Crime

Crime has been a dark and powerful undercurrent in human society throughout history. Uncover the facts behind some of the most daring robberies, brazen scams and brutal murders ever committed.

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Alcatraz is one of the most notorious prisons in American history, but did it really live up to its feared reputation?

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Whitey Bulger 1953 mugshot

Boston Police/U.S. Marshal Service/New York Times

Featured Overview

Alcatraz is one of the most notorious prisons in American history, but did it really live up to its feared reputation?

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Who was D.B. Cooper?

And how did the infamous 1971 skyjacker vanish into thin air with $200,000? Some claim that new clues could finally crack the case.

Ted Kaczynski

From the Unabomber to Bonnie and Clyde, these 13 terrorists and outlaws triggered some of the most massive manhunts in criminal history.

In 1931, a Commission of crime families began running New York City rackets, initiating an era of colorful nicknames and violent power struggles.

Victims of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

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

Serial Killers

Deadliest Serial Killers of All Time

Uncover the true and horrific stories of 11 of the deadliest serial killers of all time, in this episode of History Countdown.

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Crime

Follow the American Mafia from their early development in New York City neighborhoods through Prohibition, to the boom days of the 1950s.

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A lone wolf prisoner, with aspirations to writing crime novels, ends up the star of his own break out story when he figures out how to escape from one of Mississippi's oldest and most notorious prison farms, Parchman Penitentiary.

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Explore how the NYC Mafia in the 1990s imposed a 'mob tax' on legitimate businesses, using extortion tactics to collect money and exert control.

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Follow the American Mafia from their early development in New York City neighborhoods through Prohibition, to the boom days of the 1950's. Explore how public violence, involvement in the drug trade, and appearances at government hearings affected the fami

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Discover the dramatic rise of John Gotti, the notorious 'Teflon Don' who transformed the Gambino crime family.

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James Earl Ray, one of the most infamous assassins in American History, killed MLK and now plots his escape from a Tennessee prison.

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"Puente Grande prison once housed one of Mexico's most infamous drug lords, El Chapo, until he orchestrated an elaborate escape. "

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Ted Kaczynski

From the Unabomber to Bonnie and Clyde, these 13 terrorists and outlaws triggered some of the most massive manhunts in criminal history.

Who was D.B. Cooper?

And how did the infamous 1971 skyjacker vanish into thin air with $200,000? Some claim that new clues could finally crack the case.

Through extortion, bribery and embezzlement, mobsters made labor racketeering a major source of income after Prohibition.

In 1931, a Commission of crime families began running New York City rackets, initiating an era of colorful nicknames and violent power struggles.

Morgan Freeman dives deeper into an intricate escape plan executed by a group of individuals in the most notorious prison in American history.

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Al "Scarface" Capone sparks one of the bloodiest massacres in gangland history, in this clip from Season 1, "St. Valentine's Day Massacre."

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On Nov 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, shaking the nation to its core. While an initial suspect is captured, many believe there's more to the story.

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Five agents wearing hard helmets and FBI windbreakers, seen from the back.

From the Osage murders to the Oklahoma City bombing, these crimes stand among the biggest and most complex the Bureau has faced.

Ted Kaczynski used his intelligence for evil and carried out targeted attacks that grew from his hatred towards technology, in this clip from Season 3, "The Mystery of Genius."

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These famous figures met their death after contact with toxins such as arsenic, hemlock, cyanide and a certain lethal tree sap.

A 1910 photo of Leo Frank.

Thirty-one-year-old Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent, was kidnapped from prison in Atlanta, Georgia and lynched by an antisemitic mob on August 17, 1915. The attack, which is the only Jewish lynching in U.S. history, followed a hugely sensational trial.

Daily News front page December 12, 1978, Headline: INSIDE JOB SEEN IN $5M JFK HEIST

A crew of mafia-affiliated hijackers, killers, loan sharks and thieves made off with $5.8 million in cash and jewels. Most involved got 'whacked.'

