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The people that will be highlighted in this article include the current leaders of the Sicilian Mafia, American Cosa Nostra, Neopolitan Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta, Russian Mafia, Albanian Mafia, Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, Montreal Mob, Solntsevskaya Bratva, Clerkenwell crime syndicate, Los Rastrojos, Sinaloa Cartel, and the Juárez Cartel.

Organized crime has always been a problem, but as we move into 2012 some syndicates have exploded with profit and influence. Criminal groups that used to follow illegal schemes have turned to more reliable forms of profit.

Semion Mogilevich


Semion Mogilevich has been described by the FBI as the most dangerous mobster in the world. He is a Ukrainian-born organized crime boss who is believed to be the leader of the Russian Mafia. All decisions related to the expansion and organization of the syndicate is run by Semion Mogilevich. He is an extremely intelligent and ruthless leader who holds a degree in economics. Mogilevich earned the nicknames “Don Semyon” and “The Brainy Don” because of his smarts. According to Wikileaks, Mogilevich has been connected with some huge companies, including RosUkrEnergo, Raiffeisen Bank, and Gazprom, which is a Russian state energy group.

Semion Mogilevich rose to the position of godfather after he gained control of the Solntsevskaya Bratva. The Solntsevskaya Bratva is a powerful crime organization from Moscow named after the Solntsevo neighborhood in the city. The syndicate is considered to be one of the most dangerous criminal groups in the world. They are known for a strict code of violence, drug smuggling, racketeering, illegal gambling, kidnapping, and contract killings. The Russian Mob is also one of the most profitable in the world and Semion Mogilevich is said to be a secret billionaire.

Matteo Messina Denaro


Who is the current capo dei capi of the Sicilian Mafia? This article will focus on a man named Matteo Messina Denaro who is thought to be the godfather. Denaro is currently not in prison, but is heavily wanted all over the world. In Italy, the Sicilian Mafia (Cosa Nostra) is a powerful criminal syndicate that emerged in the middle of the 1800s. The organization is composed of a collection of families who claim a territory in which they operate an extensive racketeering business.

In 2008, it was reported that about 25.2% of Sicilian businesses were indebted to loan sharks, who collected around €1.4 billion a year in payments. The Sicilian Mafia is believed to have a turnover of €6.5 billion through the control of public and private contracts. Mafiosi members reportedly use threats of violence and vandalism to muscle out competitors and win contracts. It is estimated that the Sicilian Mafia costs the Sicilian economy more than €10 billion a year through protection rackets.

All of these facts have put pressure on the Italian police to fight the Cosa Nostra. In 2008, the authorities foiled an attempt by the syndicate to reconstitute a new Mafia Commission. At the meeting a large number of names were nominated as the new godfather, including Benedetto Capizzi, Gaetano Lo Presti, Gerlando Alberti, Gregorio Agrigento, Giovanni Lipari, Gaetano Fidanzati, Giuseppe Scaduto, and Salvatore Lombardo. Some younger bosses include Giovanni Riina, Domenico Raccuglia, Pietro Tagliavia, Gianni Nicchi, and Raccuglia. Most of these people are in prison, but it should be mentioned that a large collection of mafia members continue to run operations while in jail.

Matteo Messina Denaro is a 50-year-old mafia boss that is widely considered to be the current godfather. He is one of the wealthiest fugitives in the world. Denaro is often portrayed as a ruthless playboy and womanizer by the media. He is violent man and has a reputation for fast living and expensive things. Over the last couple years, the Italian government has seized over 3 billion euros from dealings related to Messina Denaro. In 2011, an attempt to arrest Denaro failed and he escaped. Today, he remains one of the top mob bosses in the world.

Joaquín Guzmán Loera


After Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, a man named Joaquín Guzmán Loera (El Chapo) became the most wanted man in the world. Loera is the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and has been named “the world’s most powerful drug trafficker.” The Sinaloa Cartel is a drug-trafficking syndicate based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, with major operations in the Mexican states of Baja California, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua. The cartel has been called Mexico’s most powerful organized crime group and primarily smuggles cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana into hubs around the world.

The U.S. DEA strongly believes that Joaquín Guzmán Loera has surpassed the influence of Pablo Escobar as the “godfather of the drug world.” In 2011, Forbes magazine ranked him as the 55th most powerful person in the world. He is also one of the richest and a billionaire many times over. To keep a low profile, El Chapo is known to hold a vast collection of hideouts and underground fortresses. He is connected with many powerful government officials, police officers, and other businessmen who protect the cartels assets. A kingpin named Ismael Zambada García is the co-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The U.S. and Mexican governments are determined to capture El Chapo Guzmán before the upcoming 2012 presidential elections. Projections show that his arrest would be good for Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. In June of 2012, the PAN candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota said that if she was elected this summer she had the power to capture El Chapo and help diminish the control of the Sinaloa Cartel.

On February 19, 2012, Mexican lawmen “nearly nabbed” Guzmán Loera in a coastal mansion in Los Cabos just a day after Hillary Clinton met with foreign ministers in the same peninsula. In May 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would apply sanctions against Guzman’s sons under the Kingpin Act, which prohibits people in the U.S. from conducting businesses with them. Currently, a $7 million reward is being offered for information leading to El Chapo’s arrest, $5 million from the U.S. government and another $2 million from Mexico.

Chang An-lo


The United Bamboo Gang is the largest of Taiwan’s three main Triads. The Triad Underground Society is a term used to describe a collection of Chinese criminal organizations based in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau, Taiwan, China, and other areas with a significant Chinese population. In the early 1980s the United Bamboo Gang rose to attention when the group became involved with politics. The Bamboo Union was headed by mobster Chen Chi-li (King Duck) for over 30 years until he died in 2007. The true influence of the crime syndicate is not fully understood and the Bamboo Union is a violent group that will do whatever necessary to achieve their ultimate goals.

Similar to other criminal organizations, The Bamboo Union prefers that people don’t know who the Dragonhead (boss) is. For this reason, it is impossible to determine. However, we will focus on the possible leader Chang An-lo (White Wolf). The White Wolf is a top ranking official in the Bamboo Union who is dangerous because he is extremely smart. In fact, the White Wolf holds five separate bachelor’s degrees, three of which were obtained from American universities.

While serving a prison sentence in the United States Chang An-lo was quoted: “The clock can’t be turned back. Many brothers are now in the stock, finance, and construction industries.” The statement is indicating that the Bamboo Union has moved so far into the political sector that they can make billions of dollars and yuan from legal activity and don’t need to risk smuggling. It is well known that the Triads do not deal with drug trafficking. Currently, Chang An-lo is recognized as a former leader of the Bamboo Union crime brotherhood, but remains a fugitive living in Shenzhen, which is north of Hong Kong.

Domenico Condello


One of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the world is the ‘Ndrangheta. The syndicate is based in Calabria, southern Italy. The ‘Ndrangheta operate independently from the Sicilian Mafia and control over 3% of Italy’s total GDP through extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illegal operations. It has been estimated that the ‘Ndrangheta generate an annual revenue of about €35-40 billion. The main difference between the Sicilian Mafia and the Ndrangheta is their recruitment methods.

The ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate is active all over the world, but extremely prevalent in Canada, especially Toronto. Canada’s banking system is very secretive and doesn’t allow investigation, so it is an ideal place to launder money. Inside of the ‘Ndrangheta, the boss is given the title Capo crimine, but unlike other criminal organizations, this person is not the “boss of bosses.” They actually have comparatively little authority to interfere in family feuds or violence. The last known Capo crimine was Domenico Oppedisano, who was arrested in 2010.
During the late 2000s, the most powerful man inside of the enormous ‘Ndrangheta syndicate was Pasquale Condello. He was known as “Il supremo” (the supreme one) inside of the family.

Condello was regarded as a key figure in the world of trafficking cocaine between Colombia and Italy. He also controlled valuable water purifying contracts in some Calabrian towns. In 2008, Condello was arrested by over 100 policemen who converged on an apartment in the district of Occhio di Péllaro, on the outskirts of Reggio Calabria.

