Killer Instinct

There's been a lot of talk of murder going on in these parts. What with the trial of the century taking place in Boston, the tales of cold, calculated and useless killings scatter the pages of my morning newspaper daily. Aaron Hernandez's alleged killing spree, seemingly playing on a continuous news loop, leave me to think about the motive for so much murder.

For Whitey and the boys, killing was an everyday part of their business. And they were running a very fruitful business. It was a simple means to an end. A" do what we say and nobody get's hurt" type of thing, but far too many people got hurt. They ended up dead because killing was their business. It wasn't personal it was business and they were very good at it. What was another kill when you had already killed so many?

So if Whitey's gang killed to keep business going, what was Aaron Hernandez's business? These two men are a lot more alike than one would think. They killed because they could. And they got away with it because they both believed that their "business" made them untouchable. Their money and their "positions" gave them power. Whitey was the ruthless head of a crime organization that nobody wanted to mess with. What we now know is that although their gang had the intimidation factor on the streets covered, they really were untouchable. They had the Fed's in their back pockets. It's amazing what a couple of career Feds will do for unlimited amounts of cash and drugs and what a group of ruthless thugs will do when the system looks the other way.

But Hernandez? He seemingly had it all.

He had been gifted athletically and worked hard physically, then coddled because of his football ability. That kind of ability puts butts in stadium seats and sets advertiser's hearts aflutter which translates into big dollars. So much so, that Hernandez, at the ripe old age of 23, was paid a $40 million dollar king's ransom to show up and play. $12 million of it, just for putting his signature on a piece of paper.

One has to wonder why throw that away?

It is no secret that Hernandez had questionable dealings with bad people. His name entered into the NFL draft with high hopes, but his reputation for trouble preceded him. His appeal was tainted and many teams took a pass on him. They didn't want the trouble. The Pats thought they could change him. They thought that 40 million would rehab his gangsta ways and that he would play nice now that he was a valued member of the team. But 40 million and "NFL star" attached to his name has a funny way of bringing with it hero worship and a feeling of entitlement. It could almost be argued that it made his taste for blood more ravenous.

Both men killed because they could. It's that simple. In Whitey's case, intimidation and Federal backing made him untouchable and he never thought he would need to worry about the consequences. He owned the consequences. Hernandez thought the same thing. If he didn't own the consequences, he could certainly buy them.  He had covered his tracks before, what would make this time different?

Money, power, fame. A lethal combination. And all for what? The thrill of the kill? Look at them now.

I can think of $40 million reasons not to.