Phuket Police Have Arrested 4 People In Connection With The Murder Of Italian Resort Owner

[MILT]

You must be one of them judge-mental Christians

I always have been flabbergasted how cheap it is in this country to have someone "whacked" and even more so how many willing contractors one can find to carry out the job without any scruples. Life has absolutely no value in this realm. And they call themselves Buddhists.

Here is a great bargain also.., or value ..

Professional killers are charging 11,444.27€ a "hit", although members of drug gangs will murder for as little as 228.89€ according to Detective Chief Superintendent John Coles, head of the Metropolitan Police's... Buddhist ?

[Derifo]

I always have been flabbergasted how cheap it is in this country to have someone "whacked" and even more so how many willing contractors one can find to carry out the job without any scruples. Life has absolutely no value in this realm. And they call themselves Buddhists.

Isn't that very sad?

[transam]

Yes I agree too, but can't find an alternative country to move to. Been studying the topic about this. The gab between rich and poor is huge here, no wonder the poor want a piece of the cake too.

In the UK, low life's are killing old ladies in their homes for the rings on their fingers. NOWHERE is safe.

[surangw]

this always seems cheeper than going to court to settle a business difference ( that is until they are found out)

[Beetlejuice]

Following this tread, I think that the local police and also immigration officials should be informed about watching this site and monitoring the ISPs of some of the posters and check their backgrounds and maybe get them deported fast! I am surprised that so many are so well versed about local hit jobs about rates etc....seems like troublemakers in the Kingdom and not knowing when they would be appearing as the main stars in another news about such tragedy.

If you don`t zip the lip about informing on us to the authorities; I`ll make you an offer you can`t refuse.

For only 20 baht my 9 year old nephew is willing to do you over with his pea shooter.

Edited March 19, 2011 by Beetlejuice

[Bobr]

Wow, 50,000 baht is all to have someone wacked??

Not surprisingly it apparently costs more if you want someone who is smart enough not to get caught and drag you down with them. A cheap assassin is like cheap tires; dangerous to the purchaser.

[coralia]

"Mr Butti was due to appear in court in a divorce case"... Suppose someone is framing his business partner, who has nothing to do with the murder?...

Just wondering....

[dude007]

Wow, 50,000 baht is all to have someone wacked??

He could be lying about how much he was paid, if he gets off he could have the rest hidden somewhere. 50k is possible though, I've read about killings for less in the US

Very hard to believe... US is not a banana-state!

[travelingmike]

I always have been flabbergasted how cheap it is in this country to have someone "whacked" and even more so how many willing contractors one can find to carry out the job without any scruples. Life has absolutely no value in this realm. And they call themselves Buddhists.

What an a-hole, it is just as cheap and easy in any of the god worshipping countries in the world, such ignorant generalization. Thailand is nothing but hookers, pedophiles, and people who kill without scruples-all of this can be found in any god worshipping country. Do you actually live in thailand and know any thais personally? If you live here , then what the heck for? Living among a bunch of people calling themselves buddhists must be awful.

[happysanook]

Probably too much information in this thread regarding going rates, locations, methods. Keep that shit to yourself .... there's a lot of sick fuc_ks reading this board.

[WarpSpeed]

Holy crap !! I interviewed with this guy for a construction supervisor position some years ago... Glad the pay was far short of reality or I'd been working for this pond scum, I felt something wasn't right and passed on the offer thankfully as it now turns out ..

[WarpSpeed]

this always seems cheeper than going to court to settle a business difference ( that is until they are found out)

Sadly, here it still may be cheaper ...

[Alexpho]

No wonder these trigger man are so cheap. They are so sloppy. If I had to guess, all the cops needed to do was tracked the phone records. Now I know technology exists to track cell locations that was previously transmitted. So this crime may have been solved by a simple computer wiz on a laptop that knows the program. Amazing.

