History & SocietyScience & TechBiographiesAnimals & NatureGeography & TravelArts & CultureGames & QuizzesVideosOn This DayOne Good FactDictionaryCompanionsDemystifiedImage GalleriesInfographicsListsPodcastsSpotlightSummariesThe ForumTop Questions#WTFact100 WomenBritannica KidsSaving EarthSpace Next 50Student Center
Britannica Money
Law, Crime & Punishment

Crime & Anti-Crime

Whitey Bulger
Whitey Bulger
American crime boss
Mohammed Atta
Mohammed Atta
Egyptian terrorist

Recently Posted

Camp Grant massacremass murder, Arizona, United States [1871]
Queen Anne’s Revengeship
Los Angeles Chinese Massacre of 1871United States history [1871]

See All

16th Street Baptist Church bombing
terrorist attack, Birmingham, Alabama, United States [1963]
1983 Beirut barracks bombings
terrorist attacks, Lebanon
1983 United States embassy bombing
terrorist attack, Beirut, Lebanon
1986 West Berlin discotheque bombing
attack, West Berlin, Germany [1986]
2002 Bali Bombings
terrorist attacks, Indonesia
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi
Libyan national
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah
al-Qaeda terrorist
Abdullah Öcalan
Kurdish terrorist leader
Abe Reles
American gangster
Abimael Guzmán
Peruvian revolutionary
Abu Sayyaf Group
terrorist organization
Abū Niḍāl
Palestinian leader
Abū Yaḥyā al-Lībī
Libyan al-Qaeda strategist
Aden-Abyan Islamic Army
militant organization
Aileen Wuornos
American serial killer
Air India Flight 182 disaster
Al Capone
American gangster
Al-Aqṣā Martyrs Brigades
militia coalition
al-Qaeda
terrorist organization
al-Qaeda in Iraq
terrorist organization
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
terrorist organization
al-Shabaab
Somali-based terrorist group
al-Takfīr wa al-Hijrah
Egyptian radical Islamic group
al-Ṣāʿiqah
Syrian guerrilla organization
Albert Anastasia
American gangster
Alcatraz escape of June 1962
jailbreak, Alcatraz Island, California, United States
Aleph
Japanese new religious movement
Alex Boncayao Brigade
Filipino death squad
Alexander Selkirk
Scottish sailor
Ali Paşa Tepelenë
Ottoman leader
Allan Pinkerton
American detective
Amboina Massacre
execution, Ambon, Indonesia [1623]
American Airlines flight 77
terrorist hijacking, Arlington, Virginia, United States [2001]
Andrei Chikatilo
Soviet serial killer
Andrey Ivanovich Zhelyabov
Russian revolutionary
Angela Davis
American activist
Anjala League
Finnish-Swedish conspiracy
Anne Bonny
Irish American pirate
Ante Pavelić
Croatian fascist leader and revolutionist
Armenian Genocide
Turkish-Armenian history
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia
Marxist-Leninist group
Arnold Rothstein
American criminal
Artabanus
Achaemenian minister
Aryan Brotherhood
American white supremacist group
Asahara Shoko
Japanese religious leader
assassination of Abraham Lincoln
United States history
assassination of John F. Kennedy
United States history
Assassination of John F. Kennedy: At a Glance
assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Indian history
assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
United States history
Atlanta Olympic Games bombing of 1996
bombing, Georgia, United States
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Egyptian militant
Baby Face Nelson
American gangster
Bagoas
Achaemenian minister
Banana Massacre
massacre, Ciénaga, Colombia
Barabbas
New Testament figure
Bartholomew Roberts
Welsh pirate
Bath school disaster
school bombings
Beatrice Cenci
Italian noble
Beltway sniper attacks
shootings, United States [2002]
Ben Hall
Australian bushranger
Bernhard Goetz
American vigilante
Beslan school attack
terrorist attack, Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia [2004]
Bessus
Persian satrap
Bill Doolin
American outlaw
Billy the Kid
American outlaw
Birmingham pub bombing
terrorist attack, England, United Kingdom [1974]
Black and Tan
British police
Black Bart
American robber
Black Hand
secret Serbian society
Black Hand
American criminal organization
Black Hundreds
Russian history
Black September
