Nickolas “Klaus” Barbie (1913 - 1991)

Gestapo Chief. When Klaus Barbie arrived in Lyon, France, he was assigned dual tasks: dismantle the Resistance and rid the city of Jews. His job was made easy by the many French who collaborated. He sent thousands of people to Auschwitz and captured and killed the head of the Resistance, Jean Moulin.  He fled to […]

Joseph M. Barbara, Sr (1905 - 1959)

Organized Crime Figure. Immigrated to the United States in 1921 at age 16. He was soon working as a hitman for the Buffalo crime family in their Northern Pennsylvania territory. During the 1930s, Joseph was arrested for several murders, including the 1933 murder of rival bootlegger Sam Wichner. Wichner had gone to Barbara’s house for […]

William Banting (1970 - 1878)

Author. He was an undertaker and furnisher of funerals, who had a parlour in St. James’s Street in London. His best-known commission was to build the Duke of Wellington’s coffin, but he would not be remembered were it not for the unfortunate fact that he suffered from a weight problem. None of his family, on […]

Dr Norman G. Baker (1882 - 1958)

Convicted felon, inventor, and charlatan. He was a star mentalist on the vaudeville circuit in the early 1900’s and made a fortune in the 1910’s by inventing the Tangley Calliaphone.  He built KTNT (Know the Naked Truth) radio in Iowa in 1925 and published TNT Magazine, where he made relentless attacks over the air and […]

Cullen Montgomery Baker (1835 - 1869)

Western Outlaw. He was a deserter from Morgan’s Squadron, the Confederate cavalry unit shown on his grave marker. He also served with the 15th Texas Cavalry and was discharged on disability. Baker waged a one man war against Reconstruction in Arkansas and Texas following the Civil War. He murdered many freed slaves and whites whom […]

John Harvey Bailey (1887 - 1979)

Bank Robber. Harvey started his criminal career as a bootlegger. Then graduated to robbing banks, In 1929, small-time crook Tony Serpa was the only man convicted in the Rochester robbery. He served 11 years. Many believe the heist was masterminded by Harvey Bailey. Harvey, called the “dean of American bank robbers,” was a staple of […]

George Andrew Atzerodt (1835 - 1865)

Lincoln Assassination Conspirator. At the age of eight, his parents immigrated to America and settled in Maryland, but he never became a naturalized US Citizen. He and his older brother, John, set up a carriage repair shop at Port Tobacco, Maryland, located at the mouth of Pope’s Creek near its entry into the Potomac River. […]

Mohammed Atta (1968 - 2001)

Terrorist pilot. He was the ringleader of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks which destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Susan Denise Atkins (1948 - 2009)

Manson Family Member, Murderer. Born in San Gabriel California, Susan Denise Atkins was the second of three children born to Edward and Jeanette Atkins. Susan Atkins became a follower of Charles Manson, where she was known as Sadie Mae Glutz, in 1967. She was one of the responsible parties in the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, and […]

Samuel Arnold (1834 - 1906)

Lincoln Assassination Conspirator.  His role in the conspiracy was to help kidnap President Abraham Lincoln, but he dropped out of the murder conspiracy two weeks before President Lincoln was assassinated. Born in Washington, DC, the Arnold family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where Samuel Arnold was raised, and he attended St. Timothy’s Hall, a military academy, […]

Joseph “Joe Piney” Armone (1917 - 1992)

Organized Crime Figure. A long time Captain in the Gambino Organized Crime Family, he was made Underboss of the Family by John Gotti after the murder of Frank DeCicco in 1986. He was then sent to federal prison late in 1987, after which Sammy (The Bull) Gravano took over as Underboss. Joseph Armone died in […]

Josie Arlington (1970 - 1914)

Folk Figure. New Orleans madam whose crypt was once believed to be haunted; it was rumored that the statue of the woman in front of the tomb would come to life and walk the cemetery grounds at night.  It was later discovered that a street light reflecting off the tomb gave it a reddish glow, […]

Marshall Herff Applewhite (1931 - 1997)

Cult Leader. Born in Spur, Texas, grew up with a very religious background. As a young man he frequently attended church gatherings and even sang in the church choir. His later life was troubled by bouts with the law and frequent other problems. In 1974 on one of his arrests, his mugshot was taken and […]

Beulah May Sheriff Annan (1899 - 1928)

Folk Figure. A native of Kentucky, Annan was 24 and twice-married when she was charged with the 1924 murder of her alleged lover in Chicago. Her husband spent his life savings to get her the best lawyers, and after a sensational trial she was found not guilty. Annan left her husband the day after her […]

John William Anglin (1930 - 1970)

Folk Figure. Convict who drowned while trying to escape Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary. Anglin brothers Alfred Clarence and John William worked as farmers and laborers. Together they started to rob banks in Georgia and were arrested in 1956. Clarence and John were given 15-20 year sentences and sent to Atlanta Penitentiary (where they first met […]

Clarence Anglin (1931 - 1970)

