Why can't I kill this person when I can beat them over and over again? Or, what is a 'ghost'?

When someone is below 20 health, they will not show up on the random Fight list that other players get. They also cannot be hitlisted or fight/rob other players. They are what is called a "ghost".

If you attack someone down to, say, 33 health and your next attack does 20 damage to them, their health goes to 13 and they become a ghost and you can't kill them until they go back above 20. In order to snuff someone, you need to do enough damage to take them from ≥20 health to 0 or less.

You can still "attack" ghosts, but they can't be actually fought, even though you might think you are really attacking them!

Here's why:

You can still attack someone who's a ghost if you go through the Attack link on their profile page (or use an attack link, bookmark or bookmarklet.) The game will generate a fake fight for your entertainment with them and you will either win or lose; regardless, the other person will not see it or be affected by it. You might even get some loot from the fight, but you will not get money. Since this pseudo-fight doesn't actually affect the ghost, they cannot be killed by you.

Additionally, if a person logs out while they are below 20 hit points, even though their health regenerates over time the game will not update their 'ghost' status until they log back into the game. This means that if someone is under 20 hit points when they stop playing Mafia Wars and they don't play for a few days/weeks/months or however long, they will remain a 'ghost' until they play again. This can be particularly confusing, since people with active mafia families can level up while not playing from the trickle of experience that comes in when your family fights other people. They can level without logging in and thus remain a ghost.

To find out if you are dealing with a ghost, try clicking the Add to Hitlist link on their profile. If it says they are "already dead or too weak to fight," you have a ghost on your hands. You will also notice that on ghosts, you will not get an "Attack Again" button. If you don't see an "Attack Again" button, you won't be able to kill them.

Identifying someone who is currently a ghost:

A ghost fight looks like this:

Notice there isn't an "Attack Again!" button, and that we didn't get any money. This person is a ghost and actually took no damage (despite what the outcome says). They will not see that we've fought them.

A normal fight looks like this:

Notice that we got the "Attack Again!" button, and a monetary reward. This person will be able to see that we attacked them and takes damage and is killable.

• Some people like fighting ghosts. They can farm them for items and improve their "fights won" and the target won't see that they're being attacked repeatedly; no danger of your target hitlisting you for repeated attacks, because they won't even see it.
• Some people will try to keep themselves under 20 hit points as much of possible so they can't be messed with. They'd still be able to hitlist people, but they would need to heal up before they could fight or rob someone.