political organization, Palestine
Blackbeard
English pirate
Bloods
gang
Bloody Sunday
Russia [1905]
Bloody Sunday
Northern Ireland [1972]
Boko Haram
Nigerian Islamic group
Bonanno crime family
Italian-American Mafia crime family
Bonnie and Clyde
American criminals
Boris Viktorovich Savinkov
Russian revolutionary
Boston Marathon bombing of 2013
terrorist attack, Massachusetts, United States
Boston Massacre
United States history
Boston Strangler
American serial killer
Braccio da Montone
Italian condottiere
Brady Law
United States law
Brandon Teena
American crime victim
Brownsville Affair
United States history
Bruno Hauptmann
German-American convict
Bruno Lüdke
German serial killer
Butch Cassidy
American outlaw
Cambodian genocide
Camorra
Italian secret society
Camp Grant massacre
mass murder, Arizona, United States [1871]
Carlo Gambino
American crime boss
Carlos de Austria
Spanish prince
Carlos Lehder
Colombian drug dealer
Carlos the Jackal
Venezuelan terrorist
Caryl Chessman
American criminal
Castellammarese War
United States history
Charles Manson
American criminal and cult leader
Charles Whitman
American assassin
Charlie Hebdo shooting
terrorist attacks, Paris, France [2015]
Charlotte Corday
French noble
Colfax massacre
Colfax, Louisiana, United States [1873]
Colombo crime family
Columbine High School shootings
massacre, Littleton, Colorado, United States [1999]
Commonwealth v. Hunt
law case
Conspiracy of Amboise
French history
Conspiracy of the Távoras
Portuguese history
Corineus
Cornish legendary figure
Corsican National Liberation Front
political organization, Corsica
Crips
gang
César, duke de Vendôme
French leader
D.B. Cooper
criminal
Dalton Brothers
American outlaws
David Berkowitz
American serial killer
David O’Connell
Irish political activist
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Palestinian political organization
Dennis Rader
American serial killer
Dick Turpin
English criminal
Dion O’Bannion
American gangster
Direct Action
French extremist group
Doctors’ Plot
alleged conspiracy, Soviet Union [1953]
Doku Umarov
Chechen separatist and guerrilla leader
Dunblane school massacre
school shooting, Dunblane, Scotland, United Kingdom [1996]
Dutch Schultz
American gangster
Ed Gein
American serial killer
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
Egyptian extremist organization
Einsatzgruppen
Nazi killing units
Elzy Lay
American outlaw
Entebbe raid
Israeli-Ugandan history
EOKA
Cypriot organization
ETA
Basque organization
Eugene Aram
English scholar
Executive Order 11905
United States history
FALN
separatist organization, Puerto Rico
FARC
Colombian militant group
Fatah
Palestinian political organization
Felice Orsini
Italian revolutionary
First Barbary War
United States-Tripoli
Five Families
American crime syndicate
Fort Pillow Massacre
American Civil War
Fra Diavolo
Italian guerrilla leader
Francis Throckmorton
English conspirator
Frank Costello
American organized crime boss
Frank Nitti
American gangster
Frankie Yale
American gangster
Franz Alexander
Hungarian physician and psychoanalyst
Fujiwara Sumitomo
Japanese pirate
Gaius Cassius
Roman assassin
Gaius Cassius Longinus
Roman quaestor
Gary Gilmore
American murderer
Gary Ridgway
American serial killer
Gaston Means
American confidence man
Gaston, duke d’Orléans
French prince
Gavrilo Princip
Slavic nationalist
Genovese crime family
George Barrington
Irish adventurer
George Gordon, 1st marquess and 6th earl of Huntly
Scottish conspirator
George Metesky
American criminal
George Moran
American gangster
George Plantagenet, duke of Clarence
English noble
George Ḥabash
Palestinian political leader
German-Herero conflict of 1904–07
African history
Geórgios Karaïskákis
Greek rebel
Gian Luigi Fieschi the Younger
Italian noble
Giuseppe Maria Fieschi
French conspirator
Gnadenhütten Massacre
United States history [1782]
Great Train Robbery
British history
Griselda Blanco
Colombian cocaine trafficker
Gunpowder Plot
conspiracy, England [circa 1603–1605]
Guy Fawkes
English conspirator
Gwangju Uprising
South Korean history