September 1971: An annotated photograph showing how bank robbers tunneled into the Baker Street branch of Lloyd's Bank in London from an empty shop two doors away. The gang raided 250 safety deposit boxes in the strong room of the bank and escaped with an estimated 3 million British pounds (around 7 million U.S. dollars at the time and $51 million today).

Robbers have used tunnels, explosives and even surfboard repair foam to make off with millions.

How Las Vegas Became a Gambling Mecca

It took an influx of dam workers, exiled Los Angeles gambling operators and mob figures to build 'sin city.'

Stephanie St. Clair Hamid, the "Numbers Queen"of Harlem, being held on charges of attempted assault.

Against the odds, Stephanie St. Clair became Harlem's 'Queen of Numbers,' facing down corrupt cops and violent mobsters.

Victims of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

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

LANCASTER, BIRD MAN OF ALCATRAZActor Burt Lancaster as Robert Stround in the film "Bird Man of Alcatraz". (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

The federal penitentiary housed not only hardened criminals, but also people the government wanted to make an example of.

The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Alcatraz as a federal prison. The commemoration organizers plan to use the occasion to raise funds to repair island's the old lighthouse keeper?s home and the social club for families, both damaged in the Indian uprisings of the early 1970s. So both structures might be good candidates to shoot.

To ditch the infamous federal penitentiary, inmates tried everything from paper-mâché masks to a military impersonation to a bloody revolt.

Al Capone in Alcatraz: How Public Enemy No. 1 Spent His Time in the Famous Prison

Public Enemy #1 was transferred to the now-infamous island prison a few weeks after it opened.

Uncover the true and horrific stories of 11 of the deadliest serial killers of all time, in this episode of History Countdown.

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Discover 11 of the biggest scandals of the past century, from the Teapot Dome Scandal to the downfall of Jeffrey Epstein, in this episode of History By the Decade.

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D.B. Cooper

After he parachuted from a 727 passenger plane with ransom money—and disappeared—newspapers started receiving weird letters, some with coded messages.

H.H. Holmes, Murder Castle

Holmes allegedly killed as many as 200 by luring visitors to his lair during the Chicago World's Fair. But historians say many of the stories about Holmes, the "devil," may be myth.

When FDR found out how beholden New York politicians were to mobsters, he ordered the Seabury commission to investigate.

America’s most notorious gangster sponsored the charity that served up three hot meals a day to thousands of the unemployed—no questions asked.

Couple arguing

Her ordeal helped draw attention to a national epidemic of spousal abuse.

Gambino family crime boss Frank Cali’s murder is the first Mafia don assassination in New York City since John Gotti had “Big Paul” Castellano killed in 1985.

Countries are calling on the museum to return looted items like the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles and 4,000 bronze sculptures from the Kingdom of Benin.

Whitey Bulger

The notorious gangster was recruited as an FBI informant. It turned it out that corrupt FBI agents were the ones informing him.

A respected doctor got away with murder for years. But when word finally got out about his heinous crimes, it earned him the moniker "Dr. Satan".

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Ted Kaczynski

After a long, desperate search, it would be Ted Kaczynski's own words that would lead to his capture.

2001 Anthrax Letters

Who sent the series of letters in the wake of the 9/11 attacks? Investigators zeroed in on a possible culprit.

Clyde Barrow, holding a firearm while sitting on the front fender of a car circa 1933.

From managing his image to possibly paying off law enforcement, Clyde's mother supported her son throughout his criminal career.

The three prisoners that escaped from Alcatraz (L-R): Clarence and John Anglin, and Frank Morris.

A 2013 letter to the FBI, if real, suggests the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris survived one of the most daring—and dangerous—prison breaks of all time.

Seated Tsar Peter I of Russia, also known as Peter the Great, with his son tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. (Credit: Culture Club/Getty Images)

The terrified tsarevich volunteered to relinquish his claim to the throne, but that wasn't enough to appease his powerful father.

