Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He's The Worst Hitman Ever - The Tan Youhui story

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Chinese real-estate developer Tan Youhui hired a hitman named Xi Guangan to murder his business rival, Wei, offering him 2 million yuan following a lawsuit against Tan’s company . Xi subcontracted the job to Mo Tianxiang, who further passed it to Yang Kangsheng, and then to Yang Guangsheng, finally ending up with Ling Xiansi—each reducing the fee, until Ling agreed for just 100,000 yuan but balked at killing Wei and instead staged the hit with Wei’s cooperation.

I have created the most advanced AI soldier. The wait is over. Tron Aries now streaming on Disney Plus. We are looking for something. Something you've discovered. And some of us will stop at nothing to get it. Ready? The countdown is complete.

There's no going back. Our directive is clear. Hang on! Tron Aries, now streaming on Disney Plus, rated PG-13. So this guy gets sued by his business rival. So then he hires a hitman to take the guy out, and that is where it all goes wrong. Now, the guy's name is Tahn, and Tahn is a big-time real estate developer in China. He's a serious businessman.

But one day in 2013, he gets into a disagreement with another real estate developer, this guy, Mr. Wei. And so they're arguing about this property they're both working on. I don't know the exact details of the argument, but it goes. gets heated. And these guys can't seem to agree on this. So things escalate and they have to get some lawyers involved. And suddenly, boom, Mr. Way hits Tahn with a lawsuit. And before Tahn even has time to fight that lawsuit, pow, Mr. Way hits him with another lawsuit. Now, obviously one lawsuit is bad for business, but two lawsuits? That just feels personal. But more importantly, Tahn is worried that these lawsuits are going to have a negative effect on the financial side of this development.

And this is where it gets crazy. Because at this point, Tahn could chill and let his lawyers handle all this, but that's not what he's going to do. He is too pissed off. Instead, he comes up with a much different plan. He's going to hire a hitman to take Mr. Way out and get rid of him for good. And so Ton asks around about finding a hitman. I assume he asks around. I'm not sure how else people find a hitman, but however he does it, he eventually finds one. This guy, who we'll just call Hitman One. And so Tan reaches out to Hitman One and he offers him two million Chinese Yuan to assassinate Mr. Wei, or about $282,000 US dollars. And Hitman One is like, all right. But here's the thing, though. I guess Hitman One doesn't really want to do this job. He just wants to make some money. But he's got to

make his client happy. And that is when he gets what he believes is a brilliant idea. He'll just hire a different guy to do it. And so he himself starts looking for a hitman to finish this job. And he looks and he eventually finds one. This guy who will call Hitman 2. And so Hitman 1 hires Hitman 2 to assassinate Mr. Way. But instead of paying him $282,000, he only offers him about a $140,000 US dollars, and he pockets the rest for himself. And so this assassin just subcontracted the job to another assassin. But whatever, Hitman 2 agrees to do it. He takes the job.

Okay, but here's where it gets really weird. I guess Hitman 2 also really doesn't want to do the job. And so he gets what he believes is a brilliant original idea. He'll just hire a different guy to do it. And so he reaches out to another assassin for hire. A guy will call Hitman 3. And so Hitman 2 hires Hitman 3 to do the job. But instead of paying him the $140,000 he was paid,

he only offers him $71,000 and he pockets the rest for himself. And of course, Tan, the original guy who wants Mr. Wei dead, he has no idea this murder-for-hire job is being subcontracted out. He still thinks Hitman 1 is. going to do it. Regardless, Hitman 3 has now taken over the job, but he doesn't really want to do the job either. So he gets what he believes is a brilliant original idea. He'll just hire a different guy to do it. So he contacts a fourth assassin for hire. This guy, who will call Hitman 4. And so Hitman 3 hires Hitman 4 to do the job. But this time he doesn't take much

money for himself. He actually pays him nearly all of what he was paid, about $70,000. And while this subcontracting of Hitman keeps going, I'm sure Ton is chilling somewhere thinking, what the fuck is going on? Why is Mr. Way still alive? Because at this point, this assassination plot has been going on for like six months. So bro has got to be getting impatient. But whatever, Hitman 4 has taken the job and he's gonna, wait, wait, nope, nope. He decides he doesn't, he really doesn't want to do it either. And so he gets what he believes is a brilliant original idea. He'll just hire a different guy to do it. And so he reaches out to a fifth hitman, a guy who will call Hitman 5. And so Hitman 4 hires Hitman 5. But instead of paying him the nearly

$70,000 he was paid to do the job, he only offers him $14,000. And he pockets the rest for himself. And Hitman 5 accepts. Regardless, this is the final hitman. Like, he's not going to subcontract this gig to anyone else. He's actually going to get the job done and take out Mr. Way once and for all. Until. Until he decides he doesn't really want to do it either.

And so he gets what he believes is a brilliant original idea. And to be fair, this idea is different from the idea all the other hitman had. See, to me, the price of $14,000 to take someone out seems pretty low and definitely not worth the risk of getting caught. But it's still $14,000 and Hitman 5 still really wants this money. And so Hitman 5 reaches out directly to Mr. Way. And I don't know what story he gives him, but Mr. Way agrees to meet up with him at a local cafe. And so they meet up, and Hitman 5 explains the whole predicament to him. And he's like, hey, I'm not going to assassinate you, but what if we pretended that I did?

And Mr. Way's like, what the fuck is going on? And so Hitman 5 explains to him that he'll tie him up, all bound and gagged, to make it look like he was kidnapped. And from there, he'll have to pretend to be unalived. And Hitman 5 will then take pictures of him, and then he'll give those pictures to the guy who hired him pretending that the job is done. Then he'll get paid the $14,000 he wants. After he gets paid, he'll then go report the whole thing to the police. And basically just snitch on everyone.

And Mr. Way hears this bizarre plan and he's like... How'da? Now, I'm not sure why Mr. Way can't just go directly to the police himself, but he doesn't. Whatever. And so anyway, boom, they put this new plan into motion. And they tie up Mr. Way and he pretends to be dead, while Hitman 5 takes a photo. Hitman 5 then gives that photo to Hitman 4, the guy who hired him.

And he's like, the job is done! And Hitman 4 pays him. Hitman 4 then gives that photo to Hitman 3, and he's like, the job is done, and hitman 3 pays him. Hitman 3 then gives that photo to Hitman 2, and he's like, the job is done! And hitman 2 pays him. Hitman 2 then gives that photo to Hitman 1, and he's like, the job is done. And hitman 1 pays him. Hitman 1 then takes that photo back to Ton and he's like, the job is done.

And I'm sure Tahn is like, woohoo. But here's the thing. Hitman 5 doesn't actually go and report all this to the police and snitch on everyone like he promised he would. I'm assuming that's because it would then implicate him and he doesn't want to get in trouble. I guess you can't really trust a hitman these days. But Mr. Way, I guess he finally realizes that he can just go to the police himself, which the have done all along. And so he goes to the local police and he tells them all about this attempted murder plot against him. And so police start investigating. And pretty quickly they follow the trail

of each hitman and they work their way backwards until they get to the original mastermind of this murder plot. Tahn. And so bam, police go and they arrest Tahn. Also bam, they arrest all five hitmen. And I don't have a mug shot. They don't really release mugshots in China. But I I do have a photo of all five of them in custody. One, two, three, four, and five. And eventually, they all get convicted, and Ton gets five years in prison while the others received prison sentences

between two to four years.