Wetwork

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For the band, see Wetwork (band).

Wetwork or wet work is a euphemism for murder or assassination, alluding to hands literally wet with blood. It is most popularly attributed to the KGB and their broad euphemism for such activities, mokroye delo (wet job).^[1] There have been others however, who variously attribute it to the Mossad, the CIA and MI5.

Sometimes the term wet boy or washer is given to an agent involved in such work.^{[citation needed]} The term cleaner is also used.

The Russian expression "wet job" (мокрое дело) traces at least to 19th century^[2][3] from Russian criminal slang (fenya, muzyka) and originally meant robbery that involved murder.

[edit] References

1. ^ Henry S.A. Becket (1986) "The Dictionary of Espionage: Spookspeak into English"
2. ^ Музыка или словарь карманников, т. е. столичных воров [сост. в 1842, доп. Максимовым С. В. в 1869] // Сибирь и каторга / Максимов С. В. [публ.]. СПб., 1871 (Russian)
3. ^ Дюбягин Ю. (1991) Толковый словарь уголовных жаргонов, Moscow, Inter-Omni, ISBN 5-85945-002-8(Russian)