Cleaner

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

This article looks at the work of the cleaner in crime films. For the film of the same name see Cleaner (film) . For the sorting unit in the paper industry, see density sorter .

Cleaner is a term borrowed from English and commonly used in German for characters of criminal crime scene cleaners in crime films who, on behalf of organizations such as the mafia or secret government organizations such as the Pretender series , typically remove traces of contract killings and may even commit the latter themselves.

In contrast to normal crime scene cleaners, they work in front of the police and forensics . Therefore, despite the similarities in principle, their focus is primarily on the removal or destruction of the evidence, but not necessarily on complete cleansing and restoration. On the other hand, it can also include the disposal of the corpse , which is otherwise the responsibility of undertakers , and, unlike these, also include illegal practices, such as dissolving in acid.

The term originally comes from circles of the American Mafia and names professional killers who clean up unpleasant or explosive situations with contract killings. Figures of the cleaner mostly work alone, occasionally in teams.

Examples

• Léon - The Professional (1994)
• John Wick (2014)
• Winston Wolf in Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Victor in the feature film Nikita (1990)
• Roan in the TV series Nikita (1990)
• Viktor in code name: Nina
• Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad
• The Cleaners in Max Payne 2
• Carl in Munich
• Wolf in aliens vs. Predator 2
• Sawyer the Cleaner in Black Lagoon
• The Watchdogs in Manhunt 2
• Garcian Smith in Killer7
• Bachman in Sons of Anarchy
• Mr. Kaplan in The Blacklist