Timothy Coggins was murdered in October 1983. Until now, his murder was unsolved for 34 years. (Credit: Spalding County Sheriffs Department)

In 1983, two men stabbed and dragged a Black man to death for dating a white woman. One of the murderers has finally been convicted.

Motorists stop and wave as police cars pursue the Ford Bronco driven by Al Cowlings, carrying fugitive murder suspect O.J. Simpson, on a 90-minute slow-speed car chase June 17, 1994 on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles, California.

One company wanted to hawk tourist rides in it—along the infamous 405 freeway chase route.

Doris Payne

Payne, deciding she was ‘never going to be under the thumb of a man,’ took to a life of crime, traveled the world and mastered the jewel heist.

Dianne Lake

Former Manson Family member Dianne Lake recalls dumpster diving, orgies and singalongs. 'We were there to serve Charlie.'

Fentanyl Citrate

Russian troops released a mysterious gas into the theater to incapacitate the rebels. But it also proved deadly for the captives.

Unabomber Ted Kaczynski- Harvard

Kaczynski, who would later become known as the infamous Unabomber, was subjected to a controversial and disturbing psychological experiment as a young student at the Ivy League school.

Singer Frank Sinatra posing for a mug shot after being arrested and charged with "carrying on with a married woman" in 1938 in Bergen County, New Jersey. A scan of this mugshot was included in Sinatra's FBI file.

The FBI documented Old Blue Eyes’ every move for 40 years.

Ted Kaczynski, nicknamed the Unabomber, sent a series of deadly mail bombs and wrote an anti-technology manifesto before he was captured at his cabin in 1996.

Find out how, as marijuana became ingrained in youth culture, a political campaign pushed back to designate the drug a danger to public health in this clip from The Marijuana Revolution.

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In the midst of post-war suburban life, one green plant threatens this pristine utopia: marijuana. This film warns of the drug’s danger—how it can transform an all-American boy like “Marty” into a dope fiend.

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Explore the timeline of the weeks leading up to the Jonestown massacre on November 18, 1978.

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Closeup of a tattooist at work. (Credit: E. O. Hoppe/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Throughout history, tattoos have played an important role in the espionage game.

Kitty Genovese.

Kitty Genovese was a woman whose 1964 murder in Queens, New York, sparked false reports about neighbors who witnessed the crime but refused to get invovled.

Known as the Father of Librarianship, Melvil Dewey was the inventor of the widely used Dewey Decimal classification system. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Melvil Dewey helped create a new profession for women—and harassed them at every step of the way.

A participant of the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City, which dates back to 1762, marches down 5th Avenue with an Irish flag. (Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

One immigrant group’s journey from outsiders to shaping 20th-century law enforcement.

A smiling Charles Manson during a break in the Tate murder trial after an outburst from his co-defendants. The trouble started after Leslie Van Houten said she wanted to fire her new lawyer, then slapped a bailiff and told the judge, "I'd strike you if I could" before being ejected from the courtroom. (Credit: George Brich/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

A lot of it had to do with that well-honed 'Crazy Charlie' act.

Follow leads, read articles and attempt to crack a case that remains unsolved to this day.

Many people have taken an interest in trying to solve the cryptograms left behind by the Zodiac, puzzles that that many believe may contain his identity and other vital information about him.

Some have been broken, while others remain stubbornly resistant to code-crackers.

The elusive killer has never been found. Here are the crimes attributed to him.

San Francisco police circulated this composite of the Bay Area's Zodiac Killer.

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

crime scene photography

A Parisian police clerk created scientific methods for capturing images of murder and mayhem.

The lynchers breaking into the New Orleans prison, 1891. (Credit: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Innocent Italian-Americans got caught in the crosshairs of a bigoted mob.

Fear of Mexican immigrants led to the criminalization of marijuana.

In August 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found murdered in their Massachusetts home. Andrew's daughter Lizzie would be tried for their murders and was acquitted of all charges.

