Ritchie Valens (1941 - 1959)

Ritchie Valens Mexican-American musician Ritchie Valens is best known for his hit “La Bamba.” His successful career was cut short when he died in a plane crash at age 17. Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer and songwriter influential in the Chicano rock movement. He recorded numerous hits during his short career, most notably the […]

Charles Addams (1912 - 1988)

Charles Samuel Addams was born in Westfield, New Jersey, the son of Grace M. and Charles Huey Addams, a piano-company executive who had studied to be an architect. He was known as “something of a rascal around the neighborhood” as childhood friends recalled. Charles Addams was distantly related to U.S. presidents John Adams and John […]

Ken Weatherwax (1955 - 2014)

Kenneth Patrick Weatherwax (September 29, 1955 – December 7, 2014) was an American child actor. Billed as Ken and nicknamed Kenny, Weatherwax was best known for having played Pugsley Addams on the original The Addams Family black-and-white television series and reprised the role in the television movie Halloween with the New Addams Family. Ken Weatherwax, who […]

George Kennedy (1925 - 2016)

George Kennedy was born on February 18, 1925, in New York City, into a show business family. His father, George Harris Kennedy, a musician and orchestra leader, died when Kennedy was four years old. He was raised by his mother, Helen A. (née Kieselbach), a ballet dancer. His maternal grandfather was a German immigrant; his […]

John Ogonowski (1951 - 2001)

John Ogonowski went to secondary school at Keith Academy, Lowell, Massachusetts. He attended Lowell Technological Institute (now the University of Massachusetts Lowell), where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He graduated in 1972 with a bachelor of science degree in Nuclear Engineering. Ogonowski was a pilot in the U. S. Air Force […]

John O’Neill (1952 - 2001)

John O’Neill was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on February 6, 1952 and had a desire to become an FBI special agent from an early age. As a child, his favorite television show was The F.B.I., a crime drama based around true cases that the bureau had handled. After graduating from Holy Spirit High […]

Mark Bingham (1970 - 2001)

Mark Bingham was born in 1970, the only child of mother Alice Hoagland and father Gerald Bingham. He grew up in Miami, Florida, and Southern California before moving to the San Jose area in 1983. Bingham was an aspiring filmmaker growing up, and began using a video camera as a teenager as a personal diary […]

David Angell (1946 - 2001)

David Angell was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Henry and Mae (née Cooney) Angell. He received a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Providence College. He entered the U.S. Army upon graduation and served at the Pentagon until 1972. He then moved to Boston and worked as a methods analyst at an engineering company […]

Alice Trillin (1938 - 2001)

Alice Trillin’s interest in curriculum development led her to consult for WNET television station and help it design new approaches to educational programming. She formed a company “Learning Designs” to produce educational television series, such as Behind the Scenes, starring the illusionist duo Penn & Teller, aiming to teach pre-teens about the creative process in […]

Robert Kennedy (1925 - 1968)

Robert Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the seventh child in the closely knit and competitive family of Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy. “I was the seventh of nine children,” he later recalled, “and when you come from that far down you have to struggle to survive.” He […]

Saeed al-Ghamdi (1979 - 2001)

On June 12, 2001 Saeed al-Ghamdi applied for and received a second two-year US B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His application was submitted by a local travel agency and processed through Visa Express, a controversial US visa program in Saudi Arabia which was discontinued the following year. Arriving in the U.S. on June 27, […]

Ahmed al-Nami (1977 - 2001)

In March 2001, Ahmed al-Nami appeared in an al-Qaeda farewell video showing 13 of the muscle hijackers before they left their training centre in Kandahar; while he does not speak, he is seen studying maps and flight manuals. On April 23, Nami was recorded obtaining a new US Visa. On May 28, Nami arrived in the United […]

Ahmed al-Haznawi (1980 - 2001)

Ahmed al-Haznawi belongs to Alghamdi tribe. He was the son of a Saudi imam from the Al-Bahah province, a province in the south west of Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Al Bahah Province nestled between the resorts of Mecca and Abha, Al Bahah is one of the Kingdom’s prime tourist attractions. Haznawi grew […]

Ziad Jarrah (1975 - 2001)

Ziad Samir Jarrah (Arabic: زياد سمير جراح‎‎, Ziyād Samīr Ǧarrāḥ; May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was an al-Qaeda member and one of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks; serving as the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the plane into a field in a rural area near Shanksville, Pennsylvania—after a passenger […]

Salem al-Hazmi (1981 - 2001)

Salem al-Hazmi was born on February 2, 1981 to Muhammad Salim al-Hazmi, a grocer, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. His father described Salem as a quarrelsome teenager who had problems with alcohol and petty theft. However, he stopped drinking and began to attend the mosque about three months before he left his family. There are reports that […]

Nawaf al-Hazmi (1976 - 2001)

Nawaf Muhammed Salim al-Hazmi (Arabic: نواف الحازمي‎‎, Nawāf al-Ḥāzmī; also known as Rabia al-Makki) (August 9, 1976 – September 11, 2001) was a one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which they crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks in the United States. Nawaf al-Hazmi and a longtime friend, Khalid […]

