What you need to know to make the most of them
On August 8, 1963, a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London was halted by a criminal gang in Buckinghamshire, England. The robbers got away with over £2.6 million (equivalent to £54.8 million or US$65.1 million today). The ringleaders were later sentenced to 30 years in jail.
Aviator Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son was abducted from the family home on March 1, 1932. A ransom was demanded. The child's corpse was later discovered and a German immigrant, Richard Hauptmann, convicted of the abduction and murder.
No one is left alive to remember this crime, but its audacity deserves a mention on this list—the theft of the Mona Lisa by Italian robber Vincenzo Peruggia on August 21, 1911. Pictured: agents and barrier of arranged benches set around the painting after its recovery.
Celebrated silent film actor Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was arrested on September 17, 1921, on suspicion of the manslaughter of aspiring actress Virginia Rappe. Arbuckle was eventually found not guilty of the crime and fully exonerated. However, the scandal surrounding the trial ruined his career.
Aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found murdered in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. She had been horribly mutilated. She became known posthumously as the "Black Dahlia." Her killer has never been caught.
On January 17, 1950, US$2.7 million (US$29.5 million today) was stolen from the Brink's Building in Boston, the work of an 11-member gang, all of whom were later arrested. For a while the audacious heist was billed as the "crime of the century."
Perpetrated by members of the Charles Manson "Family" in Los Angeles, the Tate-LaBianca murders of August 1969 remain one of the most notorious homicide cases in criminal history. Manson died in 2017.
On February 4, 1974, heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by terrorists. She then joined her abductors and took part in a bank robbery. Later jailed for her part in the crime, Hearst was eventually pardoned by President Bill Clinton.
Serial killer David Berkowitz, known as the "Son of Sam," terrorized New York City throughout the summer of 1977. He was arrested on August 10 and eventually tried and convicted of six murders. He is currently serving a life sentence.
Serial killer John Wayne Gacy was arrested in December 1978 and later charged with the assault and murder of at least 33 young men and boys. Sentenced to death in 1980, Gacy was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.
Captured in 1978 after committing multiple murders and escaping from prison on several occasions, serial killer Ted Bundy confessed to 30 homicides committed between 1974 and 1978. He was executed in the electric chair on January 24, 1989.
On May 22, 1981, English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, dubbed the "Yorkshire Ripper," was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. He died in November 2020, while serving life imprisonment, after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Dahmer, dubbed the "Milwaukee Monster," killed 17 men and boys from 1978 to 1991 before being caught. Sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment on February 15, 1992, he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate in 1994.
Described as the "most publicized" criminal trial in history, the 1994 O.J. Simpson murder case and subsequent "not guilty" verdict saw the former NFL player and actor walk free after being accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson later served a nine-year prison sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping.
Barings Bank collapsed in 1995 after suffering losses of £827 million (£1.6 billion or US$1.9 billion in 2019) as a result of fraudulent investments made by rogue financial trader Nick Leeson. He served a six and a half-year prison sentence in Singapore.
In mid-1997, Andrew Cunanan embarked on a killing spree, the five victims of which included international fashion designer Gianni Versace. On July 23 of that year, Cunanan turned the gun on himself.
On December 8, 1980, musician and former Beatle John Lennon was fatally shot outside his home in New York City by Mark David Chapman. A worldwide outpouring of grief ensued for the man who urged everybody to "Give Peace a Chance." Chapman is still in jail, and has been denied parole on several occasions.
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 of their fellow students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado before killing themselves.
On August 22, 2004, 'The Scream,' one of the most recognized works of art in the world, was stolen by masked gunmen from the Munch Museum in Oslo. They also fled with the artist's 'Madonna.' The perpetrators were later caught and either jailed or fined. In 2006, both paintings were recovered.
English serial killer Fred West committed at least 12 murders between 1967 and 1987, the majority with his second wife, Rosemary West. He killed himself in jail while on remand. Rosemary West was later sentenced to life without parole for her part in what the press dubbed the "House of Horrors" case.
Two Italian migrant anarchists, Bartolomeo Vanzetti (left) and Nicola Sacco (right), were controversially convicted of murdering two people during an armed robbery in Massachusetts on April 15, 1920. Both were sent to the electric chair—and both became the center of one of the largest causes célèbres in modern history, with thousands around the world believing their claims of innocence.
Anybody old enough can remember where they were on hearing the news on November 22, 1963, that the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated.
US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded on June 5, 1968, after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. His killer remains incarcerated.
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. His killer, James Early Ray, pleaded guilty to the crime and was jailed for 99 years in 1969. He died in prison.
In the late 1980s and early '90s, the so-called backpacker murders case gripped Australia when the bodies of several missing young people were discovered in Belango State Forest, New South Wales. In 1996, Ivan Milat was convicted of the heinous crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in jail in 2019.
