Original subtitles

[ambient traffic noise]

[Mariana Van Zeller] When we were going to do a story about

assassins, I honestly didn't think that we were going to be

filming here in Los Angeles.

[train horn]

We're about to meet our contact.

Supposedly he's found somebody who's willing to talk to us.

You want to come in?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So he's around here somewhere?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Is he nervous to the point that

things can get ugly?

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's unsafe for us?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay, I'm stopping here for a second

because I think before we meet him, we should talk.

So he's for sure an assassin?

- For a hit? - Yeah.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, [bleep].

[Mariana Van Zeller] As a journalist

covering the underworld,

I've seen almost everything that can be trafficked,

trafficked,

but there's one trade that's always been just out of reach,

where the product is death itself.

[gunshot]

This is as black as the black market gets.

[Mariana Van Zeller] In 2019 and 2020 alone,

hitmen murdered nearly 3,000 people around the world.

And the killing game shows no signs of letting up.

This is him, right?

[T] Yeah

[Mariana Van Zeller] By covering you, yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] We're changing your voice.

[theme music plays]

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, I'm going to be blunt and just ask

you the ques, so you, you, you kill people?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Pay you to kill people?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Is it always here in the city, in LA?

[Mariana Van Zeller] All around the country?

[Mariana Van Zeller] How many times have you done it?

[Mariana Van Zeller] More than ten?

[Mariana] Do you remember the first time you did it?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Is it easy?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you do any surveillance beforehand?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah, what...

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you have limits though or boundaries?

Are there certain people that...

[Mariana Van Zeller] Like what?

[Mariana Van Zeller] But a father is okay?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you have kids?

[Mariana Van Zeller] But there is a part of you that has to

feel a little bad, knowing that

these are people who have people who love them, right?

They have families.

[Mariana] Okay, I won't talk about your kids anymore.

[Hitman] Yeah.

[Mariana Van Zeller] You're getting tired?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay.

I mean if you have to leave, you have to leave.

And just like that, the interview is over.

[Hitman] Bye.

[Mariana Van Zeller] I have so many more questions.

So much more I want to know about hitmen and what they do.

But assassins are paid to silence their victims,

and to stay silent about it.

In my career,

I've run into many people who kill for a living.

Sicarios in Mexico.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Gang members in Brazil and Colombia.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Even a hitman in Amsterdam.

Would you shoot a journalist if you were paid to?

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's a global phenomenon.

Hitmen make headlines around the world.

[Reporter] A hit squad pulls up and a hooded assassin unloads.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yet little is known about how

contract killers actually work,

or what drives them to make a living out of killing.

[gunshot]

For that I need to go to a country where they thrive

like few others.

[chopping]

[drumming]

South Africa, where news of the latest hit

is an almost daily occurrence.

[Anchor] Yet another whistle blower has been gunned down.

[Reporter] He was assassinated, ambushed by two gunmen.

[gunshot]

[Mariana Van Zeller] In the last seven years alone,

assassins here have killed more than 1,000 people.

I want to know how that's possible.

So how far are we, more or less?

[Yanda] Like one minute.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay.

So we should start getting closer to you guys here, right?

[Yanda] All right, all right.

[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm on my way to the epicenter of

South Africa's assassination epidemic.

So we're following the white Range Rover.

The two cars are full of bodyguards, one in front

and one right behind.

This is where things start to get a little heated.

So we have to make sure, oh look, look at that.

[♪ intensifying music]

This is not gang territory, or cartel country.

Incredibly, it's a minibus taxi center.

Where I'm headed to meet a man with a target on his back.

Look at that, this is insane.

I mean, seriously, he's more protected than the President,

it seems.

Okay, so, I'm going to go out and meet him.

Hi, Yanda, how are you?

[Yanda] Hi.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Nice to meet you.

You're the most important person in South Africa

it seems from all your security guys.

[Yanda] Yeah, I would say in this area.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.

