4 ms·

Conversations with a hit man

151 points by gmays 1y ago

shermantanktop 1y ago
[flagged]
- tomhow 1y ago
  > I quit before I got to anything interesting This is the kind of shallow dismissal we don't want on HN.
  - therein 1y ago
    I think it exceeds that bar. If he had said "TLDR" and ended it there, sure but he approached it with humor and with a few quips I found relatively eloquent. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with that. He is humorously criticizing the author's artistic choices. I think he did it pleasantly enough, how else do we want this to be done on HN?
    - n4r9 1y ago
      In my opinion it's a shallow and tangential post. If you're going to comment on aesthetics over substance, at least caveat your comments with that and do it thoughtfully.
      - stronglikedan 1y ago
        And here I am clicking dead comment links to read tangential posts. How about leave it like it is, where tangential posts can be hidded/flagged/killed but still available to those who want to read them. No one likes a gatekeeper.
        n4r9 1y ago
        I'm fine with leaving it like it is and didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Just saying that a tangential post has a better chance of staying alive if it's thoughtful.
    - jajko 1y ago
      Is bored teenager approach "humorous" and "pleasant enough"? Not really, au contraire
    - pvg 1y ago
      criticizing the author's artistic choices. There's no mention of 'artistic choices', it's just self-congratulation on one's personal choice to not-read. A perfectly valid choice but it's HN-offtopic since it's hard to square 'curious conversation' with 'trumpeting one's incuriosity'.
keiferski 1y ago
Interesting story, worth reading if you’re interested in crime and corruption in the South circa 1960-1980. The atmosphere reminded me of the first season of True Detective, also set in Louisiana.
- genewitch 1y ago
  As someone who lives here now, the corruption is still alive and well. We're - the citizens - currently fighting against having CO2 "pumped in via pipes" and injected into "geological formations". Every citizen in the state gets their water from a well. Injecting refuse "CO2" into the ground will contaminate our water supply; but as the person at the meeting i went to on Monday said, "When there's money involved the politicians stop thinking about the citizens." I don't know. I don't really like it here, but my kid's family live here. And on the other side of the coin, where isn't there corruption?
  - akudha 1y ago
    If there are humans somewhere, that place is going to have some level of corruption. I suppose a more practical way is to look at relative levels of corruption. Countries like Singapore, Norway etc have lower levels of corruption (at least according to various rankings)
  - giggyhack 1y ago
    There are plenty of places outside of Louisiana with public stakeholder processes in place before some shenanigans like this happen. There may be some mild form of "corruption" however you define it, but my experience is that wealthy blue state politics is a little less shitty.
  - amy_petrik 1y ago
    >Injecting refuse "CO2" into the ground will contaminate our water supply; That sounds crooked as hell, sorry to hear. Far as I am concerned, the only person who carbonates my family's water is ME and maybe coca cola. This twisted, corrupted government bureaucrats taking kickbacks to make my drinking water carbonated, the insult of it all.
RickJWagner 1y ago
Nicely written, and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing, OP.
Communitivity 1y ago
This brings back memories. I enjoyed following the travels described in the She's a Flight Risk series. I never did quite buy that it was a hoax either, though perhaps I am too gullible. If Isabella V. was real, then I hope she's chilling on a tropical beach in Buenos Aires, or somewhere else.
- fipar 1y ago
  She'll need a lot of help from climate change before Buenos Aires gets a tropical beach though :)
Neywiny 1y ago
This was a good read. I'm not sure I'm fully appreciating its role on this site specifically, but it's worth it nonetheless
garaetjjte 1y ago
Eh, he's old man sitting in prison probably spinning tales to anybody who will listen. He didn't tell them anything that wasn't publicly available, and on details that they needed to dig for into archives actually contradicts them ("Imagine that. Nobody’s ever seen him." about Rick, but he appeared before grand jury). Neither do they explain why such apparently notorious criminal would appear in the investigation only under alias in this case, but not in the many others mentioned (and why nobody that previously saw him as Rick noticed).
- hattmall 1y ago
  Yeah, was there no physical description of Rick Roberts? Did the other guys not know Thompson? If he was friends with Marcello it seems like he would be well known.
  - IAmBroom 1y ago
    He's Keyser Soze. Duh.
crossroadsguy 1y ago
I found an article[1] which apparently relates to this hitman (even if it's not my doubt doesn't depend on this specific person). So is this how it works? A murderer can strike a "deal" with the state and the judge can do jackshit about it? And what is that deal? That you make us work less to prove your did the crime and you just confess and we will give you ¼ or ½ or hell one tenth of the sentence? [1] https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/crime/2016/03/30/hitman-pleads-guilty-manslaughter-1979-murder/82432434/ https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/crime/2016/03/30/...
- snypher 1y ago
  This is like the outrage with the bryan kohberger case. A defendant shouldn't be able to plead not guilty, then switch to a guilty plea to avoid sentencing repercussions.
toomanyrichies 1y ago
https://archive.ph/UneK9 https://archive.ph/UneK9

