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John Wayne Gacy was a sex offender and a serial killer. He assaulted, raped and murdered at least 33 boys and young men in 1960s and 1970s. He tortured and killed all his victims inside his ranch house near Norridge, a village in Norwood Park. He was given death sentence in March 1980 and was executed in May 1994.
American serial killer, rapist, and burglar, Richard Ramirez terrorised the people of California, primarily Los Angeles, between 1984 and 1985 before being eventually captured by the police. The brutal criminal, also known as Night Stalker, was finally found guilty of 43 charges, including 13 murders and was sentenced to death. While on a death row, he died of cancer.
Known as Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele was the chief doctor of Auschwitz concentration camp and was responsible for killing thousands of Jews as well as torturing the prisoners mercilessly and conducting inhuman experiments on them. These included injecting them with chemicals and stitching twin children together. Despite his horrible crimes, the infamous Nazi doctor could never be captured.
Sexually and physically assaulted by her own grandfather during her childhood and teenage years, Aileen Wuornos took to prostitution to support herself. From becoming pregnant at age 14 to engaging in sexual activities in exchange for drugs, Aileen's early life played a major role in turning her into a serial killer. Her story eventually became quite famous in popular culture.
Notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia and was regarded as a “celebrity gangster.” Good-looking and charismatic, he was an enigmatic figure. He played a key role in the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Noted for his prowess with guns, he met a grisly end when he was shot dead in 1947.
Irish pirate Anne Bonny is considered one of the most famous female pirates of all time. She operated in the Caribbean in the early 18th century. As a teenager, she became the partner and lover of the notorious English pirate captain Calico Jack Rackham. She was captured in 1720 when she was pregnant. Her fate remains unknown.
James Earl Ray was charged with assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis on April 4, 1968 and was convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison in 1969. He served 29 years of his sentence before he died at the age of 70 from problems related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C.
Charles Ponzi was an Italian con artist and swindler who operated in Canada and the USA. He is best remembered for his money-making scheme in which he paid his earlier investors using the money given to him by later investors. Although this type of swindling investment scheme existed before Ponzi's time, it came to be known as a Ponzi scheme.
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury was a Bangladeshi politician who served under Prime Minister Khaleda Zia as the adviser of parliamentary affairs from 2001 to 2006. In 2013, he was convicted of war crime charges and sentenced to death for his actions during the Bangladesh War of Independence. Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury was executed by hanging in 2015.
The co-founder of Miramax Films Corporation and The Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein produced a number of popular and critically acclaimed movie like The King's Speech and Silver Linings Playbook. In 2017, the powerful Hollywood mogul was accused of sexual harassment by numerous women following which he was fired from his company and in 2020 sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Charles Cullen is an American serial killer and former nurse. He was convicted of murdering hundreds of patients during his 16-year career as a nurse in several New Jersey medical centers. Charles Cullen confessed to killing as many as 40 of his victims; 29 of which were confirmed. His life and career have inspired several films, including The Good Nurse.
Reinhard Heydrich was a Nazi police officer and a high-ranking SS. Heydrich is widely regarded as one of the main architects of the Holocaust, a World War II genocide that killed some six million Jews. Described by Adolf Hitler as the man with the iron heart, Heydrich is regarded as the darkest figure of the Nazi era by many historians.
The last person to be executed in Guernsey, John Tapner was convicted of the murder of Elizabeth Saujon, who was knocked unconscious and left to die in a burning house. He was executed in front of a 200-stong audience who had bought tickets to watch him die.
British-born Canadian colonel Russell Williams made headlines after his arrest for the murders of Jessica Lloyd and Marie-France Comeau, apart from multiple sexual assaults. The serial killer was later convicted, stripped of his military ranks, and sentenced to life imprisonment. A character in J.K. Rowling’s Troubled Blood was modeled on him.