[Yanda] I am the most important person, yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yanda is what is known in South Africa

as a taxi boss, he runs a fleet of 500 minibus taxis,

a lucrative gig, but not for the faint of heart.

So why so much protection?

And what's happening around us?

[Yanda] I've been attacked five times.

[Mariana Van Zeller] You've been attacked five times?

- Yes. - By whom?

[Yanda] Um, by the opposition.

There's always an opposition.

I've been told they are paid more than a million to...

[Mariana Van Zeller] To try to kill you?

[Yanda] To kill me, yes.

[honking]

[Mariana Van Zeller] In South Africa, the taxi game

is big business,

the industry transports nearly 70% of South African commuters.

With an estimated 10 million commuter trips every day,

raking in around $4.7 billion a year.

And with so much money at stake, the fight to control

the most lucrative routes is brutal.

[honking]

[gunshots]

[Bystander] Oh my god, oh no!

[eNCA Anchor] Police have launched a massive manhunt

following a deadly attack on a fully loaded taxi.

[Mariana Van Zeller] A quick search online brings up dozens

of videos and news clips that paint a gruesome portrait of

the industry.

[eNCA Reporter] This latest incident has highlighted the

problem of taxi violence.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Rival taxi syndicates torch each

other's vehicles.

[gunshots]

Shootouts are common.

[Mariana Van Zeller] And for some taxi bosses hiring hitmen

to take out their competition

is the fastest way to higher profits.

[SABC Reporter] Streets have become hunting grounds for

assassins involved in an ongoing taxi feud.

[gunshots]

[Yanda] Taxi people only believe in one thing,

they believe that in order for you to control this,

you must kill this person. You know?

Even the last incident, I had one bullet, AK47,

stuck in my head.

[Mariana Van Zeller] No.

[Yanda] Those are the scars as you can see.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, wow. I see it, yeah.

And the people that shot at you, were they hired hitmen?

[chatter]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you always feel on edge when

you're here in your place?

[Yanda] Always, because whenever I'm here, I'm not safe.

I always have my firearm.

This is my baby.

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, if you were to leave right now

and walk outside without your bodyguards, what would happen?

How long do you think you'd last before somebody tried

to shoot at you?

[Yanda] Not more than 15 minutes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow.

That's a crazy way to live, like that.

[Yanda] Yeah.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yanda's rivals, the people who he says

have hired hitmen to kill him,

have their base just around the corner,

and he wants to show me what happens

when he gets close to their turf.

This feels a lot more unprotected,

we're not surrounded by your taxis.

[Yanda] Yes, yes, yes.

That side, that's where, if we go there, anything can happen.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Shall we stay here?

[Yanda] No, let's come a little bit.

Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm with you, I'll do whatever

you say is safe.

[Yanda] As you can see, those taxis parked there.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, yeah.

All the vans over there, that, it's another parking lot.

And that's the other, that's his rivals, the other taxi

association and the people who, he says,

have been trying to kill him.

[Yanda] Yes, that's correct.

Some are coming.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, yeah, they all came out with

their own guns.

This is so crazy like one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight armed guys walking right towards us.

[Mariana Van Zeller] That is crazy,

so now they seem to be talking.

[Yanda] But you can see that they're not happy.

[Mariana Van Zeller] No.

I'm in South Africa with a taxi boss,

facing down his rivals,

rivals he says have hired a hit squad to take him out.

Are we poking the bear a little bit too much here?

Are we?

[Yanda] Yes, kind of, but this is our daily life.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah, he's waving us away

saying go, go, go.

So they're obviously not happy that we were there.

I mean, I can see how things can change really fast.

[Yanda] Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] And this can become bad.

[Yanda] Oh, anytime.

[Mariana Van Zeller] The taxi business accounts for nearly

half of all assassinations in South Africa.

And it's become a breeding ground for hitmen.

How easy is it to hire inkabi here?

