Every human being has good and bad psychological sides to them. Humans are called the most intelligent creatures in the universe because we can decide the difference between the good and the bad. As the saying goes, No man in the world is born a criminal. Nonetheless, the world is full of them, some worse than others.
From the pinnacle of ISIS to the brain behind Boko Haram, we got evidence of how a spoiled mind and offensive mentality can turn a genuine person into a massive criminal. A dangerous man has an abnormally high sense of ego of being a savior. In this article, you will read about the 10 most dangerous criminals who literally moved the ground under the feet of US residents.
Related: Top 10 Most Famous Serial Killers Of All Time
The Crime List
10. Kevin Mitnick
One of the most notorious criminals in American history, Kevin Mitnick started his career as a cybercriminal when he was just a teen. He’s a seminal figure in American hacking. Kevin hacked the North American defense command which was the most notorious crime done by him in 1991. In 1981 he was charged with the crime of stealing computer manuals from Pacific Bell. Mitnick hacked the Digital Equipment Corporation’s network to make copies of the former software. He has never exploited the access and data he obtained. Many people say that he hacked the Pacific Bells network just to prove that he can do it.
Kevin’s crime inspired the 1983 film ‘War Games’. He was later arrested and sent to prison. Even that didn’t stop Kevin. He eventually did multiple counts of wire fraud and computer fraud even after that. Ignoring all the arrest warrants he kept hiding for two years before he got caught. He launched Mitnick’s absolute zero-day exploit exchange with sales of unpatched critical software exploits to the highest bidder.
9. Jim Jones
James Warren Jones was an American cult leader, political activist, preacher, and faith healer. He led the People’s Temple which was a new religious movement from 1955 to 1978. The child Jones had an affinity for preaching and crime. Along with his followers, he participated in the Pentecostal latter rain movement and the healing revival during the 1950s. In 1965 Jones moved the temple to California. Making Connexions and using his political mind he became the chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission in 1975.
After a long period of negative media publicity and reports of abuse at People’s Temple, Jones claimed that he was constructing a socialist paradise free from the operation of the United States government. Leo Ryan, The US representative got information that people were being held in Jonestown against their will and went there to investigate the reports. On his way back along with some temple members who wanted to leave, Ryan Anne and others were murdered by gunmen from Jonestown. Jones then ordered a mass murder-suicide as his main crime that claimed the lives of 909 community members along with 304 children. All the members died from drinking flavor acid laced with cyanide.
Related: 10 Shocking And Creepiest Cults In The History Of The World
8. Ed Gein
Gein’s criminal history sends chills down the spine of US residents even today. This murderer, suspected serial killer and body snatcher was born on August 27, 1906, in La Crosse County, United States. Ed endured a difficult childhood as his father was an alcoholic and his mother was verbally abusive towards him. In subsequent years Gein cordoned off the areas of the house that his mother had used the most frequently, preserving them as something of a shrine.
Popularly known as the butcher of Plainfield, he had done some spine-chilling and insane crimes in his life. From zooming corpses and making keepsakes and trophies from their skin and bones, he has murdered and snatched the bodies of several humans. His crime has inspired some films like the ‘Silence Of The Lambs,’ ‘Call Mom,’ ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ and ‘Psycho‘. He died on July 26, 1984.
7. Joseph James D’Angelo Jr.
Who says that police are a safe shelter for the community? Joseph is an American serial killer, serial burglar, and former police officer who was born on November 8, 1945. He committed the crime of near about 13 murders, 50 rapes, and 120 burglaries across California. He had numerous different names, he was known as the Visalia Ransacker in the sand valley, whereas in Santa Barbara and Orange County, he was known as Night Stalker.
He received 12 life sentences plus eight years imprisonment for his crimes against humanity. He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and special circumstances as well as 13 counts of kidnapping. On August 21, 2020, he received multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. D’Angelo offered a brief apology after listening to the days of presenting victim impact statements. He said, “I have listened to all your statements each one of them and I’m truly sorry to everyone I have hurt.”
6. Harold Shipman
H. Frederick Shipman was an English general medicine practitioner. He was considered the most prolific serial killer in modern history with an estimated 250 victims. The British doctor murdered his patience ruthlessly over the years. His crimes raised a question about the sanctity of medical professionalism. He was a bright child who studied medicine after seeing his mother consume morphine injections due to lung cancer.
