A fixer or sometimes cleaner, is someone who carries out assignments for or is skillful at solving problems for others. The term has different meanings in different contexts. In
British usage the term is neutral, meaning "the sort of person who solves problems and gets things done".
In journalism, a fixer is a local person who expedites the work of a
correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
working in a foreign country. Use in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
implies that methods used to conceal their clients' identities or potential scandals are almost certainly of questionable legality, if not morality. A fixer who disposes of bodies or "cleans up" physical
evidence of crime is often more specifically called a cleaner. In sports, the term describes someone who makes (usually illegal) arrangements to
manipulate or pre-arrange the outcome of a sporting contest.
Facilitator
Fixers may primarily use legal means, such as
lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...
s and
payoffs, to accomplish their ends, or they may carry out unlawful activities. The
White House Plumbers have been described as fixers for
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
; their methods included
break-ins and burglary. Fixers who specialize in disposing of evidence or bodies are called "cleaners", like the character of Victor "The Cleaner" in the film ''
La Femme Nikita'', or the fictional Jonathan Quinn, subject of the
Brett Battles
Brett Battles is an American author from Los Angeles, California.
Publishing History
Brett Battles' first novel, ''The Cleaner'' (2007), introduced recurring character Jonathan Quinn, freelance intelligence operative. "The Cleaner" was nomina ...
novel ''The Cleaner''.
In Britain, a fixer is a
commercial consultant for business improvement, whereas in an American context a fixer is often an associate of a powerful person who carries out difficult,
undercover
To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...
, or stealth actions, or extricates a client out of personal or legal trouble.
A fixer may freelance, like
Judy Smith
Judy A. Smith (born October 27, 1958) is an American crisis manager, lawyer, author, and television producer. She is known as the founder, president, and CEO of the crisis management firm Smith & Company. Her work in crisis management is the in ...
, a well-known American
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
"crisis consultant" whose career provided inspiration for the popular 2012 television series
''Scandal''. More commonly a fixer works for a single employer, under a title such as "attorney" or "
bodyguard
A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, ...
", which does not typically describe the kinds of services that they provide.
Sports match fixer
In sport, when a match fixer arranges a preordained outcome of a sporting or athletic contest, the motivation is often gambling, and the fixer is often employed by
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
. In the
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate l ...
, for instance,
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...
players became involved with a
gambling syndicate
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three eleme ...
and agreed to lose the
1919 World Series
The 1919 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1919 season. The 16th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. ...
in exchange for payoffs. In another example, in 1975,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
mobster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
Anthony "Fat Tony" Ciulla of the
Winter Hill Gang
The Winter Hill Gang is a loose confederation of organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. The gang members and leadership are predominantly Irish-American and Italian-American descent.
The organization itself derives its ...
was identified as the fixer who routinely bribed
jockey
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...
s to throw
horse races
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
.
Other insiders may also be fixers, as in the case of
veterinarian
A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
Mark Gerard Mark Gerard (6 October 1934 – 21 June 2011) was an American equine veterinarian. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Cornell University.
As a student, he worked as an exercise rider for, among others, Hall of Fame trainer J ...
, who, in September 1978, was convicted of fraud for "masterminding a horse-racing scandal that involved switching two
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
s" so that he could cash in on a
long-shot bet.
Journalism aide
In journalism, a fixer is someone, often a local journalist, hired by a foreign correspondent or a media company to help arrange a story. Fixers will most often act as translators and guides, and will help to arrange local interviews that the correspondent would not otherwise have access to. They help to collect information for the story and sometimes play a crucial role in the outcome. Fixers are rarely credited, and often put themselves in danger, especially in regimes where they might face consequences from an oppressive government for exposing iniquities the state may want to censor.
In modern journalism, these aides are often the prime risk mitigators within a journalist's team, making crucial decisions for the reporter. According to journalist Laurie Few, "You don't have time not to listen (to the fixer)", and anybody who disregards a fixer's advice "is going to step on a landmine, figurative or actual".
Throughout the last 20 years, fixers have ranged from civilians to local journalists within the regions of conflict. They are rarely credited and paid menially, which has begun a conversation for the compensation rights of these individuals. According to statistics gathered from the
Global Investigative Journalism Network
The Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) is "an international association of nonprofit organizations that support, promote and produce investigative journalism." The association is headquartered in the United States, and its membership i ...