[gk10002000]

So the man was in town for a divorce court hearing. He also had business issues. How can this be a "good" retirement or relocation? Sounds like he exchanged normal problems in home country for similar problems in Thailand. Sad that he got killed over things, but I shake my head at the involvement in other things. Divorce court? Who? A Thai wife? Somebody met ( i will assume the negative) and that she is Thai, had little before she met him, and now is entitled to divorce money.

[David Barker]

One was carried out 2years ago in Hua Hin for 20K by a man in brown.

[richieudon]

After being in and out of Thailand for 23 years over time I've always heard pr1cks talking about I know this big man and I could make a call and get someone killed for a few baht.

BUT

Thinking about it a few times I always thought to myself if you actually carried out this threat you'd always wind up caught for your actions.

The fantastic Royal Thai Police must really have some persuasive actions with their suspects because who ever gets "interrogated" always seems to squeal.

In cases like this I'm glad they do. It's despicable. Money really is the root of all evil. Ordering the killing of a business partner almost certainly was a money issue. It could have been something else like a woman but I very much doubt it. If it's true and it was ordered then the perpetrators deserve to rot.

Farangs really have to be careful in Thailand. Foreigners don't carry much weight and if they come a cropper it's always big news. I think it's because it's ingrained into Thais from a young age that they are above all other nationalities. Kind of like Thailand being the centre of the earth and not much else goes on around it. I do think though that things will change eventually. The internet has opened many peoples eyes as we're seeing now in the middle east.

Oh my Buddha I am ranting on... time to go to bed....:sleepy:

[Kilgore Trout]

UPDATE:

Phuket Butti murder: Italian business partner charged, hitman still at large

PHUKET: -- Police have arrested the alleged Italian "mastermind" and three others in connection with the shooting murder of resort owner Luciano Butti, 61.

Mr Butti, also Italian, was gunned down while riding a rented motorbike in Pa Khlok on Tuesday night.

Phuket Provincial Police Region 8 Commissioner Lt Gen Kokiat Wongvorachart presented the four suspects at a press conference at Phuket Provincial Police headquarters this morning.

The suspects were named as Denis Kavatassi, from Italy; Somprasong Yongkit, from Krabi; and Ratchanon Sawaree and Somchai Klasuk, both from Phang Nga.

The alleged trigger man, Suchart Nimla-or, and his younger brother, Ekkachai, along with Ponwat Jongrak all remain at large.

Police are now searching for the trio for arrest in connection with the murder.

Kavatassi was a partner with Mr Butti in several business ventures on Phi Phi Don, including Italiano Restaurant and Bar and Ciao Bella restaurant.

The arrests came after police discovered that the last phone call made to Mr Butti before he was murdered came from Somprasong, who was a manager at one of Butti's restaurants on Phi Phi.

Somprasong caved in to pressure after being brought in to Thalang Police Station for questioning and confessed that Mr Kavatassi had paid him to hire a "hit squad" to take out Mr Butti, Lt Gen Kokiet said.

Mr Butti had cheated Kavatassi out of "seven or eight million baht", which angered him, Somprasong told police.

Somprasong phoned Mr Butti on Tuesday and invited him to a meeting at a restaurant in Pa Khlok.

He lured him to the secluded area by telling him that he wanted to discuss the business problems between the two Italians and that he sided with Mr Butti and would help him in the matter, police said.

Mr Butti was in Phuket for a brief stay and was scheduled to appear in court in a divorce case on Wednesday.

After meeting at the restaurant, Mr Butti drove his motorbike back toward Phuket Town as the hitmen assembled and followed the Italian.

Somprasong, driving a white sedan, identified the "mark" to Ratchanon and Ponwat on one motocycle, Somchai on another, and Suchart and Ekkachai on yet another.

The gang closed in and Suchart allegedly shot Mr Butti four times, killing him.

It was initially reported that the trigger-man was a "civil servant" based in Yala, in Thailand's troubled Deep South region.

