My guess is that in a &quot;professional&quot; organized crime family if you have to whack someone it means someone (possibly yourself) screwed something up very badly. Killing someone is extremely high risk and is probably regarded as sloppy operations.<p>It sort of mirrors the way governments have gotten more advanced with repressive and tyrannical techniques. Unsophisticated governments will whack people or arrest them and throw them in bottomless pit prisons, etc. Sophisticated totalitarian regimes use nudge theory and very advanced astroturf type propaganda, and when they have to &#x27;whack&#x27; someone they <i>discredit them</i> and assassinate their <i>character</i> and <i>credibility</i> rather than martyring them with a physical attack. Much cleaner, more efficient, and in the end far more effective.