Since the ‘Ndrangheta rely on family blood to organize their hierarchical structure, the next person in line to be the supreme leader of the clan was Pasquale’s cousin Domenico Condello. Domenico is currently one of the most wanted men in Italy and has been evading police for years. In 2012, it was announced that a collection of Domenico’s accomplices and family members were arrested for harboring the fugitive. In 2012, Condello remains at large and a major force behind the ‘Ndrangheta management.

Liborio Bellomo


In the United States the Mafia is most active in New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, New England, Detroit, and Chicago. In New York there are five main families that run operations, including the Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Bonanno, and Colombo clans. The largest and most powerful of these families is the Genovese crime family. The Genovese family is known for running offshore gambling websites. In the 21st century the Genovese syndicate contributed to the U.S. mortgage crisis by taking advantage of easy bank loans. In the history of the crime family only five members have ever turned state’s evidence.

Officially, the current acting boss of the Genovese crime family is an imprisoned man named Daniel Leo, who is scheduled to be released in 2013, but another man named Liborio Bellomo (Big Barney) is said to be one of the fastest rising Mafia members in the United States today. In 1992, Vincent Gigante thought enough of Bellomo to give him control of the Genovese family’s day-to-day operations at the age of 35. Bellomo was considered Vincent Gigante’s logical successor as boss until he was sent to prison in 1996.

In 2008, Bellomo was released and regained his position in the family. His exact role is yet to be revealed, but many assume that Liborio Bellomo is one of the top gangsters of New York. Among the five families of New York the current acting bosses include Vincent Badalamenti (Bonanno), Domenico Cefalu (Gambino), Carmine Persico (Colombo), Steven Crea (Lucchese), and Daniel Leo (Genovese).

Kenichi Shinoda


In Japan, the largest organized crime syndicate is known as the yakuza. The group is extremely powerful and has a long history. In 2012, it was estimated that over 100,000 yakuza exist, with 85,000 of them living in Japan. The most powerful yakuza syndicate is the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi, which is one of the largest organized crime groups in the world. The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi is known for strict rules and tradition. The syndicate makes billions of dollars each year from extortion, gambling, the sex industry, guns, drugs, real estate, construction kickback schemes, stock market manipulation, and Internet pornography.

The supreme godfather of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi is named the kumicho. The first kumicho was Harukichi Yamaguchi, who ruled from 1915-1935. The current boss is Kenichi Shinoda. Shinoda is one of the most powerful and dangerous men in Japan. He gained control of the syndicate in 2005 after the retirement of previous don Yoshinori Watanabe. Under Shinoda’s rule, the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi has expanded and moved into some areas of Tokyo that are traditionally not Yamaguchi turf. He is the first Yamaguchi-gumi kumicho not to hail from the Kansai region and is well known for public appearances.

Kenichi Shinoda has been in and out of prison for his entire life. In the early 1970s, he was convicted of murdering a rival gang boss with a katana, and spent 13 years in prison. In 2005, only four months after being named kumicho, Shinoda began serving a six-year prison sentence for gun possession. He was released on April 9, 2011 and regained personal control of the crime syndicate. While in jail, the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi was run by Kiyoshi Takayama.

Takayama has been dubbed the “Katame of Nagoya” or simply the “Katame” meaning “one eye,” because he has a closed right eye. In early 2012, it was announced by the U.S. Treasury that it would freeze the assets of both Kenichi Shinoda and Kiyoshi Takayama. Journalists called the move “a slap in the face to the Japanese government” for taking a lenient stance toward organized crime. Since the 2011 earthquake, Japan has seen an increase in organized crime activity. The action was the first time the U.S. government used the 2011 executive order to “target and disrupt significant transnational criminal organizations.”

Pasquale Scotti


The Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization that originated in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world and dates back to the 16th century. The word “Camorra” was first used in 1735, when a royal decree authorized the establishment of eight gambling houses in Naples. The word is almost certainly a blend of “capo” (boss) and a Neapolitan street game, the “morra.” Unlike the Cosa Nostra, the Camorra is composed of individual clans that act independently of each other.

In recent years, various Camorra families have formed alliances with Nigerian drug gangs and the Albanian Mafia. In Campania, where the unemployment rate is high, the Camorra have began to offer children jobs in the area of criminal activity, including cigarette smuggling, drug trafficking, and theft. It is difficult for officials to fight the problem because the society of Campania has come to tolerate and accept the mobsters. The area is governed by a code of silence or omertà that persists to this day.

Pasquale Scotti is an Italian criminal and boss of the Camorra. He has been wanted in Italy since 1985 for murder, concealment of corpse, and other crimes. Scotti has been described as a smooth and ruthless personality. He is one of the most able of the lieutenants of the historic leader Raffaele Cutolo and is an extremely popular mobster. On Christmas Eve of 1984, Scotti escaped from the hospital of Caserta where he had been admitted for a wound to the hand.

In 1990, an international arrest warrant was issued against Pasquale Scotti. However, he has since disappeared. In January 2005, he received a life sentence for a series of 26 murders during the 1982-83 Camorra war between the NCO and the Nuova Famiglia. In October 2011, while Scotti had been on the run for nearly 27 years, the Italian police issued a new photo profile on the basis of a mug-shot from the 1980s. The new attention sparked interest in the case and prompted new questions over possible leads. Some people have described the possibly that Pasquale Scotti is dead.

Daut Kadriovski


Albanian organized crime is a major problem in Albania, the United States, the European Union, and other areas of the world. In Albania there are over 15 mafia clans that control organized crime. The Albanian mob is known for violence, torture, and terrorist activity. They have constructed an enormous crime syndicate that is primarily based around drug and arms trafficking. However, the syndicate participates in a diverse range of criminal enterprises, including car theft. Similar to other organized crime groups, the typical structure of the Albanian Mafia is hierarchical. They hold a deep reliance on loyalty, honor, and blood relationships.

Albanian Mafia clans are usually made up of groups of fewer than 500 members. They are secretive and little information is known about the current Albanian Mafia bosses. In the 1980s, the Albanian Mafia moved into New York and began to fight with the Italians. Today, the Albanian presence is highly evident and the organization has come to an agreement with other criminal syndicates, who have agreed to stay out of their way.

In Italy, Albanian organized crime gangs appear to control the car theft and trafficking market. Albanian gangs are believed to be largely responsible for sex trafficking, immigrants smuggling, and the heroin trade in the United Kingdom. They hold a heavy presence in France, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Australia, and Honduras. According to Wikileaks, Albanian Mafia clans are affiliated with various South American politicians and banks.

It remains unclear who the acting boss of the entire Albanian Mafia is, but it is clear that a man named Daut Kadriovski is one of the leaders. He is the reputed boss (godfather) of one of the 15 Families. A Yugoslav Interior Ministry report identified him as one of Europe’s biggest heroin dealers, and calls Daut Kadriovski a “major financial resource for the KLA.” In 1993, Kadriovski moved to New York and began to assert himself in the Albanian Mafia. He is currently wanted in 12 European countries, but remains a free man. Kadriovski gained the attention of the Australian Authorities after it was discovered that he created a drug pipeline through Albanian and Croatia to Sydney and Brisbane.

Diego Perez Henao


Los Rastrojos is a group that is currently engaged in the Colombian armed conflict. The cartel is considered to be the largest supplier of drugs in Columbia. They collaborate with a wide range of Mexican syndicates, including the most powerful Sinaloa Cartel. Los Rastrojos specializes in the transportation of cocaine, heroin, and illegal gold mining. They control the primary smuggling routes into Venezuela, which is a bridge for cocaine into Europe. The organization is, together with the Norte del Valle cartel, considered the “heirs” of the Cali cartel. However, some people feel Los Rastrojos are in fact the same as the Norte del Valle cartel.

