These are Their Stories

John Dillinger
A bank robber who perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the Depression fantasy: making a living robbing banks. It worked so well, they are still making movies about him 75 years later.

'Night stalker'
Another great saga from the land of fruits and nuts: L.A. The sexual assaults tied to brutal murders made each of Richard Ramirez's crimes front-page news.

Jeffrey Dahmer
The real-life Hannibal Lecter—without the intelligence. He just fried everything up in the pan, no fava beans.

'Hillside Strangler'
Getting your own moniker is the Oscar of crime. Once again, Los Angeles leads the hit parade of crazies.

Al Capone
The ultimate cautionary crime tale. It was income-tax evasion, not murder, that put him in prison. He was released after eight years—to die from syphilis.

Dr. Sam Sheppard
The inspiration for The Fugitive. He may or may not have killed his wife. It's been only 55 years, but sooner or later someone will crack the case.

'Son of Sam'
A nice alliterative description, until you realize that Sam was a Labrador retriever who gave David Berkowitz orders to kill. You see? You can't make this stuff up.

'Boston Strangler'
The gold standard of serial murders: the killer confesses—and 40 years later, people still don't believe he did it.