In 2000, he was charged with 15 counts of murder and one count of forgery and sentenced to life in prison. He committed suicide while he was in prison, hanging himself in the cell.
5. Charles Manson
Manson was born on November 12, 1934. He was an American criminal and musician who led the mansion family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s. Manson had announced that he set his school on fire when he was nine He was also caught ra*ing a boy at knifepoint. From getting involved in homosexual acts to taking the vehicle illegally across state lines, Manson had already visited the prisons quite a few times before he formed the cult.
In early August 1969, some Manson family members committed murders in Los Angeles. The family came under the most notorious list after the murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others in her home on August 8, 1969. He was arrested and imprisoned Many times for his criminal acts. He died in 2017 while he was serving his life sentence at California State Prison.
In case you missed it: Who Was Linda Kasabian? How Did She Stop Charles Manson And His Followers?
4. Jeffrey Dahmer
Dahmer, who is famous as Milwaukee Cannibal or Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender. He murdered and decapitated a total of 17 men and boys from the year 1978 to 1991. Later he evolved his crimes to necrophilia, cannibalism, and permanent preservation of all body parts or skeletons. In the trial, this monster was found sane even though he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and psychotic disorders.
Finally, the charges of 15 out of the 16 murders he committed in Wisconsin put him behind bars. He got a sentence of 15 terms of life imprisonment in the trial on February 17th, 1992. Later in 1978 Ohio, he got his final charge and got 16th life imprisonment. Finally, Jeffrey was killed on November 28th, 1994 by a fellow inmate, Christopher Scarver in Columbia Correctional Institution.
3. Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert Bundy Comes in the Third position on this list. he was a serial killer, guilty of kidnapping, murdering, and raping a huge number of young women and girls in the 1970s and even earlier. Bundy denied the charges for almost a decade and finally confessed to 230 murders in seven states from 1974 to 1978. His total victim count still remains unknown. The killer would first approach his victim and then take them to a secondary location to rape them and strangle them. He often revisited his victims and performed sexual acts with the dead bodies until they were completely decomposed.
He even broke into houses at night and bludgeoned his victims while they were asleep. Ultimately, a charge of kidnapping and attempting criminal assault put this monster into confinement in 1975. Soon, he became a suspect for a serial killer following which he tried escaping twice. He further committed assaults in Florida and three murders before he was finally captured in 1978. He received three death sentences for the three deaths in Florida and was ultimately executed in Florida State Prison on January 24, 1989. There is even a movie made about Ted Bundy in the year 2002.
Related: How Did Ted Bundy Help Catch The ‘Green River Killer’?
2. Al Capone
Capone aka Scarface was an American gangster and a businessman. He was the Co-founder and the boss of the Chicago Outfit. Capon moved to Chicago in his early 20s. Soon he became A trusted employee of Johnny Torrio. Finally, a conflict with the north side gang played a key role in Capon’s rise and fall. After Torrio’s retirement, Capon gained the reins of the gang. He began expanding the business. His cordial relationship with mayor William Hale Thompson and the city police assured his safety from the law.
He became the modern-day Robin Hood to the people due to his generous nature. But the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre ruined the gang’s reputation. 7 gang rivals were murdered in broad daylight on that very day, branding Capone as public enemy number one. Finally, the FBI charged him with counts of tax evasion leading to his conviction in 1931 with five counts. Capone was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. He made an ultimate attempt to get out by appealing to the Supreme Court however it ended in a failure. numerous movies are inspired by this famous personality.
1. Zodiac Killer
In case people are wondering why this serial killer is at the top of the list, it is because his identity still remains unknown to the world. He is uncatchable. Zodiac Killer was originally a pseudo-name for a serial killer in Northern California in the late 1960s. His case is known as the most unsolved murder case in American history. Between December 1968 and October 1969, Zodiac Killer committed the crime of killing five people in the San Francisco Bay Area. His main targets were young couples and a male cab driver who was alone. The killer himself declared that he had murdered almost 37 people.
He named himself Zodiac in a number of threatening letters and cards to two regional newspapers. Some were Cryptograms or ciphers, among them two still remain unsolved. One of them took 64 years for police to crack. Finally, the crime letter stopped around 1974. Although the San Francisco Police Department declared the case inactive in April 2004, it was reopened prior to March 2007. There is an open file about the Zodiac since 1969. There is a Netflix movie based on Zodiac Killer starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr.
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