Three of the four arrested have confessed to their involvement.

Kavatassi is maintaining his innocence.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-03-19

I am just slightly impressed with the Phuket's Finest.... One of the apprehended is singing like mocking bird.... Hey Bravo all the same..

Thanks for the great find on your part also George... Too many facts for this forum, way more fun making up shit..

Sure, in a case where a bunch of nobody poor Thais are being ordered to kill by a westerner, I'm sure the authorities are all over that; what do you think would happen if Kavatasse were a wealthy Thai?

[EyesWideOpen]

A. The price is 10,000 baht

B. This is why I never wanted to be in business here.

Either your Thai competitors, your business partner,

or your loving Thai wife all want to whack you to get

your business. Who needs the grief....... :-)

[Emster23]

Agree you can always pay too much here in Thailand. I also take issue with calling the perp a "Youth". 23 isn't a youth in my book. Should have done like gangs in Mexico, hire underage teens to do the wet work.

[jalansanitwong]

50,000 baht for a hit on a farang seems a little on the high side. A girl in ubon province took out a contract on her newly wed european husband for 30,000 b a few months ago dont know the end result. silly old farang.

Edited March 20, 2011 by jalansanitwong

[dunkin2012]

A. The price is 10,000 baht

B. This is why I never wanted to be in business here.

Either your Thai competitors, your business partner,

or your loving Thai wife all want to whack you to get

your business. Who needs the grief....... :-)

Correct.... I have seen many have been (flat) broke here in Buddhist country. Wife scam and Biz. prartner rip off are very much around. ........... Don't dam*n kill yourself makin' this silly mistake then.

[slipperx]

Hmm well firstly his business partner has not admitted the deed and the 'divorce' case brings in another possible motive for the killing. It may well be the business partner was the instigator or maybe it was someone else - we simply cannot know as we are not party to all the information. Often even when all the information is known the wrong conclusions are reached or(and more especially in Thailand) the wrong conclusions are paid for. Have no confidence in anything you are told or read here in Thailand - lying and cheating is much more commonplace than many other countries and little is actually, in reality, exactly as it seems to be.

Sadly having people killed here IS easy and cheap and far too commonplace. It is useful to examine why that might be. Is it poverty, is it greed, is it a failure of the education system, is it a failing of the politicians, is it a failure of the religious beliefs, is it a failing of the police or the legal system.

It strikes me that Thais are failed by all of these things. Poverty can drive people to extrememes but in this case the manager who is reported to have organised the hit must have been employed and so would not be in poverty compared to most Thais, The education system is a failure on many counts not least that most Thais are not taught to rationalise, being taught to learn parrot fashion is rather more prevailing. Many Thais seem to grow up thinking they are never wrong, do things wrong and just do not understand or do not want to understand their responsibility for their actions or believe the law does not apply to them as they can always buy themselves out of a problem - a function of corruption for which the education system and politcal system are the main supporters by their lack of action to denigrate it - also maybe in part the religion as it is interpreted by some Thais? Many of the police are open to corruption and it seems to be a perk of the job and I have heard reports and often been told that some of the judges can be enticed to arrive at a verdict other than justice and the law would direct.

I have often read how wonderful Thai society is - and there are some lovely aspects to it. However there are many aspects that are deeply flawed and so often lay unexamined because Thais do not like to examine, look at, accept or even think about anything that remotely shows Thais or Thailand in a bad light. Sometimes however it is useful to look at the bad things and try to make them better for otherwise how can any person and by extension, society become better.

Killing someone outside of the law can never be right and there is NO mainstream religion which advocates it - there may be extremeists who twist religious texts for their own ends but the poster who suggests the Muslim religion advocates murder is deluded.

It is time for Thailand to look within itself and start making an example of the people involved and convicted by passing the harshest sentence possible under the law and by publicising the fate of people involved in this and other sorts of crime such as fraud and corruption. Perhaps if the general public begin to understand that Thai society will not suffer this behaviour and is educated by the wide distribution of the results to the perpetrators, then the crimes will become less commonplace and more people will accept their civil duty to report and help prevent such crimes.

