Melinda Beck

Roman audiences craved novelty. Females battling each other with weapons fit the bill.

Here's why they were suspected—and why they were ruled out.

It's the most spectacular unsolved crime in gangland history. Mobster Al Capone had an airtight alibi.

Doctors of the Women's Oversea Hospitals Unit operated under bomb and gas attacks. And their all-female support teams built new hospitals—even the coffins.

A few of the accused may have been actual pedophiles or serial killers, but many were beggars, hermits or recent émigrés who were tortured into confessions.