11.   FBI agents arrested four men for allegedly plotting a contract killing of a Secret Service agent who had investigated a credit card fraud ring.

12.   If a contract killing is the only way out, then Gary F. Johnson might be the right person to contact.

13.   In recent years, the city has become infamous for a string of contract killings.

14.   Korzhakov says Berezovsky once discussed ordering a contract killing of his rival at the time, Vladimir Gusinsky.

15.   Ms. Starovoitova was gunned down in the lobby of her apartment building, shot three times in the head, typical of Russian contract killings.

16.   Rival business groups used contract killings to try to intimidate one another.

17.   Rodriguez was serving life in prison for ordering the contract killing of his wife when he escaped.

18.   The attack had the earmarks of contract killings here, with the assailants dropping two guns at the scene and leaving in a waiting car.

19.   The gang plotted contract killings, dealt drugs and committed burglaries, according to police reports.

20.   The event has spawned grotesque tales of encounters with human remains, presumably deposited in the East River after contract killings.