fractious and totally at-odds with most of his fellows. He did, however take up sharpshooting and gained high proficiency at that while serving for 3 years. Upon leaving the Corps he went to the Soviet Union to look to be taken in there. Their secret police and investigative services soon realized that this was not a CIA Agent, but a troubled young man who was completely unsuitable for any intelligence work. The USSR denied him sanctuary. Upon hearing that Oswald slit his wrists in his hotel room to force the issue. He was accepted, moved to Minsk and took up an everyday job and got married, only to realize that he would *still* not make his mark on society. He returned to the US expecting all sorts of reporters to question him and, instead, got no one. He came up with the idea of assassination to become *someone* and attempted to kill General Edwin Walker. Oswald had previously abused his wife and she urged a change environs to him to help things out, but that did not help as he took a confrontational pro-Cuba stance in New Orleans and became an outspoken advocate for that, while still being unemployed. His wife left him after he suggested they hijack a plane to Cuba. Finally, he returned to Dallas and a friend of his wife got him a job at the Dallas Public Library Book Depository a week before the assassination. For Oswald, upon seeing the route, everything fell into place. This man was basically an outcast, disaffected with society, confrontational to authority, had an idea of his own self-importance, could not hold a job and realized that he had amounted to *nothing* up to that point in his life.

Jack Ruby - Assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald - Born in Chicago with some ties to the Capone gang and ran errands and other such things for them. Served in WWII as an aircraft mechanic. Described by a police officer who covered the area that Ruby worked in as 'a good guy but meshugga, you know? Not dealing with a full deck.' Jack Ruby, by all accounts, loved the Nation that gave him opportunity to run a *business*, although only a strip club, and he made sure to get in on the good side of *everyone*, including the police, by keeping fresh hot coffee for them in a separate room and ensuring they got what they needed while there. Ruby had always tended towards mood swings and sudden violence, and one of the girls at the club reported that he was devastated by the assassination of his beloved President. He talked of killing the one who had done it. Basically, although on the outskirts of the criminal world he was a small-time, self-important business operator that let everyone know that he aimed to be an important businessman in his time, while being prone to those things that would not allow him advancement in either the criminal nor legitimate business world. He also knew his time in life was short, dying from lung cancer, which finally caused a heart attack and killed him, but not after finally becoming *someone*.

James Earl Ray - Assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. - Ray, by all accounts, was a segregationist and white supremacist. He had no reason to care for King, although he may have had help or accomplices in his acts, or possibly been part of a conspiracy and no part in the actual act. That said, he had signed a confession to the murder, although later recanting it. For the assassin of a well respected leader, not much is known of Ray, save that he had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List after escaping custody of the police. He made his way to the UK on a false Canadian passport and was extradited back to the US. He served as his own attorney during the trial after firing his own attorney. Ray made references that his attorney, Percy Foreman, had been part of a conspiracy that may have led to King's assassination. To date, even with a civil award against Loyd Jowers, none of those that would have been involved in such a conspiracy were high level government operatives nor, because of temperament, likely to keep such a secret over time.

Sirhan Sirhan - Assassinated Robert F. Kennedy - Sirhan Sirhan was a Palestinian born in Jerusalem that had converted from Islam to Christianity. Although not much is known about the man, still serving time in prison, implications are that he was not much enamored of Kennedy's position on the Six Day War. When one looks at a Palestinian that supports Israel and converts from Islam to *any* other religion, one gets the feeling of an individual much mixed up at that point in life and trying to adhere to *something* that would be stable. Lack of good accounting of his life that is reliable tells much of him and the lack of life he had. What one can say is that he was a professional at not very much and of not much account as an individual.

Lynette Fromme - Attempted Assassination of President Gerald Ford - Lynette Fromme drifted into the sphere of Charles Manson and drug addiction. After Manson's arrest and imprisonment she drifted in life, unable to hold a job and finally hit upon this idea of killing the President, but was so mentally unfastened that she forgot to load her gun. In prison she has violently attacked another prisoner, escaped from prison to see Charles Manson but was recaptured, and has, since, turned down all hearings on her case.

Mark David Chapman - Murdered John Lennon - Mentally unstable and a drug addict that became obsessed with John Lennon after a nervous breakdown. That sums him up better than any other appellation could do.

John Hinckley, Jr. - Attempted Assassination of President Ronald W. Reagan and severe injury to Press Secretary James Brady- Hinckley was none too capable of keeping to school, failed as a songwriter in Hollywood, and returned home totally broke. Wash, rinse, repeat a few times. Hinckley's family is one of the better connected families, particularly with the business and political side of the Bush extended family. John Hinckley, Jr., however, became obsessed with actress Jodie Foster and was in some space of his own that led him to believe that some path to her led through assassinating the President. He was found Not Guilty by reason of Insanity, but still is out of contact with much of this reality, and thusly kept out of circulation. By all accounts a loser that could never find a life, not even a good fantasy one.


From these folks going after high level individuals what can be said about Professional Assassins or Hitmen?

The First Derived Cardinal Rule is: Never, ever go after a high profile target. Their deaths get investigated pretty well the higher you go in the strata of society. Plus, if you do, look at the company you will be associated with.

The Second Derived Cardinal Rule is: Everyone loves a conspiracy, but the only one that has held up over the centuries is that of the Knights Templar and YOU are not one of THEM. Do *not* get involved with amateur plots.

The Third Derived Cardinal Rule is: The Government is least well able to keep a secret, so never, ever get involved directly with a Government.

The Fourth Derived Cardinal Rule is: Your life is in Your hands at ALL times, do not, ever, let anyone put that in peril. Professionalism and detachment keeps you alive, anything else gets you the First Rule.

The Fifth and Final Derived Cardinal Rule is: Your bread and butter is doing things few and well, do not aspire for more. EVER. It leads to an unbalanced state.

None of the assassins listed were: Professional Assassins, mentally sound, leading normal lives and highly capable at much of anything. They all had: aspirations beyond their capabilities, some complaint against their target, and, no one to tell them that this was *not* a good idea.

Painfully, the United States has many such individuals within its bounds, beyond deranged jihadi's with a goal of a Global Caliphate or Narcoterrorists looking to destroy the sanctity of the United States and turn it into personal sales markets. These are the type of people who have *failed* at the American Dream or were not capable of ever properly coming to terms with it due to personal problems.

And when a couple of them have meshing instabilities, it looks like a conspiracy instead of just plain bad luck that the wrong person is at the wrong place at the wrong time. None of these individuals could have been in a conspiracy because it would have made them *someone* and they would want to tell *everyone* how important they had become. Those spinning conspiracies are telling you *more* about themselves than about the conspiracy, and should be viewed that way. With slitted eyes and an askance look.

They think they mean well for the Republic or the World.

But so did those doing the killing, when they were not looking for glory upon themselves.