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Here are the stories of eight infamous serial killers, from Jack the Ripper to Ted Bundy, to part-time clown John Wayne Gacy.

SErial Killer H.H. Holmes' 'Castle'

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago—known at the time as the Columbian Exposition—celebrated the 400th anniversary Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. However, the Chicago fair became better known for the so-called “Murder Castle” of H.H. Holmes, America’s first documented serial killer.

Revisit the deadly sprees of some of history's scariest serial killers – including one who was never captured – and catch "American Ripper" Tuesdays at 10/9C.

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Serial Murderer Theodore "Ted" Bundy walks forward and waves to TV camera as his indictment for the January murders of Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman is read at the Leon County Jail.

It all started with Jack the Ripper.

The Stonewall Inn

The Stonewall Inn was controlled by the Genovese crime family.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the world's most wanted-drug trafficker, center, is escorted by Mexican security forces at a Navy hangar in Mexico City, Mexico, on Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. (Credit: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

When the United States first launched the “War on Drugs” in the mid-20th century, not even the cleverest conspiracy theorists could have imagined the far-reaching consequences the campaign would have around the world. From the CIA allowing drug traffickers to flourish in exchange for their assistance in toppling leftist leaders abroad to the deal made […]

Activists and family members of loved ones who died in the opioid/heroin epidemic march in a "Fed Up!" rally on the National Mall on September 18, 2016.

While much of the media is focused on Trump’s Russian skullduggery, America has quietly found itself enmeshed in the worst drug epidemic in our history. Drug overdoses, mostly from increasingly lethal opioids, now kill more people than guns and traffic accidents. A recent investigation by The New York Times of local and state authorities across the […]

Learn more about how a secret government mind control program inadvertently fueled the use of psychoactive drugs in 1960s counterculture circles.

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A woman dances in the glow of psychedelic light at Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, is a hallucinogenic drug that was synthesized by a Swiss scientist in the 1930s and became a symbol of 1960s counterculture.

Experts discuss the events leading up to the capture of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega in this clip from "America's War on Drugs."

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MUNICH, GERMANY - APRIL 19: Police display 120 kilos of smuggled heroin that was seized from Turkish smugglers, on April 19, 2005 in Munich, Germany. About 600 kilos of heroin have been seized after being brought over the German border near Bad Reichenhall. (Photo by Jan Pitman/Getty Images)

Heroin, morphine, and other opiates trace their origins to a single plant—the opium poppy. Opium has been used both recreationally and as a medicine for centuries. Opium derivatives, including morphine, became widely used pain relievers, particularly in the 1800s. Heroin was first synthesized for medical use before physicians realized its potent addictive properties.

Frank Lloyd Wright. (Credit: Tony Vaccaro / Contributor)

The grisly mass murder inside the architect’s Wisconsin house and studio took the lives of his mistress and six others.

Plastic bags of crank (methamphetamine) in police custody after drug bust

Methamphetamine was first synthesized in 1893 and went on to a wide array of uses as a medical treatment, a weight-loss drug and a recreational stimulant.

US-MEXICO-CRIME-DRUGS-PROTESSTProtestors hold a sign in front of the White House in Washington on September 10, 2012 during the "Caravan for Peace," across the United States, a month-long campaign to protest the brutal drug war in Mexico and the US. The caravan departed from Tijuana in August with about 250 participants and ended in Washington. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages)

The War on Drugs is a phrase used to refer to a government-led initiative in America that aims to stop illegal drug use, distribution and trade by increasing and enforcing penalties for offenders. The movement started in the 1970s and is still evolving today.

A Border Patrol agent cuts open a bag of marijuana smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, February 05, 2003.

Drug trafficking in the United States dates back to the 19th century. From opium to marijuana to cocaine, a variety of substances have been illegally imported, sold and distributed throughout U.S. history, often with devastating consequences.