[sirchai]

Wow, 50,000 baht is all to have someone wacked??

20,000 can be done in Bangkok have read many cases in the paper.

Guess it's time for some guys to stop their BS what they've read, heard and other nonsense. Many cases in your toilet paper?

:jap:

[sirchai]

50,000 baht for a hit on a farang seems a little on the high side. A girl in ubon province took out a contract on her newly wed european husband for 30,000 b a few months ago dont know the end result. silly old farang.

How can you post something like an idiotic statement of your own? "Took out a contract." Wanna sound cool, right?

I live in said province and haven't heard anything regarding your post Mr. Sherlock Joke. :jap:

Edited March 20, 2011 by sirchai

[transam]

50,000 baht for a hit on a farang seems a little on the high side. A girl in ubon province took out a contract on her newly wed european husband for 30,000 b a few months ago dont know the end result. silly old farang.

Silly old farang, hmmmmmmmmmm, did you know him personally.

[pattayabuggy]

Hmm well firstly his business partner has not admitted the deed and the 'divorce' case brings in another possible motive for the killing.  It may well be the business partner was the instigator or maybe it was someone else - we simply cannot know as we are not party to all the information. Often even when all the information is known the wrong conclusions are reached or(and  more especially in Thailand) the wrong conclusions are paid for.  Have no confidence in anything you are told or read here in Thailand - lying and cheating is much more commonplace than many other countries and little is actually, in reality, exactly as it seems to be.

Sadly having people killed here IS easy and cheap and far too commonplace.  It is useful to examine why that might be.  Is it poverty, is it greed, is it a failure of the education system, is it a failing of the politicians, is it a failure of the religious beliefs, is it a failing of the police or the legal system.

It strikes me that Thais are failed by all of these things.  Poverty can drive people to extrememes but in this case the manager who is reported to have organised the hit must have been employed and so would not be in poverty compared to most Thais, The education system is a failure on many counts not least that most Thais are not taught to rationalise, being taught to learn parrot fashion is rather more prevailing. Many Thais seem to grow up thinking they are never wrong, do things wrong and just do not understand or do not want to understand their responsibility for their actions or believe the law does not apply to them as they can always buy themselves out of a problem - a function of corruption for which the education system and politcal system are the main supporters by their lack of action to denigrate it  - also maybe in part the religion as it is interpreted by some Thais?  Many of the police are open to corruption and it seems to be a perk of the job and I have heard reports and often been told that some of the judges can be enticed to arrive at a verdict other than justice and the law would direct. 

I have often read how wonderful Thai society is - and there are some lovely aspects to it.  However there are many aspects that are deeply flawed and so often lay unexamined because Thais do not like to examine, look at, accept or even think about anything that remotely shows Thais or Thailand in a bad light.  Sometimes however it is useful to look at the bad things and try to make them better for otherwise how can any person and by extension, society become better.

Killing someone outside of the law can never be right and there is NO mainstream religion which advocates it - there may be extremeists who twist religious texts for their own ends but the poster who suggests the Muslim religion advocates murder is deluded.

It is time for Thailand to look within itself and start making an example of the people involved and convicted by passing the harshest sentence possible under the law and by publicising the fate of people involved in this and other sorts of crime such as fraud and corruption.  Perhaps if the general public begin to understand that Thai society will not suffer this behaviour and is educated by the wide distribution of the results to the perpetrators, then the crimes will become less commonplace and more people will accept their civil duty to report and help prevent such crimes.

Very good post, it was me who posted about Islam, I am not deluded,  just I can read, read this one thereligionofpeace dot com

It's rather off topic really, it was just someone mentioned that Thai's are buddhists and shouldn't commit murder. I reasoned that of all the religions I find Buddhism on the one hand to be the least offensive and Islam on the other to be the most offensive, and for good reason.

