Many criminals choose to work alone but throughout the course of our history many have found a partner who was as disturbed, evil, duplicitous, sinister, and most often as murderous as them. This list has been compiled to outline 10 of the most notoroius partners in crime ever.
1. The Kray Twins
Image source - Wikipedia
Hijacking, armed robbery, violence, arson…all in a day’s work for the infamous Kray twins. The London gangsters of the 60s were so fearful that witnesses were too scared to come forward and testify against them. They started off in protection racketeering but soon became renowned throughout the land via their criminal activities in the country’s capital. They became celebrities of their generation. Owning several West End nightclubs they mixed with stars such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and politicians. They were interviewed on TV and photographed by David Bailey. Yet at the end of the day they were simply violent criminals. They were arrested, along with several members of their “firm”, on 9 May1968. They were convicted for the brutal murders of Jack “The Hat” McVitie and George Cornell, and each was sentenced to life imprisonment.
2. Fred and Rosemary West
Image source - Wikipedia
If you were not synonymous with the actions of this evil couple then you would be forgiven for believing that they were a normal, loving, happy couple photographed in the 80s. However, they were hiding a terrible secret because between 1967 and 1987 they had gruesomely tortured, raped and murdered 12 young girls, including Fred’s daughter (with previous wife Rena) Charmaine and their eldest daughter Heather. The shocking events took place in the West’s home in Gloucester. After the suicide of Fred, Rose was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to life imprisonment. She is still behind bars today.
3. Leopold and Loeb
Image source - Spartacus
Intelligent young men who met at the University of Chicago. They came from respectable, wealthy families and each showed promise in their academic studies. However, they shared one desire: to commit the perfect crime. How this fell into conversation between them one day, and the decision that the perfect crime to carry out would be murder, will never be known. The unfortunate victim was 14 year-old Bobby Franks and he was killed by the two men in 1924. Their crime was not so perfect because they were caught and sentenced to life imprisonment.
4. The Lonely Hearts Killers
Image source - Time
Raymond Fernandez was a petty criminal who served some time behind bars in the 40s. He learned of voodoo from his cellmate and became convinced that he could con women out of their money using this dark, mystical sorcery. Upon his release he posted ads in lonely hearts columns and his plan worked unti he met Martha Beck. She fell victim to his “charm” but tracked him down and showed up on his doorstep with her two children. Fernandez accepted her into his home on the condition that she abandon her kids, which she did, leaving them at the Salvation Army. They began working together but Beck became jealous of his relationships with other women, so they began killing the victims. They were caught and received the death penalty: the electic chair. It’s believed they killed as many as 20 victims, including a young widow and her small child.
5. The Menendez Brothers
Image source - Crime and Investigation
The brothers (Erik and Lyle) were inseperable from a young age. They were disillusioned from society, preferring the company of each other instead of others. Their father was a successful businessman who imposed some very strict rules upon the boys. Their mother was pained by her husband’s infidelity yet remained loyal, but lived in fear of her two sons. And so she should have been because one day the Menendez brothers shot their parents dead at their mansion home in 1989 and then lived a life of luxury for seven month. They went on spending sprees with the family’s money and created fake businesses. The police did become suspicious of the boys spending, especially since they splashed out more than $1 million in that small amount of time. However, they were caught after younger brother Erik’s breakdown and confession to a psychotherapist.
6. Frank and Jesse James
Image source - Paranormal Knowledge
Infamous partners in crime in the Wild West, these two outlaws were brutal in their robberies. For example, in September 1864 they held up a train with their group of bandits, looted it and killed 22 of the 23 unarmed Union soldiers who were on board, scalping several of them in the process. They roamed the country, from Iowa to Alabama, robbing as many banks, trains, shops and stage-coaches as they could along their travels. Their notoriety came in 1866 when they were daring enough to pull off their biggest raid, and most daring (it was during the day). They walked away from the bank robbery with $58,000 (a huge sum of money those days) and killed one innocent bystander. Despite their ruthlessness they were popular among locals and even hailed as heroes by some.
7. Bonnie and Clyde
Image source - Wikipedia
Everyone knows of Bonnie and Clyde. Their legend has lived on in films and songs. This young handsome couple went on a 21-month robbing spree during the 1930s. They kept their heists small but were brutal they went about them. They killed anyone who happened to get in their way. They became top of the most wanted list in 1934 after gunning down two police officers and a constable, and kidnapping a police chief. The couple were caught in May that year but rather than surrendering they fought the police from their car and succumbed to a hail of bullets.
8. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Image source - Time
Like the James brothers, Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy) and the Sundance Kid (Harry Longabaugh) had a habit of looting trains. Along with seven others, they were members of the Robbers Roost Gang. In 1899 they robbed a train and earned themselves thousands of dollars. The police were after them so they escaped to South America. The story from here veers off in several directions: rumours claim to different demises such as a shoot-out in Bolivia or Uruguay, or even managing to escape to Alaska where they lived happily ever after.
9. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady
Image source - Time
The couple’s killings became known as the Moors Murders. It was during the 60s that Ian Brady killed five children with Hindley as his accomplice. He admitted to police on 1987 that he had killed another five children and even told them of the exact locations where he’d buried the bodies. Despite this though the police could not recover the bodies. The couple became the most hated figures in Britain because of their evil and calculated slayings of young children.
10. The Columbine Killers
Image source - Wikipedia
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are responsible for the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999. Harris was regarded as a sociopath who was obsessed with the army, while Klebold was seen as a loner and a depressant. They marched into their school armed with some heavy arsenal and opened fired on their school mates and teachers. They killed 13 people before turning their guns onto themselves. The unexpected and shocking tragedy is a wound that is still healing in America.