Crowd with lights Megatripolis London UK 1990's (Photo by Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

MDMA, or ecstacy, was synthesized in the early 1900s. Although it became a notorious party drug, some researchers believe that MDMA offers therapeutic benefits.

(FILES) This file picture taken on Octob(FILES) This file picture taken on October 8, 2007 in London shows a cannabis plant. Britain is to raise the legal classification of cannabis due to the growing prevalence of the potent skunk form of the drug, despite expert advice against doing so, the interior minister said Wednesday May 7, 2008. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told parliament she would press for cannabis to be re-classified in law as a Class B drug compared with its current, less serious Class C classification. AFP PHOTO/Leon Neal/FILES (Photo credit should read Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images)

Marijuana, also known as cannabis or pot, evolved in Central Asia and has a long history of human use for industrial, medicinal and recreational purposes.

cocaine

Cocaine, a stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant, was used as a surgical anesthetic and in commercial products by the late 19th century.

Napoleon statue.

Kidnapping is among history’s most sensational crimes.

The Iceman's reconstruction by Alfons & Adrie Kennis. (Credit: South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Ochsenreiter)

Using all the information scientists know about the extraordinary Copper Age mummy Ötzi the Iceman, a police detective assembled a detailed picture of his murder.

(Credit: State Library of NSW)

The English explorer, one of Australia’s greatest heroes, is believed to be among some 61,000 bodies set to be exhumed in London to make way for a new high-speed railway.

Gregor MacGregor, 1786 - 1845. Adventurer, by George Watson, 1804. Oil on canvas. . (Photo by National Galleries Of Scotland/Getty Images)

In the early 1820s, a Scottish swindler devised one of history’s most outlandish moneymaking schemes: he invented his own country.

Billy the Kid

Check out nine facts about the brief and bloody life of the legendary outlaw.

A man boards a plane in 1971, exchanges its passengers for a ransom of cash, and disappears. Discover the mystery of one of America's most fascinating missing persons in this collection of scenes from "D.B. Cooper: Case Closed?"

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Regalia of Charles II.

Get the story behind how legendary rogue Thomas Blood bluffed his way into the Tower of London and nearly made off with the British crown jewels.

On the anniversary of "Bugsy” Siegel’s birth, check out nine fascinating facts about one of American history’s most iconic gangsters.

Evidence concerning the murder of American aspiring actress and murder victim Elizabeth Short (1924 - 1947), known as the 'Black Dahlia,' is strown across a table at the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, Los Angeles, California, 1947. On the table is a black address book, a newspaper clipping about the death of Short's supposed fiance and American Amy Major Matthew M. Gordon Jr., Short's birth certificate, a business card, a threatening letter assembled from newspaper lettering, a baggage check from a Greyhound bus depot, a Western Union telegram, and several photographs of Short. (Photo by INTERNATIONAL NEWS PHOTO/Getty Images)

The brutal 1947 murder in Los Angeles of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short has never been solved. But there is no shortage of theories.

Allan Pinkerton and his agents at Antietam, Maryland, in October 1862. (Credit: PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

Long before there was a Federal Bureau of Investigation, there was the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Check out 10 little-known facts about the detective agency that helped usher in the modern era of law enforcement.

Alcatraz

On a June night in 1962, three inmates of the federal prison on Alcatraz Island escaped from their cells and (presumably) into San Francisco Bay, never to be seen again.

UNSPECIFIED - OCTOBER 15: Jesse Woodson James (1847-1882) american bandit here in 1882 (Photo by Apic/Getty Images)

A Houston forensic artist says a photograph purported to show outlaw Jesse James sitting next to his eventual killer, Robert Ford, is authentic.

The Tower of London as seen from the River Thames, circa 1700. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

From the Union officers who tunneled out of a Confederate POW camp to the 18th-century nobleman who fled the Tower of London in drag, get the stories behind eight notable prison breaks.

wall street, wall street bombing

Ninety-five years after a dynamite-rigged carriage exploded on Wall Street, take a look back at one of the most mysterious terrorist attacks in American history.

