Crime & Anti-Crime, RID-WOR
This category explores both sides of crime, delving into many different aspects and cases of unlawful conduct. It includes perpetrators as well as victims and those who fought against crime in an effort to establish a safe community environment.
Crime & Anti-Crime Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Roberto Ridolfi was a Florentine conspirator who attempted in 1570–71 to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England......
Johnny Ringo was an American Western outlaw, a loner, noted for his deadly fast draw. Not much is known of Ringo,......
Rob Roy was a noted Highland outlaw whose reputation as a Scottish Robin Hood was exaggerated in Sir Walter Scott’s......
Bartholomew Roberts was a pirate captain of a succession of ships—the “Royal Rover,” “Fortune,” “Royal Fortune,”......
Woodes Rogers was an English privateer and governor of the Bahamas who helped suppress piracy in the Caribbean.......
Rollo was a Scandinavian rover who founded the duchy of Normandy. According to later Scandinavian sagas, Rollo,......
Sir Michael Rose is a British military officer who commanded United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces in Bosnia......
Rosewood massacre of 1923, an incident of racial violence that lasted several days in January 1923 in the predominantly......
Arnold Rothstein was an American big-time gambler, bootlegger, and friend of high-placed politicians and businessmen,......
Jack Ruby was an American nightclub owner who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin of Pres. John F.......
Rwanda genocide of 1994, planned campaign of mass murder in Rwanda that occurred over the course of some 100 days......
Rye House Plot, (1683), alleged Whig conspiracy to assassinate or mount an insurrection against Charles II of England......
Efraín Ríos Montt was a Guatemalan army general and politician who ruled Guatemala as the leader of a military......
Sallust was a Roman historian and one of the great Latin literary stylists, noted for his narrative writings dealing......
Sand Creek Massacre, (November 29, 1864), controversial surprise attack upon a camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho people......
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012, that left 26......
Boris Viktorovich Savinkov was a revolutionary who violently opposed both the imperial and the Soviet regimes in......
U Saw was a Burmese political leader who conspired in the assassination of Aung San, the resistance leader who......
Fabian von Schlabrendorff was a West German lawyer, best known for his participation in two attempts to assassinate......
Dutch Schultz was an American gangster of the 1920s and ’30s who ran bootlegging and other rackets in New York......
Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who was the prototype of the marooned traveler in Daniel Defoe’s novel......
Raúl Sendic was the Uruguayan rebel leader and the founder of the leftist Tupamaro National Liberation Front (1963).......
September 11 attacks, series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed in 2001 by 19 militants associated......
September 30th Movement, group of Indonesian military personnel who captured and murdered six generals in 1965,......
September Massacres, mass killing of prisoners that took place in Paris from September 2 to September 6 in 1792—a......
Seven Oaks Massacre, (1816), destruction of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Red River Settlement in what is now Manitoba,......
Francesco Sforza was a condottiere who played a crucial role in 15th-century Italian politics and, as duke of Milan,......
Muzio Attendolo Sforza was a soldier of fortune who played an important role in the wars of his period and whose......
al-Shabaab, Somali-based Islamist militant group with links to al-Qaeda. Beginning in 2006, the group waged an......
Yitzḥak Shamir was a Polish-born Zionist leader and prime minister of Israel in 1983–84 and 1986–90 (in alliance......
Sharpeville massacre, (March 21, 1960), incident in the Black township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, South......
Jack Sheppard was an 18th-century English thief who managed four spectacular escapes from London prisons and became......
Shining Path, Peruvian revolutionary organization that endorsed Maoism and employed guerrilla tactics and violent......
Harold Shipman was a British doctor and serial killer who murdered about 250 of his patients, according to an official......
Sicilian Mafia, hierarchically structured organization of criminals in Sicily, Italy. The Sicilian Mafia is made......
Sicilian Vespers, (1282) massacre of the French with which the Sicilians began their revolt against Charles I,......
Bugsy Siegel was an American gangster who played an instrumental role in the initial development of Las Vegas gambling.......
O.J. Simpson was an American collegiate and professional football player who was a premier running back, known......
Sinaloa cartel, international crime organization that is among the most-powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in......
Yahya Sinwar was the de facto leader of Hamas from 2017 to 2024 and the de jure leader as head of its political......
Sirhan Sirhan is a Palestinian-born Jordanian citizen who was convicted (1969) of fatally shooting U.S. Sen. Robert......
Jack Slade was a gunfighter and murderer of the American West. Born in Illinois, Slade ran away while still a boy......
Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons was a courtier and soldier in the intrigues between Marie de Médicis, Louis......
Richard Speck was an American mass murderer known for killing eight female nursing students in a Chicago town house......
Phil Spector was an American record producer of the 1960s, described by the writer Tom Wolfe as the “First Tycoon......
Spirit Lake Massacre, (March 8–12, 1857), incident in northwestern Iowa, U.S., in which a band of Sioux Indians......
Srebrenica genocide, slaying of more than 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) boys and men, perpetrated by Bosnian Serb......
Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, massacre of French Huguenots (Protestants) in Paris on August 24/25, 1572, plotted......
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, mass murder of a group of unarmed bootlegging gang members in Chicago on February......
Joseph Stalin was the secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–53) and premier of the......