Luis Enrique Calle Serna alias “Comba” was the leader of Los Rastrojos until he surrendered to the U.S. DEA in May of 2012. With the news of Comba’s arrest, second in command Diego Perez Henao (Diego Rastrojo) assumed control of the criminal organization. Perez Henao is widely considered to be one of the most powerful Columbian drug lords in the world, along with Daniel Barrera Barrera alias “El Loco Barrera.”

In the early years of Los Rastrojos, Perez was instrumental in the expansion and growth of the organization, sending out heavily armed cells to different parts of the country. He secured access to drug crops, cocaine laboratories, and corridors within Colombia. Before becoming a drug lord, Diego Rastrojo was a longtime hitman who specialized in collecting coca in rural areas. He maintains a low profile and little information is known about his personal life. As of 2012, Perez maintains direct command over Los Rastrojos across Columbia and takes a direct hand in combat. He has been indicted by the U.S. government and remains a federal fugitive.

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes


The Juárez Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas. The group has a reputation for intense violence and torture. They will mutilate their victims and leave the bodies in a central location for everyone to witness. To give you a clear estimate on the wealth of the Juárez Cartel in the late 1990s. After cartel leader Amado Carrillo Fuentes died in 1997 from plastic surgery complications he had an estimated wealth of US$25 billion, which makes him one of the wealthiest criminals in history.

Since 1998, the undisputed leader of the Juárez Cartel has been Amado’s brother Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. For a short time Fuentes formed a partnership with the biggest drug lords in Mexico, including Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, the Beltrán Leyva brothers, and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. However, after the Sinaloa Cartel refused to pay for a collection of smuggling routes into the U.S., the friendship was broken. The Juárez Cartel then became enemies to the Sinaloa Cartel.

The bad blood between the groups escalated in 2004 when Vicente’s brother Rodolfo Carillo was killed outside of a movie theatre allegedly at the order of Guzmán Loera. In response, Vicente Carrillo had Guzmán Loera’s brother “El Pollo” assassinated in prison. The event marked the beginning of a massive Mexican turf war which has caught the attention of media from around the world. In 2005, the Juárez Cartel was at the center of the “House of Death” case, where the organization was penetrated by law enforcement, but the case was compromised because the informant participated in the murders.

Despite the advancement of the Sinaloa Cartel, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes remains a billionaire and controls a large portion of Mexico’s drug trade. He collects hundreds of millions of dollars each year by smuggling huge amounts of drugs into the United States. Fuentes remains one of Mexico’s most powerful and wanted drug lords. The United States is offering a $5 million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.

Giovanni Motisi


The Motisi Mafia clan is a historical Mafia syndicate from the Pagliarelli area in Palermo, Italy. The organization is powerful and has a direct tie to the Sicilian Mafia. In the 1980s, a man named Matteo Motisi took control of the Motisi clan and became connected with the Corleonesi faction of the Italian mob. After Matteo was arrested for murder and sentenced to life in prison, his nephew Giovanni Motisi (u pacchiuni) took over as the new boss of the Pagliarelli family. Giovanni has been a federal fugitive since 1998 and is considered to be one of the more powerful bosses of Palermo.

Giovanni Motisi rose in the ranks of the Mafia with a reputation for violence and a quick wit. Motisi is close friends with boss Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested in 2006. After Provenzano was jailed, it is thought that Giovanni Matisi was given more responsibly in the Cosa Nostra. Today, the whereabouts of Motisi are unknown. According to some reports he is dead, while others maintain that he is hiding out in Agrigento, in the south of Sicily. If he is in Italy, there is no doubt that Giovanni Motisi plays an important role in the Sicilian Mafia.

Vito Rizzuto


In the last couple years the organized crime situation in Montreal, Quebec, Canada has become a problem for authorities. A turf war has been waged between the Rizzuto crime family, who has operated in Montreal for decades, and the Italian based ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate. In 2007, the long reigning Godfather of the Italian Mafia in Canada Vito Rizzuto was arrested and given a sentence of 10 years. Since then, many of the high ranking officials in the Rizzuto crime family have been murdered, including Vito’s father Nicolo, his son Nick, Paolo Renda, Agostino Cuntrera, and most recently Salvatore Montagna, who was an acting boss of the Bonanno crime family of New York City.

Vito Rizzuto is scheduled to be released from prison in October of 2012 and the police fear that he will organize a mass retaliation effort against the ‘Ndrangheta with the help of some powerful men. It can only be suspected that Ruzzuto will do whatever it takes to avenge the death of his family. Vito Rizzuto is a smart boss and according to law enforcement officials he oversaw a criminal empire that imported and distributed tones of heroin, cocaine, and hashish into Canada. Rizzuto laundered hundreds of millions of dollars and profited from illegal gambling, fraud, and contract killings. Some people have dubbed the Rizzuto clan the Sixth Family and put them on an equal footing as the Five Families of New York, so you can be sure that some important people are overlooking the situation.

Adams Family


The Clerkenwell crime syndicate or A-team is one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the United Kingdom. The gang was formed in the 1980s by Terry Adams and his two brothers Tommy and Patrick Adams. The family is known for brute force, violence, and wealth. They are said to be involved in drug trafficking, extortion, security fraud, gambling, as well as the hijacking of gold bullion shipments. The A-team has been linked to 25 gangland murders and often uses Afro-Caribbean muscle to influence informants and rival criminals.

Terry Adams is the boss of the syndicate, while his brothers control the finances and enforcement. The overall wealth of the brothers has been placed around $200 million, but due to the nature of the criminal world, it is impossible to determine the true extent of the A-team’s influence. The BBC has asserted that the crime syndicates strength has decreased since 2000. In 2004, Sean “Tommy” Adams gained attention in the UK media when it was discovered that he had been hired by former footballer Kenny Dalglish to secure the sports agency Pro Active’s exclusive management rights to Manchester United and England football striker Wayne Rooney.

In 2007, Terry Adams was convicted of money laundering charges and jailed for seven years. He was ordered to repay £4.7 million in legal aid and £800,000 of prosecution costs. Overall, it was a minor offence for Adams, who has the ability to keep a distance from murder and other serious criminal activities of the organization. Adams was released on June 24, 2010, but recalled to prison in August 2011 for breaching his license. He didn’t report a £7,500 facelift and £7,000 trip to the dentist. Currently, Terry Adams is in jail, but expected to be released in the next couple years. His two brothers are under surveillance by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and police in Spain, but continue to run the Clerkenwell crime syndicate.

John DiFronzo


In the world of organized crime it is rare for a high profile boss to remain out of jail and in power for a long period of time. John DiFronzo has accomplished this. He is the current leader of the Chicago Outfit. The Chicago outfit is one of the largest crime syndicates in the United States. They are known for violence, turf fighting, and have operations in many cities, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Miami. One of the Chicago Outfits biggest competitors is the Russian Mob. Unlike most organized crime groups, the Outfit has members from other ethnicities besides Italian Americans, including the Polish, Welsh, and Japanese-American populations. To this day, the Outfit has a strong influence from Al Capone.

In 1993, a man named John “No Nose” DiFronzo took over as the boss of the Chicago Outfit. DiFronzo was a veteran enforcer and caporegime of the family. He got the nickname “No Nose” because he sliced off part of his nose while jumping through a window during a 1949 clothing store burglary. DiFronzo is known for his dangerous temper. However, little information is available about his true personality. In 2005, DiFronzo avoided indictment in the “Family Secrets” trial of the top Chicago Mafia leaders. This fact, along with other federal indictments has caused some to question DiFronzo’s true motivations and possible connection with the police. As of 2012, he continues to run the Chicago Outfit.

Being a successful criminal is almost impossible. Because of the over-glamorous heists portrayed by Hollywood, most people assume that, in reality, crimes are almost impossible to get away with it. However lots of high-value robberies or burglaries have been attempted in recent times, and many criminals do get away with it.