[Yanda] Very easy.

In fact, they come to you and ask for a job.

Is there anyone we can kill for you?

[Mariana Van Zeller] No! That's happened?

[Yanda] Yeah, that happens.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Have you ever hired a hitman?

[Yanda] Yes, I have.

[Mariana Van Zeller] To kill somebody else?

[laughing]

[Yanda] To do the same thing that they're doing to me.

[Mariana Van Zeller] You were trying to kill the person who

was trying to kill you?

[Yanda] Yes, that's correct.

[Mariana Van Zeller] It seems to be a bit of a cycle, right?

Because somebody tries to kill you,

you try to kill somebody else.

And it seems like it's a never ending cycle of violence.

[Yanda] That's how it's been happening and I don't think

anyone can be able to stop this.

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's a never ending cycle of violence

that Yanda knows all too well.

But when I ask him if he could connect me with a hitman,

he says no.

[Yanda] 'Cause I have got a lot of enemies.

I'm their number one target. I'm not safe.

[Mariana Van Zeller] What he did tell me was this,

some taxi bosses have a side hustle

running networks of assassins

that they hire out for high paying hits

on whistleblowers, business leaders and politicians.

We're joining an elite anti-gang unit on a raid

as they close in on one of these assassin networks.

We're heading for a house that is believed to belong to

a taxi boss.

It's a convoy of about 20 cars and about 35 men.

We're in one of Durban's vast urban slums,

created during the country's era of forced racial segregation

known as apartheid.

It was a violent system designed to keep Black South Africans

in poverty, and its dark legacy remains.

[Mariana Van Zeller] As we pull up, the SWAT team

storms the house.

[speaking native language]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Look, look, oh yeah, do you see them?

[speaking native language]

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's right here. Follow me.

[Dina] Somebody has a breaching tool!

[Mariana Van Zeller] So they're breaching the door right now.

Okay. So he said that, that we can't go close right.

[speaking native language]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, wow.

[speaking foreign language]

[Mariana Van Zeller] There's a dozen men and they're sort of

securing the premise, watching all windows and access points.

I'm gonna go behind you, yeah?

[♪ intense dramatic music]

[Dina] Clear? Clear?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Is it clear?

It seems to be clear right now.

So they have the suspects here on the floor, right here.

And they're still searching.

[Dina] Is the rifle there?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So far they've recovered three

firearms and I believe they have one more suspect

being taken out now.

The police tell me the suspected hitman was caught

with an illegal automatic weapon

and was dressed in the uniform of a private security company

which I've heard is a disguise that hitmen here often use.

That's because in South Africa licensed security guards,

like Yanda's men, are allowed to carry fully-automatic firearms

not available to the average person.

Oh, so that's the assault rifle?

[Cop] Assault rifle.

[Mariana Van Zeller] What kind is it?

[Mariana Van Zeller] How do they get their hands on these guns?

[Mariana] South Africa is awash with illegal firearms,

more than two million of them,

and they're fueling the assassination epidemic,

[gunshot]

unlicensed weapons are harder for the police to trace,

which makes it easier for the assassins to do their work.

Globally, assassins are known to use car bombs,

IEDs, and poison.

But firearms are their weapon of choice.

So, if i want to find an active hitman, my best bet

is to follow the trail of illegal guns.

I head north to the outskirts of Johannesburg to meet a

contact who can help.

Rudy?

[Rudy] Rudy.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Come on in.

So you tell me how to get, how to go, right?

[Mariana Van Zeller] This guy that we're meeting,

what can you tell me about him?

Is he...

[Mariana] Oh, so he buys and sells weapons to people?

- Now? - Yeah.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay. So let's put cameras down,

guys, we're getting close.

The organizer, who we'll call Vusi, is running late.

And when he finally arrives, he explained why.

Okay. So, um, you went to the police station, is that right?

Why?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So the, the 9mm,

you got that from the police?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Holy [bleep].