Thai's are still murdered daily in the South of Thailand by the so called religion of peace. I cannot see how anyone can deny such evidence. Most religions to my knowledge have commited atrocities in the name of that religion, except Buddhism. The Abrahamic religions being by far the worst. Not a problem when many gods can be accepted, it's the one god that makes the problem.

Sorry mate, nor arguing with you, as I say a good post, well written, and I agree with what you have said. 

Muslims like to cherry pick from the Quaran the good bits when they are preaching their non violent claims to Westerners. Fact is Islam is utterly disgusting.

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you. And when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. (Deutronomy 7:1-2) 

"When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you... Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes (Deutronomy 20:10-17) 

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, sparefor yourselves. (Numbers 31:17-18)

[transam]

Hmm well firstly his business partner has not admitted the deed and the 'divorce' case brings in another possible motive for the killing. It may well be the business partner was the instigator or maybe it was someone else - we simply cannot know as we are not party to all the information. Often even when all the information is known the wrong conclusions are reached or(and more especially in Thailand) the wrong conclusions are paid for. Have no confidence in anything you are told or read here in Thailand - lying and cheating is much more commonplace than many other countries and little is actually, in reality, exactly as it seems to be.

Sadly having people killed here IS easy and cheap and far too commonplace. It is useful to examine why that might be. Is it poverty, is it greed, is it a failure of the education system, is it a failing of the politicians, is it a failure of the religious beliefs, is it a failing of the police or the legal system.

It strikes me that Thais are failed by all of these things. Poverty can drive people to extrememes but in this case the manager who is reported to have organised the hit must have been employed and so would not be in poverty compared to most Thais, The education system is a failure on many counts not least that most Thais are not taught to rationalise, being taught to learn parrot fashion is rather more prevailing. Many Thais seem to grow up thinking they are never wrong, do things wrong and just do not understand or do not want to understand their responsibility for their actions or believe the law does not apply to them as they can always buy themselves out of a problem - a function of corruption for which the education system and politcal system are the main supporters by their lack of action to denigrate it - also maybe in part the religion as it is interpreted by some Thais? Many of the police are open to corruption and it seems to be a perk of the job and I have heard reports and often been told that some of the judges can be enticed to arrive at a verdict other than justice and the law would direct.

I have often read how wonderful Thai society is - and there are some lovely aspects to it. However there are many aspects that are deeply flawed and so often lay unexamined because Thais do not like to examine, look at, accept or even think about anything that remotely shows Thais or Thailand in a bad light. Sometimes however it is useful to look at the bad things and try to make them better for otherwise how can any person and by extension, society become better.

Killing someone outside of the law can never be right and there is NO mainstream religion which advocates it - there may be extremeists who twist religious texts for their own ends but the poster who suggests the Muslim religion advocates murder is deluded.

It is time for Thailand to look within itself and start making an example of the people involved and convicted by passing the harshest sentence possible under the law and by publicising the fate of people involved in this and other sorts of crime such as fraud and corruption. Perhaps if the general public begin to understand that Thai society will not suffer this behaviour and is educated by the wide distribution of the results to the perpetrators, then the crimes will become less commonplace and more people will accept their civil duty to report and help prevent such crimes.

Very good post, it was me who posted about Islam, I am not deluded, just I can read, read this one thereligionofpeace dot com

It's rather off topic really, it was just someone mentioned that Thai's are buddhists and shouldn't commit murder. I reasoned that of all the religions I find Buddhism on the one hand to be the least offensive and Islam on the other to be the most offensive, and for good reason.

Thai's are still murdered daily in the South of Thailand by the so called religion of peace. I cannot see how anyone can deny such evidence. Most religions to my knowledge have commited atrocities in the name of that religion, except Buddhism. The Abrahamic religions being by far the worst. Not a problem when many gods can be accepted, it's the one god that makes the problem.