The rural farming community of Holcomb, Kansas, became the center of nationwide attention when two ex-convicts, Richard Hickock (left) and Perry Smith murdered four members of the Clutter family in their home on November 15, 1959. Both men were later found guilty and executed. The slayings were detailed by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel 'In Cold Blood.'
In one of the most bizarre crimes ever investigated by the American FBI, an unidentified man they called Dan Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 on November 24, 1971, and extorted US$200,000 in ransom (equivalent to approximately US$1.26 million in 2019) before parachuting from the plane. The mystery hijacker was never found, and the money has never been recovered.
Six elderly burglars, whose average age was 60, were responsible for the biggest heist in English legal history when they pulled off the Hatton Garden safe deposit job on April 2, 2015. Items worth up to £14 million (US$16.6 million) were taken in the raid. The geriatric robbers were eventually caught and jailed.
The crimes committed by Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar during his life are numerous. But there is one atrocity in particular that remains especially heinous: the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 on November 27, 1989. Among the passengers would be the Colombian presidential candidate César Gaviria Trujillo, whom Escobar wanted dead. At Escobar's command, a bomb was planted on the aircraft, which exploded in mid-flight, killing everyone on board. Dandeny Muñoz Mosquera, the main killer of the Medellín Cartel, was convicted of the attack and is currently serving 10 life sentences. César Gaviria Trujillo was not on the plane.
One of the world's largest heists was carried out at Banco Central in Fortaleza, Brazil, on August 6, 2005. Around R$160 (today US$31.24 million when adjusted for inflation) was taken. Several of the gang have since died, while arrests of those still alive and the recovery of the money are ongoing.
The failed June 17, 1972, break-in of Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. led to US President Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.
Singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was 23 years old when she was gunned down by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club. Fans of Selena and the wider Latino community were shocked. Currently in jail, Saldívar is eligible for parole in 2025.
One of Britain's best-loved journalists and broadcasters, Jill Dando was shot and killed on the doorstep of her London home on April 26, 1999. A local man was convicted and imprisoned for the murder, but was later acquitted after an appeal and retrial. The case remains unsolved.
Swedish society was shaken to the core by the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme on February 28, 1986, on a street in central Stockholm. A suspect, Christer Pettersson, was convicted of the murder but later acquitted on appeal. He died in 2004. The case remains unsolved.
On July 22, 2011, Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik carried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since World War II when he detonated a car bomb in Oslo which killed eight people before embarking on a murderous rampage through a summer camp where he shot dead 69 participants, most of them teenagers. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, which can be repeatedly extended by five years as long as he is considered a threat to society.
Masterminded by Frenchman Albert Spaggiari the July 16, 1976, heist on the Nice branch of the Société Générale bank remains one of the country's most audacious robberies. Spaggiari led a gang underneath the premises via the sewers. They then dug their way into the vault to steal 100 million francs-worth of money, securities, and valuables. The perpetrators were later captured, but Spaggiari escaped. He remained free until his death in mysterious circumstances in 1989. None of the funds were ever recovered.
The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 on March 24, 2015, with the loss of all 144 passengers and six crew members, was initially considered a tragic accident. However, investigators eventually determined that the crash was caused deliberately by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.
London East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray ruled their manor with an iron fist. On March 9, 1966, Ronnie Kray shot and killed a rival in a Whitechapel pub. The following year Reggie carried out a particularly brutal stabbing on a minor member of their gang. The twins were jailed for life in 1969 and have both since passed away.
By the time he was executed in February 1994, Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo had confessed to 56 murders. He was tried in April 1992 for 53 of these brutal and grisly slayings.
Japanese businessman Kazutsugi Nami was arrested on February 4, 2009, on allegations of orchestrating a massive investor fraud involving the "Enten" quasi-currency. On March 2010, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his scheme.
At first considered a suspect in the Tupac Shakur killing, friend and rival Biggie Smalls was himself murdered on March 9, 1997.
The drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, of rapper Tupac Shakur and his death six days later reverberated throughout the music industry and exposed the darker side of the growing East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry.
The kidnap on July 10, 1973, of oil heir John Paul Getty III when he was just 16 years old made headlines around the world. Freed on payment of a US$3 million ransom—and only after losing an ear to his captors, the Italian Mafia-type 'Ndrangheta—the traumatized youngster never fully recovered from his ordeal. He died in 2011.
Known at the time as the Butcher of Plainfield, Ed Gain's crimes included the murder of two women in 1954 and a hardware store owner in 1957. But it was the subsequent search of his property that truly unearthed his horrific crime spree: police found the remains and body parts of numerous corpses exhumed by Gein during nocturnal visits to locale cemeteries. He ended his days in a mental institution, dying on July 26, 1984, aged 77.
