Explore every episode of the podcast Hit Man

Even after the book Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors was linked to a triple murder in 1993, the true identity of the author has remained hidden. Rex Feral’s actual name can’t be found in court documents, it’s been redacted from case files, and it’s never come out in public. Until now.

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Just over 25 years after her family was destroyed by her father, Tiffani Horn shares some haunting memories for the first time and how she’s found beauty in the ashes.

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An explosion in the Midwest. Drug dealers getting ripped off in Florida. A complex meth lab. This crime spree is all linked by one man — a former cop who may have been the inspiration for the Hit Man book.

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Rex Feral claims to be a hit man, who states, “If my advice and the proven methods in this book are followed, certainly no one will ever know.” But we found another story.

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Attorneys John Marshall and Howard Siegel, along with the victims' families, go after Paladin Press in an effort to get Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors off the shelves. And a judge makes a landmark decision about whether this how-to guide can be considered an accomplice to murder. 

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Playboy magazine once called Paladin Press “the most dangerous publisher in America.” But the real-life story of the non-fiction press, and the two Vietnam vets who founded it, is stranger than fiction.

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Lawrence Horn is poised to inherit his son's $1.7 million estate, but Millie's surviving family makes moves to block him, using Maryland's Slayer's Rule. Meanwhile, the concurrent criminal investigation tickles the wires. 

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In pursuit of a $1.7 million trust fund, a hitman is hired. He follows two dozen recommendations in Rex Feral’s how-to manual, murders three people, including an 8-year-old child, and almost gets away with it.

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You might not know the name Lawrence T. Horn, but you definitely know his work. Nicknamed “Your Man with the Plan”, the talented engineer is riding high at Hitsville USA, helping to create some of Motown’s greatest hits. One day, while flying first class on a flight to Los Angeles, he meets his match – a determined and beautiful flight attendant named Millie Maree.

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In 1983, the Colorado-based non-fiction publisher, Paladin Press, released a book called Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors. The author, who wrote under the pen name Rex Feral, offered very specific tips for the aspiring contract killer— where to find employment, how much to charge...and how to get away with it.

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