Sorry mate, nor arguing with you, as I say a good post, well written, and I agree with what you have said.

Muslims like to cherry pick from the Quaran the good bits when they are preaching their non violent claims to Westerners. Fact is Islam is utterly disgusting.

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you. And when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. (Deutronomy 7:1-2)

"When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you... Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes (Deutronomy 20:10-17)

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, sparefor yourselves. (Numbers 31:17-18)

+1, well put.

[slipperx]

Very good post, it was me who posted about Islam, I am not deluded, just I can read, read this one thereligionofpeace dot com

[Editedf for brevity]

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, sparefor yourselves. (Numbers 31:17-18)

Well the quotes are from the Old Testament. I am not a scholar of religion nor do I have much to do with any of the religions to be honest but it appears to me all the texts can be looked at and passages found to support one idea or another. I do not think though that the basic concept of any religion is to kill others. In any religion there are do's and don'ts and murder is not one of the do's that any modern religion (extremests excepted) supports as far as I can see, I know the Muslims at the moment seem to have more than their fair share of hapless brainwashed folk going around trying (and sometiems succeeding) to kill people but many years ago weren't the Christians and worse still the Catholics (inquisition) doing the same thing? It is just individuals using religion to control people much as inter alia politics and the media is used these days along with religion. It all stems from a lack of personal responsibility I think but then I might be completely wrong too. Thanks for your post though, I think I understand where you are coming from.

By the way I also understand what you are saying about the people in the south killing, as you put it, 'in the so called religion of peace'. However most people would not accuse Catholicism to be a religion that supports murder except if you were living in the 16th century maybe you would hold a different opinion. I don't totally disagree with you, I just think religion has always been a tool to control people, commenced with good intentions and abused by people who just want power - another form of politics if you like - how political is the Pope these days one might ask.

I think it is a very hard line to be anti someone just because he or she might be of one faith or another although there are some things that I find very hard to accept. You are welcome and I will join with you against extremeists of any sort be they Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Seikh or any other. Another of the things I find hard to accept is blind circumcision especially when carried out on females. Who gave anyone the right to injure another - it is religionised and legalised abuse in my mind but so widespread now that most people just accept it without thinking. I am sure that comment will bring many a strong argument against me but I think as a human I have a right to be asked before someone else starts chopping pieces off of me for no good medical reason - I am not by the way. But that is just my opinion of course. It does make me think that someone might berate me for smaking an unruly child who has crossed a boundary of accepted behaviour, yet that same person may have arranged for their own child to have had their sexual organs mutilated. I just don't see how the two things fit together except that one is sanctioned by religion. Well I would rather pass on the religious practices rooted in practicality 2000 years ago or more, or less depending on the religion, and keep my nether parts in tact thanks very much.

Edited March 20, 2011 by slipperx

[coralia]

Mr. Butti was murdered a few days before he was due to appear in court in a divorce case. (With a Thai wife? If the wife were not Thai, would the divorce have been held in Thailand?)

As another poster pointed out at the beginning of this thread, the business partner has nothing to gain from Mr Butti's death - only the family. Since Mr Butti died before the divorce was finalised, his wife is still family, I suppose?

The business partner is protesting his innocence. The "trigger man" is still at large. The conclusions of the police are based solely on the statements of Somprasong - who may or may not be telling the truth (and I wonder under what circumstances the police interrogated him - though on second thought, I'd rather not know...). Is there any evidence that Mr Butti had cheated his partner out of "7 or 8 million Baht"? And even if that were true, what would be the point of having him killed, rather than trying to get the money back?...

:blink:

[spectre324]

Wow, 50,000 baht is all to have someone wacked??

He could be lying about how much he was paid, if he gets off he could have the rest hidden somewhere. 50k is possible though, I've read about killings for less in the US

50K is not much at all! life is very cheap here depending on where the shooter comes from.