Vusi tells me that he has bought dozens of handguns

from the police.

His source for heavy weapons is equally shocking.

[Mariana Van Zeller] You get them from the military?

[Mariana Van Zeller] And what kind of weapons are you,

we, talking about?

[Mariana Van Zeller] The R5 is the same model assault rifle

I saw the police confiscate from a suspected hitman.

Most of your clients use it for which, for what?

[Mariana Van Zeller] We really want to meet an inkabi,

an, a hitman who is currently active.

Do you know anyone that you could introduce us to?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Unfortunately, his assassin

turns us down.

But I get lucky.

Another local source comes through with an introduction.

This is it.

After many weeks trying to get a hitman to talk to us,

it looks like we finally have one who has agreed.

It's still surreal to me that this profession even exists,

that someone kills for a living.

[gunshot]

I'd feel more comfortable if

assassins remained a Hollywood trope.

With their cool detachment from death.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Their effortless mastery of weapons.

And their impressive old testament knowledge.

[Jules Winnfield] And I will strike down upon thee

with great vengeance.

[gunshots]

[Vincent] I do this for a living.

[Mariana Van Zeller] But the reality is much less slick.

And in a way, perhaps more scary.

[footsteps]

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, Jojo, right?

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's okay if I call you Jojo?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Well, how did you start?

How did you get into this business?

[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm in South Africa investigating

the world of professional assassins.

Jojo, did you go to school?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] And how many people do you think

you've killed in your life?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Close to 30 people?

[Mariana Van Zeller] How much do you get paid per hit?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So that's about $1,400, more or less.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Who gets the rest?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, how many people do you work with?

[Mariana Van Zeller] One thing that we've heard is that the

police are sometimes even warned when there's going

to be a killing.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Why do you think the situation is so

bad in South Africa?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Jojo reminds me of some of the

other killers I've met, mostly young, always poor,

driven to crime because they believe

it's the only choice they have.

[Mariana Van Zeller] In Mexico, these young men saw it

as a shockingly normal career path.

[Mariana Van Zeller] In Amsterdam, this hitman grew up

in a violent drug-dealing family.

[Mariana Van Zeller] They're all killers?

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's a grim reality.

And as I heard in Los Angeles, too, it often starts young.

How old were you the first time?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you mind me asking what your parents did?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Were they killed?

[Mariana Van Zeller] What did you think of the person that

killed your parents?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, you do realize that you're doing

the same thing to other kids, right?

You had a really hard life because your parents were killed

and you're basically doing the same thing to other children.

[Mariana Van Zeller] You never thought about this?

[Mariana Van Zeller] But are they?

Do you consider yourself a bad person?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh, yeah, I mean, it was a...

it is horrible what he does.

It is horrible, horrible.

It's the worst thing you can do as a human being is to take

another human being's life.

Um, but at the same time, you hear his story and you can

understand how people fall into this pattern and this

cycle of violence of his parents being killed and then

himself becoming a killer.

And as controversial as this may sound,

I felt sorry for him, yeah.

But I, you know, I feel more sorry for the people that he's

killing, and for the families of the people that he's

killing, of course.

But, yeah, it's a really, really hard one.

[chatter]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Still, the next stop on this journey

is clear,

if I really want to understand assassins,

I need to understand the damage they do.

[sighing]

[sighing]

[Johanna Phenya] I heard the gunshots.

Then I started panicking.

I rushed outside.

That's when I found him.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Johanna Phenya's husband, Eric,

was assassinated in October of 2022.

Witnesses say two hitmen opened fire on Eric's car

minutes after he dropped his children off at school.

[Johanna Phenya] I still have flashbacks of

him lying in the car.

With the bullet holes.

You know, I tried to call his name, you know,

"Sweetie, wake up" like, and like he...

[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

[crying]

Johanna and Eric ran a technology company that was

working with the government on a project when they noticed

a government official trying to steal funds.