Criminologists and amateur sleuths continue to seek out the murderer’s true identity.

Texas Rangers patrolling the border circa 1915. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Now an elite police squad tasked with the state’s most serious criminal investigations, the Texas Rangers have undergone many changes in their colorful history—and some particularly memorable characters have emerged over the years.

Percy Fawcett was an inspiration for both Indiana Jones and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Lost World,” but his 1925 disappearance in the Amazon remains a mystery to this day.

From the millionaire who shot the high-society architect to the pioneering photographer who slayed a romantic rival, find out about five famous defendants who were ultimately acquitted of murder.

History’s Biggest Art Heist

Thieves stole 13 masterpieces worth $500 million from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. The case remains unsolved.

A book author claims to have solved one of history’s coldest cases and unmasked the identity of Jack the Ripper.

Ferdinand Demara

From a murderer who claimed he was a Rockefeller to a woman who passed as a male soldier during the U.S. Civil War, get the story behind six of history's most fascinating phonies.

A John Dillinger wanted poster. - stock photo

Below, some surprising facts about the short and infamous life of the man the authorities branded 'Public Enemy No. 1.'

money

A Ponzi scheme is a “rob Peter to pay Paul” financial scam in which early investors are paid returns with money from later investors rather than legitimate investment activities. The most notorious perpetrator of this type of fraud is New York financier Bernard Madoff, who in 2009 pleaded guilty to masterminding a decades-long, $65 billion […]

Engraving showing the principal conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot, a plan to blow up the British monarchy and Parliament. The conspiracy was created by Guy Fawkes with Robert Catesby.

From an ancient Roman coup d'état to a Hitler assassination attempt, get the facts on six of history’s most notorious political plots.

Five 20th Century Cult Leaders

The influence of these men led to deadly consequences around the globe.

circa 1932: American criminal Bonnie Parker (1910 - 1934) aims a shotgun at her partner, Clyde Barrow (1909 - 1934) while clowning beside an automobile.

The Great Depression-era outlaws—and lovers—became famous for their long string of robberies and murders across the western U.S. But there's more to their story.

Lee Harvey Oswald

As Brazil disinters the remains of its former president to investigate claims he was murdered, explore 10 of history’s most famous exhumations.

Train Robberies, Jesse James and his gang robbing a train

From high profile capers by the likes of Jesse James and Butch Cassidy to a raid by a gang of Indian political dissidents, find out more about six of history’s most audacious rail heists.

jack the ripper

Take a look back at one of history’s most notorious serial killers.

Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa (1913 - c.1975)

The search for the powerful ex-Teamster boss continues to fascinate the public—and frustrate authorities.

Manhattan's Five Points neighborhood, circa 1827.

From river pirates to knife-wielding adolescents, get the facts on seven of 19th century New York’s most notorious street gangs.

Facial reconstruction of the girl, known as "Jane", jamestown colony

New evidence supports historical accounts that desperate Jamestown colonists resorted to cannibalism during the harsh winter of 1609-10.

View of the World's Fair Hotel which later became known as Holmes' 'Castle'. The structure was designed by serial murderer Herman Webster Mudgett (better known by his alias H.H. Holmes), who built the structure to lure victims from the World's Columbian Exposition, then occuring in Chicago. (Credit: Chicago History Museum/Getty Images)

Check out some surprising facts about the World’s Columbian Exposition.

The main Prison also known as Broadway inside the historic Alcatraz Jail in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, June 23, 2015.

Explore 10 surprising facts about America's most infamous prison.

Diamonds.

In most cases, millions of dollars worth of diamonds, gems and watches remain largely unrecovered.

Mutiny of the crew of HMS 'Bounty', 28 April 1789. Lieutenant William Bligh (1754-1817), English naval officer and his 18 companions cast adrift in a longboat by Fletcher Christian and the 'Bounty' mutineers. With few supplies and no charts, after a voyage of 4000 miles and great privations, Bligh and his companions landed on Timor on 14 June 1789. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Get the facts on six of history’s most ferocious naval rebellions.

