Luka Magnotta is a Canadian convicted murderer and former pornographic film actor. He was arrested for murdering Jun Lin, an international student from Wuhan. The murder was sensationalized by the media as Luka Magnotta mailed the victim's feet and hands to federal political party offices and elementary schools. The murder inspired a three-part documentary series titled Don't F**k with Cats.
Gangster and mafia boss Carmine Persico, also known as The Snake, Junior, and Immortal, led the New York-based Colombo crime family for a long time. He had been convicted for a number of crimes, including racketeering and loan-sharking and was serving a 139-year sentence when he died in 2019.
Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo is a convicted Mexican drug lord. He led a now-defunct criminal group called the Guadalajara Cartel alongside Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. In 1982, the Drug Enforcement Administration indicted him in a money laundering operation, but he fled back to Mexico where he was finally arrested in 1985.
Bugs Moran was an American gangster whose rivalry with Al Capone, the co-founder of the Chicago Outfit, is regarded as one of the most notorious rivalries in the history of the American Mafia. Over the years, Moran has been depicted in many films, including The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Al Capone, and Gangster Land.
Alvin Karpis was a criminal best remembered for leading the infamous Barker-Karpis gang in the 1930s. Renowned for his sinister smile, Karpis, who was nicknamed Creepy, was captured by the FBI in 1936. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment and was released on parole in 1969. He spent his later years writing memoirs like The Alvin Karpis Story.
Cary Stayner is a serial killer convicted of the murders of four women in 1999. He had a troubled childhood. His brother Steven was a kidnap victim, and Cary himself was allegedly molested as a young boy. As a young man, he became involved with drugs and entered the world of crime. He is currently on death row.
Phoolan Devi was an Indian bandit who later on became a politician. She was a victim of child marriage and later on gang raped by a group of upper caste men. To avenge her humiliation she went on to become the leader of gang of bandits Later on she became a politician and served as Member of Parliament. She was assassinated by an upper caste man.
Known as the Acid Bath Murderer, John George Haigh was Known for shooting or beating his victims to death and then dissolving them in sulphuric acid. To his friends, he seemed to be a wealthy man of culture. Though he initially got away with 5 murders, he was caught after his 6th murder.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is an Indian social group leader best known as the head of a group named Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS). Prior to his rape conviction in 2017, Ram Rahim was a famous religious leader, music composer, actor, singer, songwriter, writer, and director. In 2015, he was named among the 100 most powerful Indians by The Indian Express.
Charles Harrelson was a hitman who was convicted of assassinating John H. Wood Jr., a U.S. federal judge. Harrelson was the father of Woody Harrelson, who became an actor later, though Harrelson mostly remained estranged from his son. Harrelson's story inspired the 10-episode podcast Son of a Hitman.
A convicted sex offender, Larry Nassar was once the USA Gymnastics national team doctor. He is a former professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. At least 250 young women and girls have accused him of sexual assault. He is currently in prison on charges of sexual assault of minors and child pornography.
Starting his career with the army, French criminal Eugène François Vidocq fought in the battles of Valmy and Jemappes. Often jailed for petty offenses, he later used his expertise of being among thieves to form his own police force, or the police de sûreté, inspiring authors such as Victor Hugo.
Myra Hindley was an English murderer accused of raping and killing five children aged between 10 and 17 along with her partner, Ian Brady. The killings, which were carried out between July 1963 and October 1965, were dubbed the Moors murders. The killings and its aftermath were dramatized and adapted into an award-winning TV film titled Longford.
Jacques Plumain is a French serial killer who murdered at least two women in France and Germany between 1999 and 2001. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005. He served 15 years of his sentence before his release in January 2021. The murders inspired a couple of TV documentaries.
An Oxford alumnus, Dennis Howard Marks was an aspiring teacher before chose the world of drugs. He went from consuming cannabis to selling it, and was eventually jailed for 7 years. He used numerous pseudonyms, such as Mr. Nice and Marco Polo, and also penned a bestselling memoir.
Abu Bakar Bashir is an Indonesian Muslim cleric. He co-founded the Al-Mukmin boarding school and is the leader of Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid. According to the United Nations, he is the spiritual head of the extremist Islamist terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah that has links with Al-Qaeda. He was once imprisoned for supporting a jihadi training camp. He was released in 2021.
Amy Fisher, who came to be known as The Long Island Lolita, made headlines when in 1992, she shot and injured Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of her lover, Joey Buttafuoco. After serving her sentence, she released sex tapes and books such as If I Knew Then.
Currently serving a 28-year sentence for robbing and killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Peru in 2010, Dutch criminal Joran van der Sloot is currently also facing a probable 18-year sentence for smuggling drugs hidden in vegetables. He is allegedly also associated with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
Jihadi John was a Kuwaiti-born British militant who is believed to have been the person seen in several ISIL videos that showcased the beheadings of numerous hostages in 2014 and 2015. In November 2015, officials from the US reported that John was hit by a drone strike and his death was confirmed in 2016 by the extremist group ISIL.