Albert Spaggiari


Albert Spaggiari was a French career criminal who is best known for masterminding the Societe Generale bank robbery in France, 1976. As a young man he committed his first robbery in order to impress his girlfriend, but was soon captured and imprisoned. After his release and having served in the French military, Spaggiari became the owner of a photographic studio and was making a reasonable living as a law-abiding citizen. However, he apparently became bored with his middle-class life and sought to return to a life of crime.

He began to plan a break-in at the Societe Generale Bank, in Nice. He decided that, since the bank vault was located in the basement, the break-in would best be achieved by digging underneath from a nearby sewer system. He opened a box for himself and placed a loud alarm clock inside, setting it to go off at midnight in order to check for the existence any acoustic or seismic detectors that might foil his plan. In fact, the bank vault had no interior alarm or security systems, as it was considered utterly impenetrable.

Spaggiari then recruited a group of professional gangsters from Marseille to help him dig the tunnel. He instructed them to never drink coffee or alcohol, and always to get at least 10 hours sleep every day to avoid danger to the mission. After two months of digging, the tunnel was finished, and, during a Bastille Day festival when the bank was closed for a long weekend, the gang broke into the vault, itself. They opened up over 400 safety deposit boxes, stealing over 60million francs worth of money, securities and other valuables.

When the robbery was discovered, the following message was found on the vault wall: “sans armes, ni maine, ni violence” which is translated as: “without weapons, nor hatred, nor violence”. At first police were baffled, however, in the following months they arrested one suspect on a tip from a former girlfriend. The man later admitted being a part of the robbery and ratted out the entire gang, including Spaggiari. During his trial, however, Spaggiari managed to escape by distracting the judge, by handing him a fake piece of encoded evidence. He jumped out of the window, where a motorcycle was waiting for him and made his getaway.

He was never caught and the loot from the heist was never found. He died at the age of 52 of throat cancer, and his body was found dumped outside his mother’s house, presumably by unknown friends.

The Pink Panthers


The Pink Panthers are a Serbian gang of jewel thieves, who Interpol believe are responsible for some of the most glamorous armed robberies in history. Their bold style and intricate planning is thought of as artistry, even by criminologists. They have targeted many different countries, and have Japan’s most successful robbery among their thefts.

In 1993, the gang came to attention with their first robbery, when they stole a £500,000 diamond from a jeweler in London. The thieves hid the diamond in a jar of face cream resembling an act from the film: “Return of the Pink Panther” which earned them their nickname. Since then, the group have successfully robbed over one hundred and twenty different stores, in twenty different countries. Their attention to detail is the reason behind their high success rate. For example, before a heist in Biarritz, the gang coated a bench adjacent to the jewelry store in fresh paint to deter people sitting on it and seeing them in action.

The Pink Panthers are also known for their daring escapes and creative break-ins. In St Tropez, they robbed a store dressed in flowery shirts and then escaped on a speed boat. In another high-profile heist, the gang drove a pair of stolen limousines through a window into a Dubai mall, taking watches and other valuables worth over £8million. In yet another robbery, they dressed up as women and stole over $100million (£60million) worth of jewelry from a Harry Winston store in Paris, using Mission Impossible-style prosthetic make-up as a disguise.

Several gang members have been imprisoned. However, their group is thought to consist of over two hundred members, therefore, most have simply gotten away with their crimes. Their total haul is now believed to be in the billions of dollars. The alleged leader of the gang, Dragan Mikic, escaped from prison using a rope ladder, in 2005, whilst Pink Panthers fired machine guns at the prison wall. He has been on the run ever since.

Baker Street Burglary


The Baker Street burglary took place in London, in 1971, when a team of well-equipped thieves tunneled into the Lloyds Baker Street Bank Vault and stole £3million (2011: £31.7million) worth of cash and valuables from safety deposit boxes.

The criminals used a combination of metal cutting tools, such as a thermal lance and explosives, to tunnel into the vault from a nearby shop, and even had a lookout positioned on a rooftop. Near the end of the heist, a ham radio operator overheard some of the lookout’s walkie-talkie radio transmissions and contacted the police, who frantically searched over seven hundred banks within the area, in hopes of honing in on the location of the transmission.

Policemen even searched the bank whilst the burglars were inside the vault, however, since no damage was visible on the vault door, police assumed they had the wrong bank and left. They were unable to catch the robbers at the time, but nearly two years later a number of men were charged in connection with the burglary. However, the true mastermind was a London car dealer, who was never apprehended. The story of the burglary has been immortalized in the semi-fictional movie “The Bank Job” starring Jason Statham.

The School of Turin


At approximately 7pm local time, on Friday the 14th of February, 2003, the School of Turin were about to perform the largest diamond heist the world has ever seen. Leonardo Notarbartolo, the leader of the gang, had reportedly remained in the vault that Friday night when the security doors closed automatically, at 7:00 pm. Several hours later, the elevator leading down to the vault was purportedly used by three other members of the School. The motion detector at the foot of the elevator had already been disabled by an application of spray silicone, and the vault’s light detector had been rendered useless with a simple piece of tape. With all of the prep work done, the School of Turin found themselves alone with the vault of the Antwerp Diamond Center.

Gaining access to the vault was not the same, however, as gaining entrance. The vault itself was protected by a dual lock system: a combination and a key lock, and two feet of reinforced steel. The key part was easy, as duplicates of the key had been made in advance. The combination lock was a bit more difficult, and the police have yet to release information pertaining to exactly how this was cracked.

Buried behind those two locks was something else; a fail-safe alarm that consisted of magnets that would notify the police as soon as the vault was opened, and the magnets were no longer touching. The alarm was automatic and could not be turned off. The fail safe was defeated with the most minimalist of moves. The crack team of burglars snipped the magnets out of their resting places and taped them together, allowing the vault door to be opened without ever separating the magnets.

The taping of the magnets was the final step. There, in the vault, the School of Turin pried open that heavy door, knowing that they would be undisturbed as they gazed upon their jackpot, the largest diamond heist in history. For the remainder of the weekend, they set to breaking into safety deposit boxes. Out of the 160 security boxes, the highly skilled crew worked through 123, popping the locks with a tool they created specifically for the job. But these professionals didn’t merely grab diamonds, of which the trade is much more restricted than most would have you believe, no, they grabbed the paperwork necessary to sell the diamonds as legitimate. That which couldn’t easily be resold, and even currency, items with combined values totaling in the millions of dollars, were left carelessly on vault floor.

By the time the heist had been discovered the thieves were long gone. However, the alleged leader of the gang, Leonardo Notarbartolo, was convicted on the basis of DNA found on a half-eaten sandwich found near the crime-scene. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The other School members were never apprehended and it is unlikely they will be, as the statute of limitations has, or will soon, run out.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Robbers


On the night of March 18th, 1990, two men, disguised as Boston police officers, entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and stole an estimated $500,000,000 worth of artworks, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet and Degas. They gained entry by impersonating Boston Police officers, and telling guards that they were responding to a call. Once inside, they rounded up the guards and handcuffed them, placing them in the basement whilst they raided the second floor of the museum. The next morning security arrived to relieve the guards, but instead found the museum ransacked.

The museum still has the empty frames hanging in place (see picture), as an homage to the stolen art, and to show their hope that they may one day see them returned to their rightful place. The criminals have never demanded a ransom, and they will never serve any time, even if they are caught, as the statute of limitations has run out. The museum has offered a $5million reward for information leading to the recovery of the artwork, and has also said they will: “ensure complete confidentiality”, implying they are willing to pay a ransom.

Derek “Bertie” Smalls


Bertie Smalls was an English armed robber who was active in the 1960s and 70s; a time considered the golden age of British armed robbery. Smalls committed his first robbery when he was 15, and, after being imprisoned for a short while, committed his life to crime. Before 1970, Smalls already had a string of high-profile robberies to his name, and was a respected figure in the London Underworld.

On the 9th February, 1970, Smalls led a gang from the Wembley Mob, in the East End of London, to rob a Barclays Bank branch in Ilford. The gang successfully got away with £237,736, a record at the time. Most of the team left England on various routes. Smalls, himself, boarded a train to Paris and from there went on to the Costa del Sol, where he read English newspapers looking for police updates about the robbery. The police made an early breakthrough, with an informant naming Smalls as the leader of the gang.