Johanna says her husband reported the fraud to the police

and then testified against the official.

His honesty proved fatal.

Johanna and her children are now in hiding,

afraid the hitmen will return to kill them.

[Johanna Phenya] And my daughter was like,

"Mama, what kind of a life are we living?"

Because after we buried my husband,

they were still following us.

They went to their school.

[Johanna Phenya] I, I miss my best friend.

[waves crashing]

[Mariana Van Zeller] There's some nice houses here, huh?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Jojo wasn't involved in Eric's killing.

But as I ride with him through Durban,

I'm very aware of the parallels.

So, if you do have a target who would live in a

neighborhood like this, how would you go about it?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Wait, dressed as police?

How do you get a police uniform? Is that easy?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do they know what it's for?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, is that your preferred method?

- Right here? - Yes. You know.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Have you ever shot women and children?

[Mariana] But the kids were there in the house as well?

[Jojo] I don't, I don't.

[children laughing]

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's hard to hear these details and

not think about what Johanna and her children

are now going through.

But it's telling that she doesn't blame the hitmen.

[Johanna Phenya] They could have done something about it.

[siren]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Following Eric's assassination,

the police tracked down the hitmen.

They found the cars they drive and an address where they're

known to frequent.

[Johanna Phenya] They know the suspects and

they're not doing anything.

[Mariana Van Zeller] So nobody has been arrested.

Nothing has happened to anyone?

[Johanna Phenya] No.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you think that it's related to the

business deal, the, the contract that you...

[Johanna Phenya] Yeah.

[Mariana Van Zeller] For sure?

[Johanna Phenya] 100%, 100%.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Time and again, this is what we've heard.

[Mariana Van Zeller] So the, that 9mm,

you got that from the police?

[Mariana Van Zeller] But I want to understand how deep

the corruption goes.

And for that, I need to speak to someone on the inside.

He told us to meet him in P6 and hopefully he'll be there.

[♪ dramatic music]

Torrance?

What you're doing is not only risky, but incredibly brave.

[♪ slow ominous music]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Because there's so much risk in doing

this, why did you want to talk to us?

[Mariana Van Zeller] This is Torrance,

it's not his real name.

He spent over 25 years in the South African police service.

[Torrance] Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Have you seen that's happening?

[Mariana Van Zeller] With your own eyes? Like you saw it.

[Mariana Van Zeller] They know full well that these are

assassinations, that people are gonna be murdered?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you know police officers who

also became hit men?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, they work for the hitmen, and in

some cases, they are hitmen themselves.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Wherever murder goes unpunished,

contract killings become a tool of the powerful.

A way to protect corrupt interests.

That's true in Mexico when drug cartels slay journalists.

[BBC Reporter] Four journalists have been killed in Mexico

in just the past two months.

[Mariana Van Zeller] In the Amazon when illegal loggers

kill activists.

[Al Jazeera Reporter] A Peruvian environmentalist and

three other community leaders have been killed in a region

bordering Brazil.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Or in the Netherlands when drug gangs

silence witnesses before a trial.

[News Reporter] Mafia style murders in the Netherlands has

led to questions about whether the drug gangs are threatening

the rule of law.

[Mariana Van Zeller] The fear of assassination becomes a

powerful tool of control.

[sirens]

Especially when the institutions supposed to be

fighting back are in on the take.

This is not just a handful of cops, that are corrupt.

You're talking about systemic corruption.

How far up do you think the corruption actually goes

in South Africa?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Why not?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, every single person we spoke to for

the story has mentioned police corruption.

This is Bheki Cele,

South Africa's minister of police.

[Bheki Cele] Your job is to enforce the law!

[Mariana Van Zeller] He was once an activist who spent

time in the same prison as Nelson Mandela,

and survived an assassination attempt

at hands of the Apartheid regime.

We've heard of police selling guns,

police being involved in assassination plots.

It's systemic corruption.