On May 13, 2000, an enormous explosion effectively flattened the suburb of Roombeek in the Dutch city of Enschede. The result of a huge blaze at a fireworks warehouse, the blast killed 23 people and destroyed 400 homes. The two managers of the fireworks depot were subsequently jailed for six months for violation of environmental and safety regulations.
An unauthorized deviation from her planned route at the Isola del Giglio off the coast of Tuscany on January 13, 2012, led to the capsizing of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia and the loss of 32 lives. The captain, Francesco Schettino, was jailed in 2015 for 16 years.
On March 16, 1978, former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro was abducted from his car by a group of Red Brigades terrorists. Five members of Moro's police escort were killed during the kidnapping, and Moro himself was murdered 54 days later.
On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was struck by four bullets by as he was entering St Peter's Square in Vatican City. He later met and forgave the would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Ağca.
Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff is responsible for the largest Ponzi scheme in the world, and the largest financial fraud in US history, estimated at US$64.8 billion. On June 29, 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. On April 14, 2021, he passed away in prison.
A member of the UK's infamous Cambridge Five spy ring, Kim Philby was unmasked as a Soviet double agent in July 1963 when his treachery was officially confirmed. He died in Moscow in 1988.
US President Ronald Reagan narrowly escaped with his life during an assassination attempt on March 30, 1981. Would-be killer John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded Reagan as well as three others. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Pictured is the frame which once held Rembrandt's 'The Storm on the Sea of Galilee' (1633), one of 13 rare and valuable works of art stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in the early hours of March 18, 1990. Worth US$500 million, none of the haul has so far been recovered, and no arrests made.
Prominent gay rights activist Harvey Milk was murdered on November 27, 1978, by Dan White, who also killed San Francisco mayor George Moscone. Milk was the first openly gay elected official in the history of California, and an early advocate of LGBT rights.
Brazilian environmentalist and human rights advocate Chico Mendes was murdered by a rancher on December 22, 1988, in an act of senseless violence that made headlines around the world. His killer and several associates served jail time for the assassination.
On July 14, 1966, Richard Speck murdered eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital. Initially sentenced to death, the conviction was later commuted to life imprisonment. Speck died in prison in 1991.
In 1978, Ted Kaczynski began a bombing campaign that would continue until 1995, and which killed three people and injured dozens more. He became known as the Unabomber, after targeting those in the technology sectors. He was jailed for life in 1996 without the possibility of parole.
The death in Los Angeles of actress Lana Clarkson on February 3, 2003, sparked a murder inquiry that would lead to the arrest of famed record producer Phil Spector. After a mistrial in 2007, Spector was found guilty of murder in 2009 and sentenced to 19 years to life in state prison. He died in a prison hospital in January 2021, reportedly resulting from complications of COVID-19.
The assassination of Malcolm X is one of the most famous crimes in US history. The controversial civil rights leader was gunned down in front of his wife and children while making a speech in New York. Three men were convicted of his murder and sentenced to life in prison, and have been considered heinous criminals for more than 50 years. However, as of November 2021, two of those men have been exonerated. New evidence, along with FBI files that were withheld during the trial, has proven the innocence of Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam. Islam passed away in 2009 before he could see himself exonerated, and Aziz is now 83 years old. Attorney Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project has called it "one of the most blatant miscarriages of justice" he's ever seen.
That's an unexpected update on the most notorious crime of 1965.
On Thursday, October 6 2022, a gunman entered a preschool daycare center in the town of Uthai Sawan, Thailand, around midday. Reportedly armed with a shotgun, a pistol, and a knife, he started a devastating massacre by killing three or four adult employees, one of whom was a pregnant woman. He then broke into a locked room where the young children were napping. He proceeded to murder 22 of the 30 children present that day. The suspect then escaped the scene and returned to his home where he killed his wife and child before taking his own life.
The murder trial of Alex Murdaugh has been lengthy and highly publicized, thanks in part to the hit podcast 'Murdaugh Murders.' The prominent South Carolina lawyer was arrested in October 2021 on major fraud charges, a few months after his wife Maggie and 22-year-old son Paul were found dead on a vacation property owned by the family, having been shot multiple times. While in jail for his financial crimes, Murdaugh was also charged with the murders. In 2023 he went to trial facing more than a hundred criminal charges including murder, embezzlement, fraud, and drug trafficking. He was accused of murdering his wife and son in cold blood to distract from his other crimes. The trial stretched on for six weeks, but the jury took less than four hours to find him guilty of both murders. The incredibly complex and wide-reaching tale of Alex Murdaugh and his corruption isn't over, however. He has been implicated in at least two other deaths.
Click through the gallery and be amazed and repulsed in equal measure as you browse some of the most heinous and audacious criminal acts of recent history.
The worst crime committed the year you were born
These are the criminal acts taking place at the time
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What is the most notorious crime committed in the year you were born?
Click through the gallery and be amazed and repulsed in equal measure as you browse some of the most heinous and audacious criminal acts of recent history.