1.   And Muneer Deeb, the man prosecutors said had ordered the contract murders, won a new trial and was acquitted.

2.   Before its downfall, the Chagra family of El Paso was linked to gambling, drug smuggling and the first contract murder of a federal judge in U.S. history.

3.   Before that, contract murders were unheard of in Ireland.

4.   A popular political maverick, Shutov was arrested last February on charges of arranging at least three contract murders of businessmen and politicians.

5.   But Chubais, too, has critics who say he himself has concealed knowledge of contract murders for murky political goals.

6.   Many of the killings have involved business dealings gone bad, an ugly side effect of a lawless society in which contract disputes often end in contract murders.

7.   Tatum was the first American businessman killed in Russia in an apparent contract murder in recent memory.

8.   The arrests allegedly prompted Bertoldo to order the contract murder of the police officer, court papers say.

9.   Why would either man, widely known to despise Barboza and his friends, agree to take part in a contract murder with him?

10.   Police believe he was killed by a radio-controlled bomb in a contract murder.