What do you say to that?

[Bheki Cele] I think, the...

[Bheki Cele] There are very, very corrupt and dangerous,

dangerous cops.

But that number does not

surpass the number of good police.

That there are many good cops.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Some of the things that we've heard is

that the police have been clearing the area

for assassinations to take place.

Renting their own uniforms

for the hitmen to disguise themselves as police.

It's more than just corruption.

It's that they are actually actively involved

in these killings, in these assassinations.

[Bheki Cele] And it's not denied.

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, you have knowledge that

this is happening?

[Bheki Cele] Exactly. No doubt about that.

People are dying here.

[Mariana Van Zeller] In 2016, South Africa created a special

task force to address its assassination crisis.

Since then, Bheki Cele says 337 assassins have been arrested.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Well, that's an enormous number,

but that doesn't make you feel any safer to think that those

are the people that have been arrested, so you can only

imagine how many are out there.

[Bheki Cele] There are many of the murderers about.

But it, it would be unfair to say that government is

not fighting back on this course.

Have we won? No.

Are we doing something? Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-huh. Okay, very fair.

Minister, one more question.

You have fought hard for democracy in this country.

You yourself were an activist.

You were arrested while fighting for democracy

in this country.

Is this the democracy that you envisioned, when you have

widespread and systemic corruption like you said,

but also when people try to fight it, they can be killed?

[Mariana Van Zeller] I spent time with, uh, this woman.

And it's a story I will never forget.

Her name is Johanna Phenya.

I'm with Bheki Cele,

South Africa's minister of police.

Her husband and her started exposing corruption within

the government and started receiving death threats.

She went to the police, gave them all the evidence.

The police did nothing.

And a few weeks later, her husband was killed.

So what would you say to people like Johanna?

And there are many of them out there.

[Bheki Cele] Well, South Africa has a very high

degree of murders.

But there are many of them

that have been prevented to be hit.

Unfortunately, those stories

don't make their way to the media.

[Mariana Van Zeller] So, you know about this case?

[Bheki Cele] I have heard about it. Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Because I think the message that it sends

is more than just killing one person.

It sends a message of fear.

[Bheki Cele] No. You can't accept that.

The efforts, let me admit, not adequate.

It's not enough.

Yes, we have a problem. But we are fighting it.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Ultimately though, fighting

this black market is more difficult than most.

There's no product to bust, no supply chain to track,

just a simple agreement between a corrupt client and a willing

contractor desperate enough to be selling the unthinkable.

Johanna, do you think that the people that did this,

do you think they're aware of what they did?

Or the suffering?

[Johanna Phenya] No. They don't care.

They don't care. They are just hitmen.

They are just, they are working.

And for them, it's to make money.

[gunshots]

[Mariana Van Zeller] I sense that the only way Jojo and

some of the other hitmen I've met can justify the savagery

of their work is to convince themselves that they have

no other choice.

That there's no going back.

[Mariana Van Zeller] In time, killing becomes the only thing

they know.

Whether that's in South Africa, Mexico, or Los Angeles.

Would you want to get out of this if there was another way

of making as much money?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Why not?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So you're not just saying this because

we've got cameras, you actually feel this way?

[♪ dramatic eerie music]

[Mariana Van Zeller] In South Africa, hitmen perform

a traditional ritual,

bathing in blood and bile,

to protect themselves from the spirits

of the people they've murdered.

[Mariana Van Zeller] I can't imagine choosing a life like

the one Jojo has chosen.

[gunshot]

Assassins wield the power of life and death.

But they are also vulnerable,

expendable and infinitely replaceable.

They are part of a culture of killing that grows in places

where corruption and greed rule.

Places that have no respect for the rule of law.

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's a vicious cycle.

When assassins kill, they do more than silence a person.

They silence the truth,

instill fear,

embolden the corrupt and powerful,

and leave the poor with fewer and fewer choices.

Captioned by Cotter Media Group.