, the base pay for a fixer's time ranged from US$50–400 per day.
A map based on publicly accessible research data shows a visual representation of data collected from various studies conducted on both fixers and their journalist counterparts from over 70 countries. Gathered from the
Global Reporting Centre
The Global Reporting Centre (GRC) is an independent news organization focused on innovating global journalism, based out of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its model works by pairing scholars, ...
, the survey demographic map had 132 respondents from North America, 101 from Europe, 23 from South America, Africa and
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...
, 63 from Asia and 9 from Australia.
In popular culture
Numerous films and several songs have been named ''
The Fixer'', and, as a genre, illustrate the different meanings of the term. Most commonly, they refer to the kind of person who carries out illicit activities on behalf of someone else. For example, the 2008 British television series ''
The Fixer'' is about "a
renegade
Renegade or The Renegade may refer to:
Aircraft
*Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design
*Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design
*Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design
Games
*''Command ...
group acting outside the law to bring order to the spiraling criminal activity in the country".
* The 1993 film ''
Point of No Return
The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...
'' features
Harvey Keitel as a cleaner who is called in to kill everyone and destroy the bodies after a mission goes awry.
* The 1994 film ''
Pulp Fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...
'' features Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolfe, a notorious fixer and cleaner, who helps the protagonists dispose of a corpse.
* The main antagonist of the 2000 novel ''
Void Moon
''Void Moon'' is the ninth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly. It was released in the UK in 2000 and was the third of Connelly's books not to follow the character Harry Bosch. It was also his first novel to feature a female protag ...
'' is a near-psychotic fixer who cleans and investigates a murder in his employer's casino.
* A
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
documentary ''
Alex Polizzi: The Fixer'' features a fixer in the benign British sense – a consultant who helps to turn around failing businesses.
* The 2000 crime picture ''
The Way of the Gun
''The Way of the Gun'' is a 2000 American neo-Western heist action thriller film directed and written by Christopher McQuarrie in his directorial debut. It is about two low-level criminals who kidnap a woman pregnant with the child of a mafia mon ...
'' has James Caan as a fixer known as Joe Sarno, a "Bagman".
* The 2007 film ''
Michael Clayton
''Michael Clayton'' is a 2007 American legal thriller film written and directed by Tony Gilroy in his feature directorial debut and starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack. Clooney plays lawyer Michael Clayton, w ...
'' stars
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards, one for his acting and the ot ...
as a fixer who works for a prestigious law firm and uses his connections and knowledge of legal loopholes to help his clients.
* In Canadian writer
Linden MacIntyre's award-winning 2009 novel ''
The Bishop's Man'', the
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
is a guilt-ridden
Roman Catholic priest and former fixer for the
Diocese of Antigonish
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish ( la, Dioecesis Antigonicensis) is a Latin Rite diocese in Nova Scotia, Canada. Its current diocesan ordinary is Wayne Joseph Kirkpatrick.
History
The Diocese was established on 22 September 1844, u ...
named Fr. Duncan MacAskill. After years of quietly resolving potential scandals involving the misdeeds of Diocesan priests, Fr. MacAskill has been assigned by
his Bishop to a remote rural parish on
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, and ordered to maintain a low profile. While at his new parish, Fr. MacAskill begins spiritually counselling the son of a childhood friend, who suspects that his son was molested by the previous parish priest. Deeply moved by the boy's pain, Fr. MacAskill begins to seriously question his own past and the morality of acting as a fixer of such cases. MacIntyre's novel was inspired by the 2007
sexual abuse scandal in Antigonish diocese.
* In the ABC drama ''
Scandal
A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...
'', the main character
Olivia Pope (portrayed by
Kerry Washington
Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fi ...
) was a fixer and head of Pope and Associates, a crisis management organization that fixed political scandals and
cleaned up crimes. Kerry Washington's character,
Olivia Pope, is partially based on former
George H. W. Bush administration press aide
Judy Smith
Judy A. Smith (born October 27, 1958) is an American crisis manager, lawyer, author, and television producer. She is known as the founder, president, and CEO of the crisis management firm Smith & Company. Her work in crisis management is the in ...
, who serves as a co-executive producer.
* The
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
series ''
House of Cards'' featured
Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper, a fixer for politician Frank Underwood.
* In the
AMC TV series ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited h ...
