Sharky, a leader of the underworld, was killed by one of hisown band of four hen

Question

Sharky, a leader of the underworld, was killed by one of hisown band of four henchmen. Detective Sharp interviewed the men anddetermined that all were lying except for one. He deduced whokilled Sharky on the basis of the following statements: a. Socko: Lefty killed Sharky. b. Fats: Muscles didn't kill Sharky. c. Lefty: Muscles was shooting craps with Socko when Sharkywas knocked off. d. Muscles: Lefty didn't kill Sharky. Who did kill Sharky? Sharky, a leader of the underworld, was killed by one of hisown band of four henchmen. Detective Sharp interviewed the men anddetermined that all were lying except for one. He deduced whokilled Sharky on the basis of the following statements: a. Socko: Lefty killed Sharky. b. Fats: Muscles didn't kill Sharky. c. Lefty: Muscles was shooting craps with Socko when Sharkywas knocked off. d. Muscles: Lefty didn't kill Sharky. Who did kill Sharky?

Explanation / Answer

Assume statement A is the true one. Then B, C, and D would allhave to be false. But, if Lefty killed Sharky, then thatwould mean that "Muscles didn't kill Sharky", and B would also betrue. So, A cannot be the true statement. -- Assume statement B is the true one. Then, A, C and Dwould all have to be false. But statements A and D contradictthemselves, so they cannot both be false at the same time. So, satement B cannot be the true statement. -- Assume statement C is the true one. This creates thesame contradiction as statement B, so statement C cannot be thetrue statement. -- Assume statement D is the true one. If Lefty didn't killSharky, then statement A, "Lefty killed Sharky" would befalse, which agrees with statement D. Statement C "Muslceswas shooting craps with Socko when Sharky was knocked off" would befalse, so in other words "Muscles WASN'T shooting craps" istrue--there is no problem with this statement. Statement B"Muscles didn't kill Sharky" would be also be false, whichwould mean that Muscles DID kill Sharky. -- So, Muscles is the murderer.

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