Tan Youhui, a businessman in Guanxi, China, paid a hitman $282,000 to take out a competitor. But that hitman hired another hitman, offering $141,000 for the contract. That hitman hired another hitman. He subcontracted too. Then that hitman hired another hitman. And that hitman approached the target, a Mr. Wei, and proposed they fake his death, so everyone gets paid and no-one gets hurt. Unfortunately for Tan and all five hitmen, Wei went to the cops.
The BBC summarizes:
The saga of the subcontracted hitmen dates back to a professional dispute in 2013, when Mr Wei took legal action against Tan’s firm, the Nanning Intermediate People’s Court said on its website. Scared of losing money fighting a lengthy court case, Tan contacted hitman Xi Guangan and offered him ¥2m ($282,000) to kill Mr Wei. Xi accepted the job but shortly afterwards asked another hitman, Mo Tianxiang, to kill Mr Wei instead, offering him ¥1m. After Mo accepted, Xi renegotiated with Tan to be paid another ¥1m after the killing. … [more hitmen] … Instead of carrying out the murder, Ling met up with Mr Wei in a cafe, told him there was a hit on him and proposed a plan – that the two of them fake the murder. nMr Wei agreed to pose, gagged and bound, for a photo that Ling could take back to Yang Guangsheng – before later reporting the case to the police.
The best part: each bad guy in the chain got progressively more lenient sentences, with Tan off to jail for five years and the hit men receiving 42 months, 39 months, 39 months, 36 months and 31 months. Very Fargoesque!