Smalls returned to England and gave himself up in Northampton, where he spent the Christmas period in jail. On June 2nd, Smalls asked for a meeting with the chief inspector. Smalls had been informed by his solicitor that he would be spending at least 25 years in prison. In an attempt to reduce his lengthy sentence, he offered the police a deal to turn over every person connected with any criminal activity he had ever been involved with.

Smalls was given immunity from prosecution in return for his help. At the Old Bailey, the trial of the Barclays Bank raid commenced, and Smalls testified against every one of his co-conspirators. As he finished giving evidence against his former friends, they reportedly sang to him: “We’ll meet again” by Vera Lynn. The trial ended with a jail time for the gang totaling over 100 years in prison. In the months after the trial, Smalls helped convict 21 more associates, for a total of over 300 years in prison.

As a result, Bertie Smalls received no jail-time for his part in the Barclays raid, although there was rumored to be a £1million bounty on his head, instigated by powerful underworld figures such as the Kray twins. Despite this, he lived under police protection for the rest of his life. Even today, criminals who grass on their friends are said to be a “Bertie Smalls”. Pictured above is Harry Shearer portraying Bertie Smalls).

Paris Modern Art Museum Burglar


In May, 2010, a lone thief broke into the Paris Museum of Modern Art and stole masterpieces by artists such as Picasso and Matisse, valued at just under £100million. Unbelievably, the museum didn’t have a functioning burglar alarm, and the thief was able to simply smash a window and remove the pictures from their frames, without incident. The burglary was discovered at 7am the following morning. Although security guards were in the building at the time of the heist, they didn’t hear anyone enter, or notice the missing paintings or smashed window.

The crime was initially believed to be worth around £430million; however, this figure soon came down to just under £100million. Police have speculated that the paintings may have been “ordered” by a private collector, as this has been the case with previous art thefts in the city. As of 2011, no one has been arrested for the burglary and police believe that the painting is no longer in the possession of the thief. This theft is an example of very poor security around objects with extremely high value.

Carl Gugasian


This particular criminal was successful in baffling police during a bank robbing career that spanned thirty years, and netted him over $2million. The reason he isn’t higher in the list is because of his eventual arrest. When Carl Gugasian was 15 years old, he was shot while attempting to rob a candy store and was sent to a State Youth Facility. After his release he took deliberate steps, not only to avoid a normal life, but to excel in a life of crime. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, earning a master’s degree in systems analysis. He also went out of his way to receive military weapons training.

Immediately after his graduation, Gugasian began to plan out mock robberies involving stolen cars. On eight separate occasions he was planning to commit his first bank robbery; however he repeatedly backed down before entering the bank. Eventually, he committed his first offense, using a stolen car for his getaway.

It was after this that he began to develop his unique bank robbery modus operandi, with such meticulous planning that police were powerless to stop him. He would first look for banks in small towns, that provide easy access to a freeway. He then narrowed the search further by looking for a bank that had late closing times, in August or winter months, so darkness could hide his escape. He only robbed banks on a Friday, which earned him the nickname: Friday Night Robber. He then created a cache to store any evidence that connected him to the crime (including the money), immediately after the robbery. He would return later to retrieve the stuff, when the heat had died down in the following weeks.

As for the robbery itself, Gugasian would burst into the bank five minutes before closing time, when customers weren’t likely to be there. Donning a gruesome face mask from a horror movie (Freddy Krueger was a favorite), he would vault the counter in a standing jump, landing with a crash on the other side, which terrified staff. He then grabbed everything he could from the cash tills, and left in less than two minutes. Immediately afterwards he would disappear into the well-scouted woods and run for several minutes to a dirt-bike. Then he would bike for a further few miles through the woods to an anonymous looking panel van, waiting on the other side, where he’d load the bike into the van and drive away to complete his escape.

In the end, despite his meticulous planning and execution, it was a simple case of bad luck that led to his arrest. Two young teenage boys found one of his caches whilst playing in the woods. It was full of weapons, ammunition and face masks which had his fingerprints. Only enough evidence existed to convict Gugasian of 5 bank robberies, resulting in a 17-year sentence, which he is currently still serving. Despite this, he has still gotten away with over 45 armed bank robberies; an amazing feat considering that, statistically, over 65% of armed bank robbery cases in the US are solved.

2010 Credit Lyonnais Paris Burglars


On March 30th, 2010, burglars got into a Credit Lyonnais bank, in central Paris, and emptied over a hundred safety deposit boxes, getting away with millions of Euros in cash and valuables. The gang tunneled into the bank’s basement from a neighboring cellar, and entered the vault through a small hole they cut using a thermal lance.

The branch itself was closed for renovations, however, a security guard who heard noises from the basement confronted the robbers, who lashed him to a chair and told him not to move. Meanwhile, the gang ransacked 125 safe deposit boxes over the course of a few hours. They then set fire to the premises to eliminate any evidence. The fire set off the sprinklers, which alerted the tied-up guard, who assumed the robbers had left, so he raised the alarm. The full operation took around nine hours.

As of 2011, the thieves are still at large, and because of the lack of evidence it is unlikely they will ever be brought to justice. This raid bears similarities to the 1971 Baker Street burglary, and shows that security hasn’t improved over time as much as it should have.

French “Vacuum Gang”


Since 2006, in France, an unknown gang of thieves have been emptying supermarket safes, using nothing more than a drill and a modified vacuum cleaner. The innovative group of bandits found a weakness in French supermarket Monoprix’s system of storing cash, and have been exploiting it ever since. Envelopes of cash are funneled into the safe via pneumatic suction tubes. Whereas breaching the safe itself might be considerably difficult, requiring explosives or safecracking, the thieves realized that if they just drilled into the delivery tubes near the safe and hooked up a powerful vacuum, they could suck the money out and get at it much more easily.

This mode of robbery is very unique as most thieves would resort to safecracking methods, which leave more evidence. Techniques such as using explosives, or tools like a thermal lance or plasma cutter, are the common choice of career burglars. As of 2011, the vacuum gang have successfully stolen almost $800,000, in fifteen night-time heists, leaving only a few CCTV tapes of masked men for evidence.

Would you believe the accusations made of someone so young? Could a child really commit such crimes? These are not your typical childish crimes of stealing toys from a friend, or bullying a schoolmate.

There is a small amount of overlap from the list of evil children, for the sake of including people that really do deserve to be on this list.

Mary Bell
May 26, 1957


“Murder isn’t that bad; we all die sometime anyway.”

Brian Howe was found dead and covered with purple weeds and grass, days after the death of Martin Brown who died of asphyxiation. His hair was cut away, puncture marks were found on his thighs, and his genitals were partially skinned. Apart from these marks and injuries, a letter “M” had been imprinted on his stomach. This was originally an “N,” but Mary added a line to make it look like an “M.” The three-year-old boy had been strangled to death. When the investigation narrowed down to Mary Bell, she implicated herself by describing in detail a pair of broken scissors—which was confidential evidence—that had been played with by an 8-year-old boy whom Brian was allegedly with, according to Bell.

Mary’s family background may be responsible for her unusual behavior. She thought for a long time that her father was Billy Bell, a habitual criminal who had been arrested for armed robbery, but her biological father is unknown to this day. Mary claimed that her mother, Betty, who was a prostitute, had forced her to engage in sexual acts with men—particularly her mother’s clients—at the age of four. Mary ended up at an all-boys facility after her trial; she was too young to be held in prison and too dangerous to be kept in an unequipped mental hospital or an institution that housed troubled children. Her mother repeatedly sold Mary’s story to the press at the time of her daughter’s conviction. Mary was only 11 at that time. She was released after 23 years and fought and won the case for both her own anonymity and that of her daughter. This order is consequently known as a Mary Bell Order.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson
August 13, 1982, August 23, 1982


“All little boys are nice until they get older.” – Robert Thompson

James Bulger’s mother left her two-year-old son at the butcher shop’s door thinking that it would not take her long to return, since there was no queue in the store. Little did she know that it would be her last time she would see her son alive.