Jack the Ripper

From Vlad the Impaler to Jack the Ripper, meet seven of history’s creepiest figures.

Get all the facts and figures about the island of Alcatraz, commonly known as "The Rock".

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Big hunting knife with dramatic lighting.

One of history’s oldest unsolved mysteries is the identity of Jack the Ripper, the infamous serial killer who stalked and murdered at least five women in London’s East End in 1888. The brutality of the Ripper’s crimes—as well as Scotland Yard’s failure to solve the case—caused a wave of hysteria in England and inspired gory […]

Alcatraz Island Prison seen from above.

During its nearly 30 years of operation (from 1934 to 1963), the federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay housed some of America’s most notorious felons, including gangsters Al “Scarface” Capone and murderer Robert Stroud, the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz.” Dubbed “the Rock,” Alcatraz was known as the nation’s most secure prison, and […]

In June 1893 Lizzie Borden stood trial, later acquitted, for killing her father and stepmother with an ax.

Explore nine fascinating facts about Lizzie Borden, who may or may not have taken an ax and given her parents lethal whacks in August 1892.

There's more than meets the eye to Al Capone, the Prohibition-era leader of organized crime in Chicago.

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The Mafioso adhered to this strict code of silence when dealing with the law. Death was the almost certain punishment for violators.

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Who was Jack the Ripper? Various theories about his -- or her -- identity have circulated for decades.

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On April 3, 1996, a CBS news report announces the arrest of Theodore Kaczynski, the Harvard graduate who was suspected and later proven to be the Unabomber. Kaczynski terrorized the country for nearly two decades with a series of mail bombings that killed three people and wounded 23.

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Al Capone survived assassination attempts, brutal gang wars and an attack by a fellow inmate at Alcatraz. How did unprotected sex finally take down one of history's most notorious gangsters?

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A portrait of the Hatfield family of West Virginia, 1897.

Check out seven facts about the legendary 19th-century feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families.

Spencer Perceval, whose murder remains the only assassination of a British prime minister in history.

Two hundred years ago, an assassin gunned down British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval inside the hallowed halls of Parliament.

People pass by the painting "The Scream" by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in the new Munch museum in Oslo on September 7, 2021. - On October 22, 2021, the enormous new Munch Museum opens to the public smack dab in the city centre, in a specially-designed tower that is luxuriously spacious and modern -- and which has already sparked controversy. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by Terje Pedersen / NTB / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION / NORWAY IUT - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by TERJE PEDERSEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

Famous artworks like 'The Mona Lisa' and 'The Scream' have been among the treasures stolen from museums, churches and castles.

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano

Find out about famous gangsters who became informants for the U.S. government, including the recently captured Whitey Bulger.

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 20 1987: Mafia Boss John Gotti; aka 'The Dapper Don; ' is photographed on a street corner January 20, 1987 in New York City. (Photo by Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images)

We take a look at some of the most significant Mafia busts in the history of the organized crime network.

A street in Whitechapel: the last crime of Jack the RipperA street in Whitechapel: the last crime of Jack the Ripper, from 'Le Petit Parisien', 1891 (Photo by Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images)

Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who terrorized London in 1888, killing at least five women and mutilating their bodies in an unusual manner, indicating that the killer had a substantial knowledge of human anatomy.

Flowers Growing by Jonestown Pavilion (Original Caption) Jonestown, Guyana: A 25-man work crew of the Guyanese government is making a half-hearted attempt to keep the jungle from reclaiming Jonestown. Flowers continue to grow outside the main assembly pavilion at Rev. Jim Jones' promised Marxist "heaven on earth," where a year ago 913 Peoples Temple cultists perished in mass murder-suicides. The only survivors from Jonestown still around the scene of the tragedy are the goats on a livestock farm a mile and a half from the main compound, plus two cats and a dog named "Fluffy."