H.H. Holmes
American serial killer
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
Pakastani Islamist militant
Hamidian massacres
Ottoman and Armenian history
Hans Frank
German politician and jurist
Hans Kohlhase
German brigand
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Greek tyrannicide
Hawley Harvey Crippen
American murderer
Hells Angels
international motorcycle club
Henri Charrière
French criminal
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, marquis de Cinq-Mars
French noble
Henry Fitzalan, 12th earl of Arundel
English noble
Henry Garnett
English conspirator
Henry Percy, 8th earl of Northumberland
English noble
Hezbollah
Lebanese organization
Holocaust
European history
Holodomor
Ukrainian history
Homeland Security Act
United States [2002]
Imad Mughniyeh
Lebanese terrorist
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
Balkan revolutionary organization
International Criminal Court
international law
Irgun Zvai Leumi
Jewish right-wing underground movement
Irish Republican Army
Irish military organization
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
terrorist organization
Jack Ruby
American assassin
Jack Sheppard
English criminal
Jack Slade
American criminal
Jack the Ripper
English murderer
Jacques d’Armagnac, duc de Nemours
French duke
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
India [1919]
James Colosimo
American criminal
James Earl Ray
American assassin
James Hepburn, 4th earl of Bothwell
Scottish noble
Jane McCrea
North American colonist
Japanese Red Army
terrorist organization
Javed Iqbal
Pakistani serial killer
Jean Laffite
American pirate
Jean-Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, duke d’Épernon
French duke
Jeffrey Dahmer
American serial killer
Jesse James and Frank James
American outlaws
Jim Jones
American cult leader
Joaquín Guzmán
Mexican criminal
Joaquín Murrieta
American bandit
Joe Adonis
American crime boss
Joe Masseria
American crime boss
John Avery
British pirate
John Brennan
American intelligence officer
John Dillinger
American gangster
John du Pont
American philanthropist
John Gotti
American organized-crime boss
John Walker Lindh
Taliban fighter
John Wayne Gacy
American serial killer
John Wesley Hardin
American outlaw
Johnny Ringo
American outlaw
Johnny Torrio
American gangster
Jonathan Wild
English criminal
Jonestown
mass murder-suicide, Guyana [1978]
Joseph Colombo
American criminal
Joseph Kony
Ugandan rebel
Joseph Profaci
American criminal
Joseph Valachi
American gangster
July Plot
German assassination attempt, Rastenburg, East Prussia [1944]
Kakori Conspiracy
Indian history
Katyn Massacre
Polish history [1940]
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
terrorist
Khmer Rouge
political group, Cambodia
Khobar Towers bombing of 1996
terrorist attack, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Khālid al-Islāmbūlī
Egyptian assassin
Kid Curry
American outlaw
Kim Jae Kyu
South Korean military officer
Ku Klux Klan
hate organization, United States
Kurdistan Workers’ Party
Kurdish militant organization
Lashkar-e-Taiba
terrorist group
Lee Harvey Oswald
American accused assassin
Leo Frank
American factory superintendent
Leon Czolgosz
American assassin
Leopold and Loeb
American murderers
Libya bombings of 1986
United States air attack, Libya
Lindbergh baby kidnapping
crime [1932]
list of criminals
list of pirates
Lizzie Borden
American murder suspect
London bombings of 2005
bombings, United Kingdom
Lope de Aguirre
Spanish adventurer
Lord’s Resistance Army
rebel organization
Lorenzino de’ Medici
Italian writer and assassin
Los Angeles Chinese Massacre of 1871
United States history [1871]
Los Zetas
Mexican crime syndicate
Louis Buchalter
American crime boss
Louis Darquier de Pellepoix
French politician
Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons
French courtier and soldier
Louis Granmont
French buccaneer
Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duke d’Enghien
French prince
Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duke du Maine