Jon and Robert, who were at the same mall as the Bulgers, were participating in their usual activities: skipping class, browsing the stores, pocketing things when the salespeople turned their backs, and climbing chairs in the restaurants until they were chased out. The boys came up with an idea to have a little boy get lost outside so that he would get knocked over by a vehicle. It was reported that the boys had a similar previous attempt on a boy before James, which failed because the mother had become aware of her missing child and found him before they could take him outside.

During their two-mile walk, the 10-year-old boys had punched, kicked, picked up and dropped James on his head. Some of the acts were seen by passersby who ignored them, thinking that they were just two older brothers who didn’t know how to take care of their younger brother. Jon and Robert brought James onto the local railway, where they flung paint in his left eye, threw stones at him, beat him with bricks, and hit him with an iron bar. They also sexually assaulted him and laid his body on the railroad track, covering his bleeding head with bricks when they thought he was dead. It was reported that James died sometime before the train hit him.

Jesse Pomeroy
November 29, 1859–September 29, 1932


“I might have done it.”

Jesse Pomeroy, born on November 29, 1959, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, was referred to as the youngest person convicted of murder, in the first degree, in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Pomeroy started his cruel acts against other children when he was 11. He had taken and trapped seven children in a hidden spot where he would strip, tie and torture them, by using a knife or by poking pins into their flesh. He was caught and sent to a reform school, where he was supposed to stay until he was 21, but was released after a year and a half for good behavior.

After three years, he had changed from bad to worse. He kidnapped and killed a 10 year old girl, named Katie Curran, and was also accused of the murder of a four year old boy, whose mutilated body was found in Dorchester Bay. Although there is a lack of evidence that can conclusively link Pomeroy to the little boy’s death, he was convicted for the death of Katie when the police found her body in the basement of Pomeroy’s mother’s dress shop, where it was carelessly left in an ash heap. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, which he served in solitary confinement; he died of natural causes at the age of 72.

Graham Young
September 7, 1947 – August 22, 1990


“It grew on me like a drug habit, except it was not me who was taking the drugs.”

At an early age, Graham Young had been fascinated with chemistry, particularly types of poison and their effects on people. His other great interest was idolizing murderers such as Dr. Hawley Crippen, William Palmer, Adolf Hitler and others. Young started experimenting with poisons when he was 14. He usually lied about his age, and explained that a given poison was for a school experiment so he could buy the chemicals he needed.

His family and friends were his victims. His father, upon becoming ill, originally thought he just had a virus of some sort. Then the apparent illness struck his wife and daughter. All suffered from continuous vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pains. In 1962, the mother of Young’s stepmother died from poisoning.

At 14, Young already had the expertise of a postgraduate chemistry student, all self-learned through library books. He sometimes became a victim of his own poisoning when he forgot on which foods he had placed his toxic chemicals. Young was caught when his teacher inspected his desk one evening after school, suspicious about the odd experiments Young was suggesting to the class. The teacher found poisons, essays about famous prisoners, and sketches of dying men. These revelations led him to call the police.

Young was sent to a maximum security hospital, but this did not stop him from poisoning hospital staff and fellow inmates (one of whom died). His knowledge was so broad that he could extract cyanide from laurel bush leaves. Young was released when he was 23 and went to live with his sister. His poisoning spree continued—his victims most often were coworkers. Young was sent back to prison and eventually died there.

Craig Price


“As far as the girls go, it was my utmost intention to let them live.”

Joan Heaton (39), along with her two daughters, Jennifer (10) and Melissa (8), were found lifeless, blood-soaked and brutally murdered in their home on September 4, 1989. They were stabbed so fiercely that the knife broke off in Melissa’s neck. Police reported that Joan had approximately 60 stab wounds, while the young girls had approximately 30. The authorities believed that burglary was the suspect’s main motive; the knife used was from the Heaton’s kitchen and the women had possibly caught the suspect and fought against him. It was also believed that the burglar must have been someone from the Heaton’s neighborhood, who would have obtained a cut or wound in the hand, due to the force and number of times the victims were stabbed.

Craig was spotted by the police with a bandage on his hand, but said that he had smashed a car’s window. The police did not believe his story. They investigated him and charged him after finding the knife, gloves and other bloody items when they searched Craig’s room. He admitted to the crime and to another murder that had taken place in the neighborhood two years earlier. The authorities already suspected him as the murderer in that case, which was similar to Heaton’s and had started as burglary. Craig was tried and convicted before his 16th birthday, and is still in jail.

Barry Dale Loukaitis


“This sure beats algebra, doesn’t it?”

On February 2, 1996, the Frontier Middle School was devastated by a hostage-taking incident and shooting spree that occurred in an algebra class. It took the lives of three people (two students and a teacher) and resulted in the critical injury of one student. The person accused was a 14-year-old boy named Barry Dale Loukaitis, who was experiencing delusional and messianic thoughts before the shooting. Barry was dressed to look like a gunslinger from the Wild West in a black duster, and armed with a .30-30 caliber rifle, a .357 caliber pistol and a .25 caliber pistol that belonged to his father. The students were held hostage for 10 minutes before a gym coach tricked and outwitted the boy.

It was believed that, aside from a history of mental illness and dysfunctional issues in his family, Barry was influenced by Pearl Jam’s song and video “Jeremy.” The video shows a troubled youth committing suicide in front of his classmates and teacher. It was also reported that he said “This sure beats algebra, doesn’t it?” when he saw his classmates panic. This is a quote from a Stephen King novel, Rage, in which the protagonist kills two teachers and takes his algebra class hostage. Barry is currently serving two life sentences, with an additional 205 years in prison.

Lionel Tate
January 30, 1987


“I was imitating the professional wrestlers”

What might be thought of as a regular TV wrestling match led to the death of a six-year-old girl named Tiffany Eunick. Kathleen Grossett-Tate was trusted to babysit Tiffany and brought her over to her house one evening. She left Tiffany with her son Lionel, age 14, to watch the television when she went upstairs. Around 10 p.m., she yelled at the children to be quiet, but didn’t check what the noise was about, thinking that they were just playing. Forty-five minutes later, Lionel called to his mother and told her that the girl was not breathing. He explained that they had been wrestling and he had her in a headlock as he slammed her on the table.

Authorities were called and a medical examiner reported that the cause of death was due to forceful stomping that lacerated Tiffany’s liver. Aside from that, experts testified that the girl suffered a fractured skull and rib, swelling in the brain from a beating that lasted from one to five minutes, and 35 other injuries. Tate changed his statement later and said that he jumped on her from the staircase. Tate was sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment without parole in 2001, but his sentence was overturned on the basis that he was not given a mental competency hearing before, or during, the trial. He was released in 2004 with 10 years’ probation.

George Stinney
October 21, 1929–June 16, 1944


“only when asked to arise and be sentenced, did he appear nervous and slightly excited” (Rowe, p.1)

On June 16, 1944, the United States set a record when they executed George Stinney (14 years old), the youngest person to be legally executed in the US during the twentieth century. George was convicted of the murder of two girls named Betty June Binnicker (11) and Mary Emma Thames (8) who were both found in a muddy hole. The girls suffered severe fractures to their skulls, inflicted by a railroad spike found some distance from the town. George confessed to the crime and said that he wanted to have sex with Betty but ended up killing the girls. He was tried and sentenced to death in the electric chair; the case was not appealed because his family had no money to pay for a continuation.

Joshua Phillips
March 17, 1984


“There should be a sensitivity to the fact that a 14-year-old is not a little adult.” – Florida Governor Jeb Bush

What started as a regular room cleaning ended with the conviction of a 14-year-old boy named Joshua Phillips. His mother went to clean up his room one morning after Phillips left for school. Mrs. Phillips noticed a wet spot under her son’s bed and thought it was a leak from his waterbed. As she was investigating the bed to see if it needed to be drained, she found electrical tape holding the frame together. She thought her son had known the about leak but didn’t want to get into trouble. She removed enough tape to discover her son’s sock underneath, but she was surprised to feel something cold. The beam of her flashlight showed her the dead body of Maddie Clifton, an 8-year-old neighbor who had been missing for seven days.