'', the character
Mike Ehrmantraut
Michael Ehrmantraut () is a fictional character in ''Breaking Bad'' and its spinoff prequel '' Better Call Saul'', portrayed by Jonathan Banks. Mike is a former Philadelphia police officer who works for Gus Fring—and, on occasion, Saul Goo ...
played by
Jonathan Banks was the cleaner for
Gustavo Fring's operations, later reprising the role in the series' prequel spinoff, ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
''.
* The TV series ''
Ray Donovan'' follows the eponymous character, played by
Liev Schrieber, a Los Angeles-based fixer for celebrity clients. The character was inspired by a variety of Hollywood fixers such as
Eddie Mannix
Joseph Edgar Allen John Mannix (February 25, 1891 – August 30, 1963) was an American film studio executive and producer. He is remembered for his work as a "fixer (crime), fixer", who was paid to cover up Hollywood stars' often colorful privat ...
and
Fred Otash Fred Otash (January 6, 1922 – October 5, 1992) was a Los Angeles police officer, private investigator, author, and a WWII Marine veteran, who became known as a Hollywood fixer, while operating as its "most infamous" private detective; he is mos ...
.
* The 2016
Coen brothers
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
' film ''
Hail, Caesar!
''Hail, Caesar!'' is a 2016 period mystery musical black comedy film written, produced, edited and directed by the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. An American-British-Japanese co-production, the film stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehr ...
'', satirizes the American film industry of the 1950s, and is very loosely inspired by
Eddie Mannix
Joseph Edgar Allen John Mannix (February 25, 1891 – August 30, 1963) was an American film studio executive and producer. He is remembered for his work as a "fixer (crime), fixer", who was paid to cover up Hollywood stars' often colorful privat ...
's career as a Hollywood studio executive and fixer.
In the film, actor
Josh Brolin
Joshua James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''The Goonies'' (1985), '' Mimic'' (1997), '' Hollow Man'' (2000), '' Grindhouse'' (2007), '' No Country for Old Men'' (2007), '' American Gan ...
portrayed Mannix, who is shown scrambling to quietly resolve the kidnapping of an
A-list
An A-list actor is a major movie star, or one of the most bankable actors in a film industry.
The A-list is part of a larger guide called ''The Hot List'', which ranks the bankability of 1,400 movie actors worldwide, and has become an industry ...
leading man
A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typica ...
, while battling to keep multiple thinly fictionalized send-ups of real Hollywood scandals of the era out of the
tabloids. Behind it all, however, Mannix depicted as a devout, if sinful and unconventional,
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
family man with two children and a doting homemaker wife named
Connie Mannix (
Alison Pill
Alison Pill (born November 27, 1985) is a Canadian actress. A former child actress, Pill began her career at age 12, appearing in numerous films and television series. She transitioned to adult roles and her breakthrough came with the television ...
).
* The 2016
Romanian drama ''
The Fixer'' and the 2009 documentary ''
Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi'' are each about journalistic fixers.
* In the Ubisoft videogame ''
Watch Dogs
''Watch Dogs'' (stylized as ''WATCH_DOGS'') is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Ubisoft, and developed primarily by its Montreal and Toronto studios using the Disrupt game engine. The series' eponymous first title was rel ...
'', enemy players are known as fixers, and players can get contracts to eliminate other players, or carry out illegal jobs in game.
* In several
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and ...
-themed
tabletop role-playing game
A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...
s such as ''
Shadowrun
''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic in fiction, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime fiction, crime, with ...
'' and
Mike Pondsmith's ''Cyberpunk'', fixers are intermediaries between clients and mercenaries, "well-connected fencers, smugglers, and information brokers who apply their trade on the black market," connecting mercenaries to jobs they prefer to take and other mercenaries in the network they can work with.
Notable fixers
Business
*
Alex Polizzi
Entertainment
*
Eddie Mannix
Joseph Edgar Allen John Mannix (February 25, 1891 – August 30, 1963) was an American film studio executive and producer. He is remembered for his work as a "fixer (crime), fixer", who was paid to cover up Hollywood stars' often colorful privat ...
*
Fred Otash Fred Otash (January 6, 1922 – October 5, 1992) was a Los Angeles police officer, private investigator, author, and a WWII Marine veteran, who became known as a Hollywood fixer, while operating as its "most infamous" private detective; he is mos ...
["The real-life Ray Donovans: Fixers behind Tinseltown's dark secrets", by Tim Walker, ''Independent'', July 14, 2013.]