Stern Gang, Zionist extremist organization in Palestine, founded in 1940 by Avraham Stern (1907–42) after a split......
Stockholm Bloodbath, (Nov. 8–9, 1520), the mass execution of Swedish nobles by the Danish king Christian II (reigned......
Robert Stroud was an American criminal, a convicted murderer who became a self-taught ornithologist during his......
Sundance Kid was an American outlaw, reputed to be the best shot and fastest gunslinger of the Wild Bunch, a group......
Mary Surratt was an American boardinghouse operator, who, with three others, was convicted of conspiracy to assassinate......
Willie Sutton was a celebrated American bank robber and prison escapee who earned his nickname “the Actor” because......
T4 Program, Nazi German effort—framed as a euthanasia program—to kill incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled,......
Taliban, ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following......
Tamil Tigers, guerrilla organization that sought to establish an independent Tamil state, Eelam, in northern and......
Taoka Kazuo was Japan’s major crime boss (oyabun), who, after World War II, rose to head a giant crime organization,......
Luis Taruc was a Philippine leader (1942–54) of the communist Huk (Hukbalahap) movement. The son of poor peasants,......
Tate murders, the shocking and grisly murders of actress Sharon Tate and four other people by followers of cult......
Tenji was the 38th emperor of Japan, from 668 to 672, and the ruler who freed the Japanese court from the domination......
Texas Tower shooting of 1966, mass shooting in Austin, Texas, on August 1, 1966, in which Charles Whitman, a student......
Francis Throckmorton was an English conspirator, the central figure in the unsuccessful Throckmorton Plot to overthrow......
Tianjin Massacre, (June 21, 1870), in Tianjin (Tientsin), China, violent outbreak of Chinese xenophobic sentiment......
Even before the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, they had made no secret of their anti-Semitism. As early......
Tiradentes Conspiracy, (1789), plot organized in the captaincy of Minas Gerais, Brazil, against the Portuguese......
Tokyo subway attack of 1995, coordinated multiple-point terrorist attack in Tokyo on March 20, 1995, in which the......
Johnny Torrio was an American gangster who became a top crime boss in Chicago and one of the founders of modern......
Roger Touhy was a Chicago-area bootlegger, brewer, and gambling boss during the Prohibition era. In 1934 Touhy......
Gaius Trebonius was a Roman general and politician who had been one of Caesar’s most trusted lieutenants before......
Tupamaro, Uruguayan leftist urban guerrilla organization founded in about 1963. The group was named for Túpac Amaru......
Dick Turpin was an English robber who became celebrated in legend and fiction. Son of an alehouse keeper, Turpin......
Sir James Tyrrell was an English soldier and royal official alleged by the 16th-century Humanist Sir Thomas More......
Mike Tyson is an American boxer who, at age 20, became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. His achievements......
Conspiracy of the Távoras, (1758–59), event in Portuguese history that enabled the Marquis de Pombal, chief minister......
Martyrs of Uganda, group of 45 Anglican and Roman Catholic martyrs who were executed during the persecution of......
Doku Umarov was a Chechen separatist and guerrilla leader who declared himself emir of the so-called Islamic Caucasus......
USA PATRIOT Act, U.S. legislation, passed by Congress in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks......
USS Cole attack, attack by Muslim militants associated with the organization al-Qaeda against a U.S. naval destroyer,......
Ustaša, Croatian fascist movement that nominally ruled the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. In......
Cem Uzan is a Turkish businessman and politician known for launching the first private television channel in Turkey......
Joseph Valachi was an American gangster, a member of Lucky Luciano’s mob family, who turned informer in 1962. Valachi......
Veerappan was an Indian bandit, poacher, and smuggler who carried out his activities in the forests of the southern......
César, duke de Vendôme was a leader in several aristocratic revolts during the reign of King Louis XIII of France......
Jorge Rafael Videla was a career military officer who was president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. His government......
Virginia Tech shooting, school shooting at the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus of Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007,......
Wall Street bombing of 1920, bombing that struck Wall Street in New York City on September 16, 1920, killing 38......
Sir Francis Walsingham was an English statesman and diplomat who was the principal secretary (1573–90) to Queen......
Wang Ching-wei was an associate of the revolutionary Nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen, rival of Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang......
Warren Commission, commission appointed by U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson on November 29, 1963, to investigate the......
Wesselényi Conspiracy, (c. 1664–71), group of Hungarians, organized by Ferenc Wesselényi, that unsuccessfully plotted......
Whiskey Ring, in U.S. history, group of whiskey distillers (dissolved in 1875) who conspired to defraud the federal......
Charles Whitman was an American mass murderer responsible for the deadly Texas Tower shooting of 1966. On August......
The question “Why wasn’t Auschwitz bombed?” is not only historical. It is also a moral question emblematic of the......
Wild Bunch, a collection of cowboy-outlaws who flourished in the 1880s and ’90s in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and......
Jonathan Wild was a master English criminal of early 18th-century London, leader of thieves and highwaymen, extortionist,......
Wilmington coup and massacre, political coup and massacre in which the multiracial Fusionist (Republican and Populist)......
World Trade Center bombing of 1993, terrorist attack in New York City on February 26, 1993, in which a truck bomb......