Kenneth Murdock, later known as Kenneth Bishop, was born in 1963 and grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. He was introduced to the underworld life through his stepfather, John Akister, who had connections with the Musitano crime family. By the 1980s, Murdock was working as a bouncer in strip clubs and committing extortion and armed robbery. His ties to the Musitano family deepened in 1984 while serving time for robbery, where he bonded with Tony Musitano, brother of family boss Dominic Musitano. Released later that year, Murdock began to operate closely with the family. In his mind, he had formed a loyal obligation, especially to Dominic’s sons, Pat and Angelo, whom he saw as surrogate nephews. This loyalty, combined with an increasingly dangerous lifestyle, would later push him into becoming one of the most infamous mob hitmen in Canadian organized crime.

Kenneth Murdock’s first contract killing came in 1985 when he was paid $3,000 to kill Salvatore Alaimo, a janitor whose brother owed gambling debts to Dominic Musitano. Murdock claimed he intended only to scare Alaimo using a submachine gun, but the weapon’s unpredictability ended in a fatal shooting. Years later, in 1997, the Musitano brothers approached Murdock again—this time with more dangerous assignments. He accepted out of loyalty and a sense of debt to their father.

On May 31, 1997, Murdock assassinated Hamilton mob boss Johnny Papalia in broad daylight outside his vending machine business. The motive was rooted in a financial dispute; the Musitano brothers owed Papalia $250,000. Murdock was paid only a few thousand dollars and possibly some cocaine for the hit. Less than two months later, on July 23, he killed Papalia’s right-hand man, Carmen Barillaro, in Niagara Falls. Before shooting Barillaro in his home, Murdock ominously said, “This is a message from Pat.”

Murdock later revealed he had been ordered to kill four others, including biker gang leaders and members of the Luppino crime family, but he refused—most notably sparing Ion Croitoru, a wrestler and Satan’s Choice president, because they were friends. Around this time, Murdock began to unravel emotionally. He admitted to using cocaine to deal with the psychological toll of his job. The final straw came when he was arrested for extortion and heard police tapes of the Musitano brothers mocking him. They described him as disposable, even hoping he’d die in a "tragic accident." Feeling betrayed, Murdock turned Crown witness against the very people he had once considered family.

In 1998, Murdock pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His testimony led to convictions for the Musitano brothers in the Barillaro case, though no charges were laid against them for the other murders. They served 10 years. Murdock expressed bitterness at the outcome, feeling the justice system had been too lenient on his former bosses. After serving 13 years, Murdock was released on parole and moved to British Columbia, adopting the name Kenneth Bishop and working as a truck driver. However, in 2017, his parole was revoked after he posted a threatening message on social media directed at a prison guard. He insisted it was a joke, but the parole board disagreed, sending him back to prison. His current status remains publicly unverified.