French aristocrat
Luby’s shooting
mass shooting, Killeen, Texas, United States [1991]
Lucchese crime family
American organized crime syndicate
Lucky Luciano
American crime boss
Ludlow Massacre
United States history [1914]
Lufthansa heist
theft [1978]
Luis Garavito
Colombian serial killer
Luis Taruc
Filipino political leader
Ma Barker
American criminal
Machine Gun Kelly
American criminal
Madrid train bombings of 2004
terrorist attacks, Spain
Maersk Alabama hijacking
piracy incident, Indian Ocean [2009]
Mafia
organized crime
Marc Dutroux
Belgian serial killer
Marcel Petiot
French serial killer
Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchess de Chevreuse
French princess
Marie-Madeleine-Marguérite d’Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers
French noblewoman
Mark David Chapman
American criminal
Martyrs of Uganda
African history
Mary Ann Cotton
British serial killer
Mary Read
English pirate
Mary Surratt
American businesswoman
Massacre at Béziers
French history
Massacre of Glencoe
Scottish history [1692]
Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day
French history [1572]
Matteotti Crisis
political confrontation, Italy [1924–1925]
Memphis massacre of 1866
United States history
Mexican Mafia
Mexican American criminal organization
Mohammed Atta
Egyptian terrorist
Moll Cutpurse
English criminal
Monster of Florence
Italian serial killers
Montonero
Argentine political group
Mountain Meadows Massacre
Utah, United States [1857]
Mumbai terrorist attacks of 2008
terrorist attacks, Mumbai, India
Munich massacre
Munich, Germany [1972]
murder of James Byrd, Jr.
United States history
Murder, Inc.
American crime syndicate
Mwanga
king of Buganda
My Lai Massacre
United States-Vietnamese history
Nanjing Massacre
Chinese history
Narodnaya Volya
Russian revolutionary organization
Ned Kelly
Australian bandit
New Orleans massacre of 1866
United States history
New York slave rebellion of 1741
United States history
Normandy Massacres
World War II
Nucky Johnson
American politician
O.J. Simpson trial
law case
Ocoee massacre of 1920
massacre, Florida, United States
Ohio Gang
American politicians
Oklahoma City bombing
terrorist attack, Oklahoma, United States [1995]
Omagh bombing
terrorist attack, Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Omar Abdel Rahman
Egyptian-born cleric
Omar Khadr case
Canadian history
Operation Wrath of God
Israeli assassination campaign
Ordnungspolizei
Nazi police agencies
Orlando shooting of 2016
United States history
Osama bin Laden
leader of al-Qaeda terrorist organization
Oslo and Utøya attacks of 2011
Norway
Pablo Escobar
Colombian criminal
Pan Am flight 103
terrorist bombing, over Lockerbie, Scotland, United Kingdom [1988]
Paris attacks of 2015
terrorist attacks, Paris, France
Parliament Hill attack
Ottawa, Canada [2014]
Patty Hearst
American heiress
Paul Castellano
American organized-crime boss
Paul Ricca
American gangster
Paxton Boys uprising
United States history
Peshawar school massacre
terrorist attack, Peshawar, Pakistan [2014]
Peter Kürten
German serial killer
Peterloo Massacre
English history [1819]
Phaulkon-Tachard conspiracy
Thai history
Philip Howard, 1st earl of Arundel
English noble
Phoenix Park murders
assassination, Dublin, Ireland [1882]
Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte
French prince
Popish Plot
fictitious plot, England [1678]
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Palestinian political organization
Port Arthur Massacre
Australia [1996]
Porvenir Massacre
massacre, Porvenir, Texas, United States [1918]
Pottawatomie Massacre
United States history [1856]
Pretty Boy Floyd
American gangster
Procrustes
Greek mythological figure
Publius Cornelius Lentulus
Roman politician
Queen Anne’s Revenge
ship
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
United States [1970]
Radovan Karadžić
Bosnian Serb physician, author, and politician
Rampart scandal
United States history
Ramzi Ahmed Yousef
Kuwaiti-born terrorist
Raúl Sendic
Uruguayan rebel
Red Army Faction
German radical leftist group