People in the community, especially the boy’s parents, could hardly believe he could have killed Clifton. Phillips was one of the neighbors who had volunteered to search for the missing girl. Because he was under 16, Phillips did not qualify for the death penalty. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, with no possibility of being freed. To this day, Phillips has not stated his motives for killing Clifton. He said he accidentally hit her in the eye with a baseball bat, and then dragged her to his room where he hit and stabbed her, but the jury did not believe his story.

Eric Smith
January 22, 1980


“You may think I’m a threat to the well-being of society. And I can understand why you would feel that way. The fact is that I’m not. I’d be an asset to society.”

At 13, Eric Smith was bullied because of his thick glasses, freckles, long red hair and one other quality: He had protruding, elongated ears. These were believed to be a side effect of medicine his mother had taken for her epilepsy when she was pregnant. Police charged Smith with the murder of a four-year-old boy named Derrick Robie. The younger child had been strangled, had large rocks dropped on his head, and had been sodomized with a small stick. When asked why he did it, Smith cannot give a definite answer. A psychiatrist diagnosed Smith with intermittent explosive disorder, a condition in which a person cannot control inner rage. Smith was convicted and went to prison. As of today, he’s been in prison for six years and has been denied parole five times.

Servant Girl Annihilator


Mollie Smith is presumed to be the first victim of the “Servant Girl Annihilator”, a serial killer who was active in the Austin, Texas area in 1884 to 1885. Pre-dating Jack the Ripper’s killing spree by almost 4 years, the viciousness of his attacks left the public hysterical, and some even tried to tie the two series of murders together as the work of one killer. At least 7 young women’s deaths are attributed to the Annihilator, who not only raped his victims, but bludgeoned or slashed them to death. Sometimes the murder weapon was an axe, and several victims were stabbed by some sort of spike in the ears or the face. The killers habit was to drag his victim from her bed while she slept, and because of this method on at least two occasions the victim’s male bed mate was attacked as well, resulting in the bludgeoning death of Orange Washington. Numerous arrests were made up to this point, but lack of evidence or airtight alibis lead to the release of all suspects.

By September of 1885 The Servant Girl Annihilator had attacked 8 people, leaving 5 dead. Things were quiet for a few short months, then a change of M.O. On Christmas Eve, 1885, not 1 but 2 well to do white women were dragged from their respective beds, raped and axed to death. The husbands of each of these women were arrested and placed on trial. Through the infantile beginnings of forensic science, each man was proven innocent of the crimes and acquitted. The murders stopped and no one was ever convicted for them.

Back to the Ripper murders, which took place in Whitechapel, London, England in 1888. One suspect, who rarely gets mentioned by Ripperologists, was a Malay cook calling himself Maurice, a man who had threatened to kill Whitechapel prostitutes but who had then disappeared. In 1885 he had been employed at the Pearl House, a small hotel, in Austin, Texas. The information was confirmed, and it was ascertained that the cook had left the premises in January 1886. The Servant Girl murders had ended just weeks earlier and most of the victims resided not far from the Pearl House.

Lake Bodom Murders


Lake Bodom is a freshwater lake near the city of Helsinki in Finland. It is also the site of a grisly mass murder that happened on June 6, 1960. Early in the morning a group of four teenagers, 2 18 year old young men and 2 15 year old girls were savagely attacked by knife and bludgeon, while sleeping in a tent at the lake. The attack left three dead at the scene and a sole survivor, Nils Gustafsson, who was severely injured with a concussion and a broken jaw. He recovered from his injuries and went on to live a healthy life. Despite the fact that there was a survivor, there were no leads that could provide an arrest for the deadly attack.

Twelve years later, to the day, a man left a suicide note confessing to the murders. He said he was a lemonade vendor at the lake and later that night killed the young teens. But police investigation into this written confession proved that the man had not committed the crime, as he was asleep with his wife at the time of the murders. Another lead came in 2003, when Professor Jorma Palo published his account of a man he had treated in his hospital on the night of the murders. The man’s name was Hans Assmaann, and he was treated for “suspicious injuries”. Palo alleges that the man was the murderer but the crime was covered up because of Assmaan’s ties to the KGB.

The most confusing twist to the story is the arrest of Nils Gustafsson, the survivor of the attack, in 2004. It was 44 years after the crime and Gustafsson was now 62 years old. According to the official statement, “Gustafsson erupted in jealous anger over his feelings for his new girlfriend. She was stabbed multiple times after the fatal blow, while the two other teenagers were killed less savagely”. Despite having come to trial, blood evidence could not be linked to Gustafsson, and he was acquitted in 2005. In the name of fairness, Finland awarded Gustafsson a large monetary settlement “for mental suffering caused by the long remand time.”

Mary Pinchot Meyer


A New England socialite that was raised in full stereotypical fashion, Mary Pinchot Meyer is another one of the many women who has died because of an association to the Kennedys. A graduate of Brearly School and Vassar College, Mary took an early interest in communism and was a member of the American Labor Party. Working as a journalist for Mademoiselle magazine kept Mary in the finest of company among the political comers and the ingenues that they spent their time with. Nobody was surprised when she married Cord Meyer, a U.S. Marine lieutenant who was on his way up the ladder, in 1945. By 1947 she was happy to leave her job as editor of Atlantic Monthly, to become a stay at home mother to her three children. Meanwhile, Cord Meyer was able to secure a position with the CIA, and the fact that he was a member of the communist party was not an issue. In the early 50′s Cord Meyer became one of the primary operatives in “Operation Mockingbird”, a covert mission to sway public opinion, using mass media. Mary’s communist leanings may also have been useful to the CIA, but they deemed her many love affairs left her too “unreliable”.

In 1956, the death of Mary’s middle son paved the way for a divorce, and opened the door for a more adventurous love life, and Mary had no problem turning a long time friendship with John F. Kennedy into something more illicit. Now comes the weird part. It seems that at this point in time there was an underground plot among a small circle of upper socialite women to influence the decision making processes of high political figures (men) by using sex and LSD. Mary was one of this little group, and her target was JFK himself. Considering their affair occurred during the Bay of Pigs fiasco, it is quite possible she DID have some influence on his policies.

Mary Pinchot Meyer was killed on 12 October, 1964, eleven months after John F. Kennedy’s assassination and two weeks after the Warren Commission report was made public. Mary’s body had two bullet wounds, one at the back of the head and another in her heart. FBI forensics stated that the wounds were made at close range, possibly point blank range. Upon her death those closest to her frantically searched for Mary’s diary and it was eventually found and burned. The burning was witnessed by two family members, who say that the affair with JFK was documented, but there was no further information that would shed light upon his assassination.

In 2001 Cord Meyer was asked if he knew who had killed Mary. He responded “The same sons of bitches that killed John F. Kennedy.”

Catrine da Costa


Prostitution is hardly a safe way to earn a living and it proved deadly to Catrine da Costa in the spring of 1984. Working just north of Stockholm, Sweden, her dismembered body was found in two different sites in the city of Solna. Reported missing on June 10th, the first bag of body parts wasn’t discovered until July 18th. A second bag was discovered at Karlbergs beach in Solna on August the 7th, though her head, internal organs, one breast and genitalia have never been found. It’s the lack of these particular body parts that is the primary reason that no one has been brought to justice for the crime.

Two doctors, a pathologist who worked in between the two dump sites, and a general practitioner, whose very young daughter recalled memories of her father committing the crime were both arrested and sent to trial. But since there was no evidence of the method of murder, due to the missing body parts, there was no way to determine if the victim had “died of natural circumstances” and the Swedish legal system was forced to acquit the two men. Not to worry, the two doctors had their medical licenses rescinded and are no longer able to pursue a career in their trained fields. That hasn’t stopped them from suing for wrongful loss of income, and after almost a decade of legal maneuvering their suit has been denied as of February, 2010.