The “Jonestown Massacre” took place on November 18, 1978, after more than 900 members of an American cult called the Peoples Temple died in a mass suicide-murder under the direction of their leader Jim Jones (1931-78). The mass suicide-murder took place at the Jonestown settlement in the South American nation of Guyana.

381090 03: FBI photo of organized crime boss and ''La Cosa Nostra'' leader Charles ''Lucky'' Luciano. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)

Lucky Luciano was a Mafia boss who took control of the Five Families of New York City and established a National Crime Syndicate before his conviction in 1936.

John Gotti took charge of the Gambino crime family in 1985. Dubbed the Teflon Don, he was convicted on several criminal counts in 1992 and later died in prison.

Bugsy Siegel rose to prominence in the organized-crime ranks of New York City before he was shot to death in his Beverly Hills home in 1947.

UNITED STATES - CIRCA 2000: Chicago officials re-enact St. Valentine's Day massacre, the most atrocious in Chicago's history, which was planned in Al (Scarface) Capone's Florida residence. (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre shocked the world on February 14, 1929, when Chicago’s North Side erupted in gang violence. Seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, one of Capone’s longtime enemies, were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen on the city's North Side.

Portrait of American criminal gang leader and bank robber John Dillinger.  (Credit: American Stock/Getty Images)

John Dillinger was a Depression-era gangster, famed for his daring bank robberies and jail breaks, until he was shot to death by FBI agents in July 1934.

Huey Long (1893-1935) was the charismatic populist governor of Louisiana. He was tremendously popular with the citizens of Louisiana, and used his charm to put together a near dictatorship in the state. He was assassinated in 1935 by Carl Austin Weiss.

Huey Long, a populist governor and U.S. senator from Louisiana, was famed for his fiery oratory and radical reform proposals until his assassination at age 44.

Members of the Mafia, from real-life bosses like Al Capone to fictional gangsters like Tony Soprano, have captured the public imagination since the 1920s.

Lucky LucianoA crowd gather as mafia boss Charles 'Lucky' Luciano (1897-1962) leaves a building while in exile in Sicily, Italy, 31 December 1948. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images)

The Mafia, an organized-crime network based in Italy and America, evolved in Sicily among locals who banded together for protection from occupying forces.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 12, 2018: Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay is the home of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Now a museum, the prison (often referred to as 'The Rock') is managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The federal prison was in operation from 1934 until 1963. The former penitentiary is the most popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Alcatraz is a former federal prison located on an island in San Fransisco Bay. The prison once housed some of America’s most difficult and dangerous felons during its years of operation from 1934 to 1963.

Salvatore Lucania, called Lucky Luciano (1897-1962), gangster of sicilian mafia (with handcuffs and cigaret) leaving the court in New York on june 18, 1936 UNSPECIFIED : Salvatore Lucania, called Lucky Luciano (1897-1962), gangster of sicilian mafia (with handcuffs and cigaret) leaving the court in New York on june 18, 1936 (Photo by Apic/Getty Images)

The American Mafia is an Italian-American organized crime network with operations in cities across the United States, particularly New York and Chicago. The mafia rose in power through its illicit trade in alcohol during the 1920s Prohibition era.

The American Mafia rose to power in the 1920s, before anti-racketeering laws and other techniques brought down high-ranking mobsters by the end of the century.

Mugshot of Gangster Al Capone(Original Caption) January 25, 1947 - Chicago: These photos of Al Capone were made by the Bureau of identification of the Chicago police department, immediately after his arrest in 1931. He received a six month jail sentence in the Cook County jail when found guilty of contempt in Chicago federal court. He immediately filed motion to appeal.

Al Capone was one of the most infamous gangsters in American history. During the height of Prohibition, Capone’s multi-million dollar Chicago operation in bootlegging, prostitution and gambling dominated the organized crime scene.