Red Brigades
Italian terrorist organization
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front
terrorist group, Turkey
Richard Kuklinski
American criminal
Richard Ramirez
American serial killer
Richard Reid
terrorist
Richard Speck
American murderer
Rob Roy
Scottish outlaw
Robert Catesby
English conspirator
Robert Durst
American real-estate heir
Robert Ley
German politician
Robert-François Damiens
French regicide
Roberto Ridolfi
Italian conspirator
Roger Touhy
American crime boss
Ronnie Biggs
British criminal
Rosewood massacre of 1923
United States history
Rwanda genocide of 1994
Rye House Plot
alleged conspiracy, England [1683]
Saif al-Adel
al-Qaeda terrorist
Salvatore Maranzano
American organized crime leader
Sam Bass
American outlaw
Sam Giancana
American gangster
Samuel Henzi
Swiss conspirator
Sand Creek Massacre
United States history [1864]
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
mass shooting, Newtown, Connecticut, United States [2012]
September 11 attacks
United States [2001]
September 30th Movement
Indonesian history
September Massacres
French history [1792]
Sergey Gennadiyevich Nechayev
Russian revolutionary
Seven Oaks Massacre
Canadian history [1816]
Sharpeville massacre
South African history [1960]
Shining Path
Peruvian revolutionary organization
Sicilian Mafia
criminal organization
Sicilian Vespers
Sicilian history
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
ruler of Rimini
Sinaloa cartel
international crime organization
Sir Henry Morgan
Welsh buccaneer
Sir James Tyrrell
English soldier
Sirhan Sirhan
Palestinian-born Jordanian assassin
Spirit Lake Massacre
United States history [1857]
Srebrenica genocide
Bosnian history [1995]
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
mass murder, Chicago, Illinois, United States [1929]
Stern Gang
Zionist extremist organization
Steven Avery
American laborer
Stockholm Bloodbath
Swedish history
Sundance Kid
American outlaw
T4 Program
Nazi policy
Taliban
political and religious faction, Afghanistan
Tamil Tigers
revolutionary organization, Sri Lanka
Taoka Kazuo
Japanese crime boss
Tate murders
American crime
Ted Bundy
American serial killer
Ted Kaczynski
American criminal
Terry Nichols
American terrorist
Texas Tower shooting of 1966
United States history
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord
white supremacist group
the man in the iron mask
French convict
The Order
American white supremacist group
The Police Gazette
British periodical
Thomas Percy
English conspirator
Tianjin Massacre
Chinese history [1870]
timeline of the Holocaust
Timothy McVeigh
American terrorist
Tiradentes Conspiracy
Brazilian history
Tokyo subway attack of 1995
terrorist attack, Japan
Tom Mooney
American labor leader
Tupamaro
guerrilla organization, Uruguay
United States Department of Homeland Security
United States government
USA PATRIOT Act
United States [2001]
USS Cole attack
[2000]
Ustaša
Croatian political movement
Veerappan
Indian criminal
Vera Nikolayevna Figner
Russian revolutionary
Virginia Tech shooting
United States history
Vito Genovese
American gangster
Wall Street bombing of 1920
New York City, New York, United States
Wang Ching-wei
Chinese revolutionary
Warren Commission
Wesselényi Conspiracy
Hungarian history
Whitey Bulger
American crime boss
Why wasn’t Auschwitz bombed?
Wild Bunch
American outlaws
William Allen
English cardinal
William Burke and William Hare
Irish criminals
William Dampier
British explorer
William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus
Scottish rebel
William Kidd
English pirate
Willie Sutton
American criminal
Wilmington coup and massacre
United States history [1898]
World Trade Center bombing of 1993
terrorist attack, New York City, New York, United States
Wounded Knee Massacre
United States history [1890]
Wyoming Massacre
United States history
Younger Brothers
American criminals
Zhao Gao
Chinese eunuch
Zheng Zhilong
Chinese pirate
Zodiac killer
American serial killer
ʿAbbās al-Mūsawī
Lebanese religious leader
ʿAlī Ḥasan al-Majīd
Iraqi official