Folk Figure. Convict who drowned while trying to escape Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary. Anglin brothers Alfred Clarence and John William worked as farmers and laborers. Together they started to rob banks in Georgia and were arrested in 1956. Clarence and John were given 15-20 year sentences and sent to Atlanta Penitentiary (where they first met […]

John Amery (1912 - 1945)

British Traitor.  John Amery was the son of British politician Leo Amery. He went to Harrow school before going into business and became bankrupt by 1936, aged twenty four. In october 1936 he went to Spain working on the side of General Franco’s fascists. He then moved to France where, in 1941, he was recruited […]

Marie-Joseph Angelique (1970 - 1734)

Folk Figure. Better known simply as Angelique, she was born a black slave of Portuguese descent in New France, later the province of Quebec, where she belonged to a wealthy businesswoman named Therese de Couagne and her husband, Francois Poulin de Francheville. Obtained by de Couagne from French authorities, her purpose was more for breeding […]

William Andrews (1970 - 1992)

Criminal. Murderer who was involved in the 1974 “Hi-Fi Shop Murders” in Ogden, Utah. On April 22, 1974, Dale Pierre, William Andrews, and Keith Roberts, all airmen in the US Air Force, entered the Hi-Fi Shop in Ogden, Utah. Pierre and Andrews forced five people (two women and three men) to drink Liquid Drano. Pierre […]

Anthony Anastasio (1906 - 1963)

Anthony Anastasio Born in 1906, Anthony “Tough Tony” Anastasio was an Italian-born American mobster who ruled the Brooklyn waterfront for several decades. Aligned with his brother, Albert Anastasia, who became the head of the Mangano crime family (later known as the Gambino crime family), Anastasio gained control of the longshoremen’s union, though his power declined […]

Idi Amin (1925 - 2003)

Ugandan Dictator. He born in either 1924 or 1925, but his exact birthdate is not known. He helped to overthrow President Milton Obote, and was officially made leader on January 25, 1971, taking office, one week later. Amin served as the ruler of Uganda from February 2, 1971 until April 11, 1979. During his 8 […]

John Amery (1912 - 1945)

British Traitor.  John Amery was the son of British politician Leo Amery. He went to Harrow school before going into business and became bankrupt by 1936, aged twenty four. In october 1936 he went to Spain working on the side of General Franco’s fascists. He then moved to France where, in 1941, he was recruited […]

Herman “Hyman” Amberg (1970 - 1926)

Organized Crime Figure. Along with his brothers Louis “Pretty” and Joseph Amberg, they were the most feared gangsters in the Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York City, New York during the 1920s and 1930s. Hyman was arrested for the murder of a Brooklyn jeweler in 1926 and placed in the “Tombs” jail in Manhattan to […]

Louis “Two Gun” Alterie (1886 - 1935)

Organized Crime Figure. He was a member of Chicago’s West side gang under Dion O’Bannion. He is often credited with inventing the “one-way ride,” taking Philadelphia gangster John Dougherty (alias Duffy) for a car ride in 1923, but the “honor” of creating the one-way ride goes to Earl “Hymie” Weiss. Louis Alterie did invent the […]

Robert Clay Allison (1840 - 1887)

American Western Frontier Outlaw. He joined the Confederate army during the Civil War on October 15, 1861 but was discharged for personality problems January 10, 1862. In the late 1860s, he was a trail boss in New Mexico working for Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight, legendary Texas cattleman. On January 7, 1874 he met up […]

Sandy Elaine Allen (1955 - 2008)

American Folk Figure. She was the Guinness World Book title holder as the tallest woman on record since 1976. Sandy measured at 7 feet 7.25 inches.  A pituitary tumor was the source of her body releasing excessive amounts of growth hormone.  At birth the 6.5 pound normal baby began to grow quickly and by age […]

Susan Alamo (1925 - 1982)

Religious Cult Figure. In 1969, she co-founded the Alamo Christian Foundation with her husband, Tony Alamo. The organization quickly gained notoriety for its intense evangelistic methods and “in your face” approach to sin in the Hollywood culture at large. In 1976, the ministry moved its headquarters to Alma, Arkansas, her childhood home. The Foundation gained […]

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi (1966 - 2006)

Islamic Terrorist. Born Ahmed al-Khalayeh in Zarqa, Jordan, he was considered one of the top international terrorists in Iraq and the Middle East, responsible for numerous suicide bombings, kidnappings, hostage executions and acts of violence against Iraqi civilians and American led forces within the country. He began his militancy in the late 1980s directing attacks […]

Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi (1952 - 2012)

Libyan Terror Figure. On 31 January 2001, Megrahi was convicted, by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, of 270 counts of murder for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His […]

Anwar al-Awlaki (1971 - 2011)

Al-Qaeda Regional Commander. He was born to a Yemeni family who was living in the United States, and by his birth there, gained dual US-Yemen citizenship.  His father, Nasser al-Aulaqi, was a Fulbright Scholar who earned a master’s degree in agricultural economics at the New Mexico State University in 1971, later earned a doctorate degree […]