Tupac Shakur


Born Tupac Amuru Shakur, he was also known as 2Pac and sometimes, Makaveli. American born rapper and actor, Tupac has been featured in quite a few lists here at ListVerse, and now one more. The night that Tupac was fatally shot is quite well documented. He was never alone, being in the company of Marion “Suge” Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records the whole evening. On September 6, 1996 Tupac started his evening ringside at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada with such company as Louis Gossett Jr., Charlie Sheen and baseball great Reggie Jackson to watch Mike Tyson demolish Bruce Seldon in two minutes flat. After a brief scuffle with Orlando Anderson in the lobby of the MGM, Tupac then accompanied Suge to his home in a suburb of Las Vegas. About 10 PM the pair and their entourage left Suge’s home to go Club 662, where Tupac was scheduled to perform with the rap band Run DMC. They never arrived. Stopped at a red light, their car was boxed in on three sides by other vehicles and a fourth car rolled up on the left and started shooting. Out of the 13 bullets shot into Suge’s BMW, Tupac took three, one to his chest, one to his hip and one in the hand.

Two tires had been flattened in the shooting and on the way to the hospital a third tire blew out, and help had to be called. Paramedics were able to get Tupac to University Medical Center, where emergency surgery was performed. But to no avail, after three surgeries and the removal of one of his lungs Tupac succumbed to his injuries six days later.

Some say Tupac was killed due to his ties with gangs, others say he was killed because his mother was once a Black Panther. Maybe it was because of the feud between Death Row Records and New York based Bad Boy Records, run by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. There was also another ongoing rivalry with Christopher Wallace, AKA the Notorious B.I.G. Regardless, the only witness who agreed to testify in the event of an arrest, Yafeu Fala, was killed two months later in New Jersey, leaving no other witnesses able to help with the case.

Amber Hagerman


Unsolved murders are disturbing enough, but the thought that there is a child killer still roaming free has to be one of the worst realities that can be thrust upon the members of a community. Amber Hagerman was a beautiful little 10 year old girl from Arlington, Texas. On January 13,1996 a young playmate was able to provide to police a description of the man who quickly and forcibly pushed Amber into his black van and sped away. A search for the van was immediately organized, but it was four days before her little body was found. A man walking his dog found Amber’s body in a creek bed. Her throat was cut, but not until two days after her abduction.

In 2007 Terapon Adhahn, of Tacoma, Washington was arrested in connection to a series of child abduction rapes in the Washington state area, and he is the only suspect to date for the murder of Amber, although no charges for her murder have been able to be served. There is still a $75,000 reward offered for information that might lead to her killer.

Amber leaves behind a legacy. The Amber Alert is a public notification system adopted in the U.S. as a quick response effort to help expedite the safety and return of missing or kidnapped children. In April 2003, President George W. Bush signed the AMBER Alert legislation, making it a national program. Other legislation generated by Amber’s murder has since resulted in a national sex offender registry, and both of Amber’s parents were present when Bill Clinton signed the bill into law.

Julie Ward


Julie Ward, a 28 year old wildlife photographer from Ipswich was visiting in Kenya, and was found dead in the Masai Mara Game Reserve in 1988, after her friends reported that she hadn’t attended a farewell dinner the night before they were to depart Africa. Her dismembered and burned body was found deep within the reserve’s boundaries a week after she was reported missing. The original theory put forth by the Kenyan officials was that she had been eaten by lions and struck by lightning, but they later accepted that she was murdered after her father’s efforts uncovered further evidence. It was discovered that coroner’s reports had been altered to mask evidence of human participation in Julie’s murder.

There have been two trials regarding this case, one in 1992 and one in 1998, but all three suspects were acquitted. The case has reached international attention due to the efforts of Julie’s father, John Ward. He has traveled to Africa over 100 times and invested over 1 million pounds in his attempts to bring the killer(s) to justice, but since the involvement of high power officials like former President Daniel Moi and concerns for the safety of the Kenyan tourism industry there have been no killers convicted to this day.

Dian Fossey


Dian Fossey came to the world’s attention for her pioneering studies with gorillas in Africa, and her subsequent efforts to stop the poaching of the creatures she came to love. In 1967 Fossey founded the Karisoke Research Center, the base of operations for her studies, located deep within the Virunga Mountains, Rwanda. Her photograph was featured on the cover of National Geographic Magazine in January 1970, and photographs showing the gorilla “Peanuts” touching Fossey’s hand depicted the first recorded peaceful contact between a human being and a wild gorilla. Her book, Gorillas in the Mist, remains the best-selling book about gorillas of all time, and she sold the rights to Universal Studios for one million dollars so she could continue to fund her research and conservation efforts.

In 1985 Fossey was found dead in her bed at the Karisoke site. She was found with the machete she had confiscated from poachers and hung upon her wall, buried in her skull. Evidence found at the scene incriminated employees of the research center and the entire staff was arrested. They were subsequently released. No one has ever been prosecuted for her murder, though many theories abound, concentrating upon the illicit black market and the poaching of gorillas and other protected wildlife. Chances are no one will ever be prosecuted.

Fossey is buried next to her cherished gorilla friend Digit, at the Karisoke Research Center, in the special graveyard she constructed for the gorillas that she spent the better part of her life studying.

Bob Crane


Robert “Bob” Crane was an American TV actor best known for his portrayal of Col. Hogan from the comedy series “Hogan’s Heroes”. The series ran for 6 years (1965-1971) and Crane became beloved for his manly good looks and engagingly roguish demeanor in his attempts to sabotage the Nazi war effort from the confines of a POW camp. What the public didn’t know about Crane was his private battle with sex addiction, which destroyed two marriages. This addiction not only involved innumerable sexual encounters with young women, and heavy activity in the underground sex scene, but developed into an obsession with cameras, sex films and the newly developed world of video.

On June 29, 1978 Crane was discovered bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale, Arizona apartment. Primary suspect–John Carpenter. No, NOT the famous director, this Carpenter was a fellow sex addict who introduced Crane to the use of video in their sexual activities. Carpenter admits that he was with Crane his last night alive, but denies that he was the one who killed Crane with multiples blows to the head with a video tripod, even though brain matter was found in the rental car that Carpenter was driving. Unfortunately the case was handled poorly from the beginning by the Scottsdale and Phoenix police departments, and because of botched forensics as well as political maneuverings within the district attorney’s office that had little to do with the case itself, Carpenter remains free today.

The Seewen Murders


The Seewen murders took place during Pentecost weekend in 1976 and remains one of Switzerland’s biggest unsolved murder cases. Five members of the Siegrist family ranging in ages from 45 to 80 years old were found dead in a weekend home in the protected forest of Seewen. Police suspect that only two of the family members were the targeted victims, while the other three just had the unfortunate luck to be in the home as well. The cause of death was obvious, 13 rounds from a Winchester type shotgun. What was a little more surprising was the accuracy of the rounds fired. 11 shots to the head, 2 shots to the upper chest.

To this day the majority of the Swiss public believes the likely murderer to be Carl Doser (pictured above), In 1996, an Italian made Winchester shotgun was found hidden in the walls of the Doser home. Forensic testing determined that this was indeed the murder weapon, but no motive, nor documentation of any meetings between Doser and the victims has ever been verified and he remains only a suspect.

A second theory revolves around Johnny Siegrist, a family member to the victims, who may have been assisted by Doser. Johnny was the likely purchaser of ammunition at Basler Steinenvorstadt, and the clerk recalls being asked if the Kal. 38 Spez ammunition would fit an “Italian made Winchester”. Upon searching Johnny’s residence, stryrofoam heads that had been shot through were discovered. Possible motive…Being belittled by the family. Johnny Siegrist was temporarily jailed, but his death in the early 80′s has left no one to be held accountable for the murders.