/ref>
* Anthony Pellicano
Anthony Pellicano (born March 22, 1944) is a former high-profile Los Angeles private investigator and convicted criminal known as a Hollywood fixer. He served a term of thirty months in a federal prison for illegal possession of explosives, fire ...
[
* Howard Strickling][
]
Journalism
* Acquitté Kisembe – Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency.
AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, ...
in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
(missing since 2003)
* Almigdad Mojalli Almigdad Mojalli (c. 1981 – 17 January 2016) was a Yemeni freelance journalist working for the United States media service Voice of America. On 17 January 2016 Mojalli was killed by a Saudi airstrike in a village near Sana'a while attempting to re ...
– Independent freelance fixer/journalist in Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...
( killed in action, 2016)
* Bakhtiyar Haddad - Iraqi fixer for French reporter Stephan Villeneuve (Both killed in action in Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
, 2014)
* Zabihullah Tamanna – Translator for US National Public Radio in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
(killed in action, 2016)
* Ajmal Naqshbandi Ajmal is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
* M. Ajmal, Pakistani film old best actor
* Ajmal Ameer, Indian actor in Tamil and Malayalam film Industries
* Ajmal Kasab, Pakistani terrorist
* Ajmal Khattak, Pakista ...
- Journalist/Fixer in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
. Killed by Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
. (Killed in action, 2011)
* Sayed Agha - Driver/fixer in Afghanistan. Killed by Taliban. (Killed in action, 2011)
Organized crime
* Sidney Korshak["Sidney Korshak, 88, Dies; Fabled Fixer for the Chicago Mob"]
''The New York Times'', January 22, 1996 (Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...
)
* Arnold Rothstein
Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 4, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athletic ...
(Kosher Nostra
Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been referred to variously in media and popular culture as the Jewish Mob, Jewish Mafia, Kosher Mob, K ...
)
* Yoshio Kodama
was a Japanese right-wing ultranationalist and a prominent figure in the rise of organized crime in Japan. The most famous '' kuromaku'', or behind-the-scenes power broker, of the 20th century, he was active in Japan's political arena and crim ...
(Yakuza
, also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...
)
* Hisayuki Machii
, nicknamed the , was the founder of one of Japan's most notorious yakuza gangs, the Tosei-Kai.
Life Early years
According to his widow Yasuyo, Machii was born Jeong Geon-Yeong (정건영/) as the first-generation Korean born in Minami-Sakuma C ...
(Yakuza
, also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...
- Tosei-kai)
Politics and business
* Lucius Cornelius Balbus
* Roy Cohn
Roy Marcus Cohn (; February 20, 1927 – August 2, 1986) was an American lawyer and prosecutor who came to prominence for his role as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Army–McCarthy hearings in 1954, when he assisted McCarth ...
* Konstantin Kilimnik
uk, Костянтин Килимник
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Soviet Union
, death_date =
, death_place =
, citizenship = Ukraine RussiaSoviet Union
, ...
* Keith Schiller
Keith Schiller (born c. 1959) is an American former law enforcement official and security consultant who served as Deputy Assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump and Director of Oval Office Operations. Prior to his appointment in the Trump adm ...
Public relations
* Mike Sitrick
Sitrick and Company is a Los Angeles-based public relations firm founded, in 1989, by its chair and CEO, Michael "Mike" Sitrick. The company has established offices in New York City, San Francisco, Denver, and Washington, DC. Since 2009, the ...
* Judy Smith
Judy A. Smith (born October 27, 1958) is an American crisis manager, lawyer, author, and television producer. She is known as the founder, president, and CEO of the crisis management firm Smith & Company. Her work in crisis management is the in ...
Religion
* Seán Patrick O'Malley
Seán Patrick O'Malley (born June 29, 1944) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church serving as the archbishop of Boston. He is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2006.
Since its ...
, Archbishop of Boston
The Archdiocese of Boston ( la, Archidiœcesis Bostoniensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the New England region of the United States. Its territorial remit encompasses the whole of ...
The Atlantic: Why Does the Catholic Church Keep Failing on Sexual Abuse?
/ref> (Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
)
See also
* Cleaner role in arts and entertainment
* Henchman
A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies pri ...
* Hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may b ...
** Contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
References
{{reflist
Ethically disputed political practices
Journalism terminology
Match fixing
Organized crime activity
Political corruption