HITMAN LUIS
An executioner’s wage pays for a comfortable home in the hills around Marbella
HITMAN LUIS
There is plenty of work for a good hitman on the Costa del Sol. The number of shootists on the streets of southern Spain has reached almost epidemic proportions in recent times. Twenty years ago, if you wanted someone bumped off there were only a handful of highly professional killers-for-hire available. But in 2003 there were more than a hundred acknowledged hits on the Costa del Sol – and they are just the ones the Spanish police know about. Many of these professional hits get little or no newspaper coverage. As one British journalist based in Spain says, ‘One villain knocking off another doesn’t have the same news appeal as a beautiful brunette blasting her cheating husband to death.’
Not surprisingly, hitmen on the Costa del Crime tend to keep a low profile. Says one, ‘The less publicity the better. Luckily the papers don’t seem that interested in most hits, and that’s the way we like it.’
But the Spanish police admit the situation has now spiralled totally out of control. One detective based in Marbella told me, ‘Drugs have brought with them many hitmen. Some of these criminals would commission a contract killer for the smallest reason. It’s a very dangerous situation.’
The bottom line is that life is a lot cheaper in 21st-century Spain than it was when armed robbers brandishing sawn-off shotguns swaggered across pavements in south London taking pot-shots at anyone in their way. These days, there are numerous small-time hoods prepared to knock off other villains, cheating lovers or work rivals, which could eventually put the real pros out of business.
Take ‘Luis’. He’s half-Spanish, half-English and has been in ‘the business’ for 12 years. He lives in a big pad in the hills behind Malaga, and no one other than his dear old mum, his wife and his kids knows his real identity. That’s the way he intends to keep it. ‘I do the job clean and simple, with no fucking aggro,’ explains Luis. ‘That’s why people come to me when they have a problem.’
Luis reckons the hired hand who popped a French couple on a quiet street in Marbella a couple of years back didn’t put a foot wrong. The married pair were iced as part of a turf war between drug dealers and brothel owners in the area. ‘I heard it cost £20,000 each person, which is a good deal for everyone concerned.’ The couple were shot at point-blank range outside their modern detached home only a few hundred yards from the local police station. They had been telling people there was ‘a bullet out there with our names on it’ because they’d turned police informants. The drugs ring they were connected to had links to an American mafia branch in Detroit, not to mention a number of men from Medellin in Colombia. So when they finally got rubbed out on their own doorstep at 1am, there wasn’t a lot of grieving.
The Marbella police didn’t have anyone in the frame and made it clear they weren’t that bothered about the killing. It turned out that the couple had double-crossed numerous criminal associates, ripped off call girls and hugely upset certain cocaine dealers. Some poor mug had even bought a second-hand car off them and discovered it was hot.
Luis himself is renowned as one of the most feared shootists in southern Spain. ‘The rules of the game are changing every day. My basic price is €30,000, unless I’m being asked to take out a big-time criminal who’s got a lot of protection. I always get paid in full, in advance, in cash. How else could I handle it, take a cheque? There are other unwritten clauses that go into every hit contract. If I get arrested, the person commissioning the hit takes care of all my legal costs plus my bail if I manage to get it. He’d also make sure I was comfortable in prison, that my wife was comfortable at home, as well as do everything to try and get me out. Finally, when I finish my sentence, he would have a bundle of cash waiting for me. This is done to guarantee silence. As long as all obligations are taken care of, I’m not going to say a word to no one. I’m certainly not going to land anyone in the shit. They’d soon finish me off.’
But Luis says it’s not the risk of being caught for his crimes that bothers him. ‘There are other so-called pros out there killing people for €5,000 each job. But you get what you pay for and these cut-price operators all get caught in the end and then they start singing to the police. Let’s face it, a grandmother in Benalmadena who wants her husband killed after thirty years of abuse is going to end up hiring an amateur or an undercover policeman. There’s too many small-time hoods making out they can carry out hits for next to nothing. All they do is make problems for people like me.’
But Luis thinks he knows exactly what the future holds for him. ‘I’m planning to retire soon. Buy myself a nice little villa in northern Spain and start relaxing and enjoying my life.’ He pauses and nods his head slowly. ‘If I live that long…’