151 points by gmays 1y ago

shermantanktop 1y ago

[flagged]

tomhow 1y ago
> I quit before I got to anything interesting This is the kind of shallow dismissal we don't want on HN.
- therein 1y ago
  I think it exceeds that bar. If he had said "TLDR" and ended it there, sure but he approached it with humor and with a few quips I found relatively eloquent. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with that. He is humorously criticizing the author's artistic choices. I think he did it pleasantly enough, how else do we want this to be done on HN?
  - n4r9 1y ago
    In my opinion it's a shallow and tangential post. If you're going to comment on aesthetics over substance, at least caveat your comments with that and do it thoughtfully.
    - stronglikedan 1y ago
      And here I am clicking dead comment links to read tangential posts. How about leave it like it is, where tangential posts can be hidded/flagged/killed but still available to those who want to read them. No one likes a gatekeeper.
      - n4r9 1y ago
        I'm fine with leaving it like it is and didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Just saying that a tangential post has a better chance of staying alive if it's thoughtful.
  - jajko 1y ago
    Is bored teenager approach "humorous" and "pleasant enough"? Not really, au contraire
  - pvg 1y ago
    criticizing the author's artistic choices. There's no mention of 'artistic choices', it's just self-congratulation on one's personal choice to not-read. A perfectly valid choice but it's HN-offtopic since it's hard to square 'curious conversation' with 'trumpeting one's incuriosity'.

keiferski 1y ago

Interesting story, worth reading if you’re interested in crime and corruption in the South circa 1960-1980. The atmosphere reminded me of the first season of True Detective, also set in Louisiana.

genewitch 1y ago
As someone who lives here now, the corruption is still alive and well. We're - the citizens - currently fighting against having CO2 "pumped in via pipes" and injected into "geological formations". Every citizen in the state gets their water from a well. Injecting refuse "CO2" into the ground will contaminate our water supply; but as the person at the meeting i went to on Monday said, "When there's money involved the politicians stop thinking about the citizens." I don't know. I don't really like it here, but my kid's family live here. And on the other side of the coin, where isn't there corruption?
- akudha 1y ago
  If there are humans somewhere, that place is going to have some level of corruption. I suppose a more practical way is to look at relative levels of corruption. Countries like Singapore, Norway etc have lower levels of corruption (at least according to various rankings)
- giggyhack 1y ago
  There are plenty of places outside of Louisiana with public stakeholder processes in place before some shenanigans like this happen. There may be some mild form of "corruption" however you define it, but my experience is that wealthy blue state politics is a little less shitty.
- amy_petrik 1y ago
  >Injecting refuse "CO2" into the ground will contaminate our water supply; That sounds crooked as hell, sorry to hear. Far as I am concerned, the only person who carbonates my family's water is ME and maybe coca cola. This twisted, corrupted government bureaucrats taking kickbacks to make my drinking water carbonated, the insult of it all.

RickJWagner 1y ago

Nicely written, and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing, OP.

Communitivity 1y ago

This brings back memories. I enjoyed following the travels described in the She's a Flight Risk series. I never did quite buy that it was a hoax either, though perhaps I am too gullible. If Isabella V. was real, then I hope she's chilling on a tropical beach in Buenos Aires, or somewhere else.

fipar 1y ago
She'll need a lot of help from climate change before Buenos Aires gets a tropical beach though :)

Neywiny 1y ago

This was a good read. I'm not sure I'm fully appreciating its role on this site specifically, but it's worth it nonetheless

garaetjjte 1y ago

Eh, he's old man sitting in prison probably spinning tales to anybody who will listen. He didn't tell them anything that wasn't publicly available, and on details that they needed to dig for into archives actually contradicts them ("Imagine that. Nobody’s ever seen him." about Rick, but he appeared before grand jury). Neither do they explain why such apparently notorious criminal would appear in the investigation only under alias in this case, but not in the many others mentioned (and why nobody that previously saw him as Rick noticed).

hattmall 1y ago
Yeah, was there no physical description of Rick Roberts? Did the other guys not know Thompson? If he was friends with Marcello it seems like he would be well known.
- IAmBroom 1y ago
  He's Keyser Soze. Duh.

crossroadsguy 1y ago

I found an article[1] which apparently relates to this hitman (even if it's not my doubt doesn't depend on this specific person). So is this how it works? A murderer can strike a "deal" with the state and the judge can do jackshit about it? And what is that deal? That you make us work less to prove your did the crime and you just confess and we will give you ¼ or ½ or hell one tenth of the sentence? [1] https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/crime/2016/03/30/hitman-pleads-guilty-manslaughter-1979-murder/82432434/ https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/crime/2016/03/30/...

snypher 1y ago
This is like the outrage with the bryan kohberger case. A defendant shouldn't be able to plead not guilty, then switch to a guilty plea to avoid sentencing repercussions.

toomanyrichies 1y ago

https://archive.ph/UneK9 https://archive.ph/UneK9