Yes, but the counterpoint is that if they let their buddy off the hook and this is later found to be the case, they all end up on a considerably pointier hook.

Yes, but the counterpoint is that if they let their buddy off the hook and this is later found to be the case, they all end up on a considerably pointier hook. Speaking of, "the hook" was what you got in the Ottoman Empire instead of a jury trial. You'd be sat upon a large metal hook until you confessed or died.