Alexis Arquette (1969 - 2016)

Alexis Arquette was born Robert Arquette in Los Angeles, California, the fourth of five children of Brenda Olivia “Mardi” (née Nowak), an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, an actor and director. Mardi Nowak was Jewish of Russian and Polish descent. Lewis Arquette was a convert to Islam from […]

Majed Moqed (1977 - 2001)

Majed Moqed was a law student from the small town of Al-Nakhil, Saudi Arabia (west of Medina), studying at King Fahd University’s Faculty of Administration and Economics. Before he dropped out, he was apparently recruited into al-Qaeda in 1999 along with friend Satam al-Suqami, with whom he had earlier shared a college room. The two trained […]

Khalid al-Mihdhar (1975 - 2001)

Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar (Arabic: خالد المحضار‎‎, Khālid al-Miḥḍār; also transliterated as Almihdhar) (May 16, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. Khalid al-Mihdhar was born in Saudi Arabia and fought in the Bosnian War […]

Hani Hanjour (1972 - 2001)

Hani Saleh Hasan Hanjour (Arabic: هاني صالح حسن حنجور‎‎, Hānī Ṣāliḥ Ḥasan Ḥanjūr; August 13, 1972 – September 11, 2001) was the Saudi Arabian hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, crashing the plane into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. Hani Hanjour first came to the United States in 1991, enrolling at the […]

Ahmed al-Ghamdi (1979 - 2001)

An Imam, Ahmed al-Ghamdi was from the al Bahah Province of Saudi Arabia, a province in the south west of Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Al Bahah Province nestled between the resorts of Mecca and Abha, Al Bahah is one of the Kingdom’s prime tourist attractions. Ghamdi shared the same tribal affiliation with […]

Hamza al-Ghamdi (1980 - 2001)

Some reports say that Hamza al-Ghamdi left his home to fight in Chechnya against the Russians in early 2000. (Other reports say he left in January 2001.) He called home several times until mid-2001, saying he was in Chechnya. Known as Julaybeeb during the preparations, Hamza traveled to the United Arab Emirates some time in late 2000, […]

Mohand al-Shehri (1979 - 2001)

Born 1979, Mohand al-Shehri was one of five hijackers to come from the ‘Asir province of Saudi Arabia, the others being Ahmed al-Nami, Abdulaziz al-Omari and Waleed and Wail al-Shehri, two brothers unrelated to Mohand. According to Arab News, Shehri went to fight in Chechnya in early 2000, where he may have met Hamza al-Ghamdi. On […]

Fayez Banihammad (1977 - 2001)

Fayez Banihammad told his parents, while spending time in ‘Asir, that he hoped to find work with the International Islamic Relief Organization. He only contacted his parents once after that. He is believed to have visited the Philippines for three days from October 17–20, 2000. Fayez Banihammad used the controversial program Visa Express to gain entry […]

Vincent Gigante (1928 - 2005)

Vincent Gigante Vincent Gigante, gangster: born New York 29 March 1928; married 1950 Olympia Grippa (two sons, three daughters), (one son, two daughters with Olympia Esposito); died Springfield, Missouri 19 December 2005. In his heyday, Vincent “Chin” Gigante was considered the most powerful Mafia don in the United States. But you wouldn’t have guessed it […]

Marwan al-Shehhi (1978 - 2001)

Marwan  al-Shehhi (May 1978 – 11 September 2001) was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks. Marwan Al-Shehhi was a student from the United Arab Emirates who moved to Germany in 1996 and soon became close friends […]

Satam al-Suqami (1976 - 2001)

The FBI says Satam al-Suqami first arrived in the U.S. on April 23, 2001, with a visa that allowed him to remain in the country until May 21. However, at least five residents of the Spanish Trace Apartments claim to recognize the photographs of both Suqami and Salem al-Hazmi as living in the San Antonio […]

Waleed al-Shehri (1978 - 2001)

Studying to become a teacher like his brother, Wail, Waleed al-Shehri was from ‘Asir province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen. Since Shehri’s family adhered to the Wahhabi school of Islam, he grew up in a very conservative household. His family did not have satellite television or internet and he was […]

Wail al-Shehri (1973 - 2001)

Wail al-Shehri was born on 31 July 1973 in Khamis Mushait, Asir Province, Saudi Arabia, the older brother of Waleed al-Shehri. The al-Shehri family strictly followed Wahhabism, and they did not allow for Wail to listen to music, have contact with girls, use the Internet, or use the television. In 1999 Wail graduated from the […]

Abdulaziz al-Omari (1979 - 2001)

Little is known about Abdulaziz al-Omari’s life, and it is unclear whether some information refers to Omari or another person by that name. He has used birth date May 28, 1979. He is alleged to have often served as an Imam at his mosque in Saudi Arabia and is believed by American authorities[who?] to have been a […]