Terrifying Historic Villains
From Adolf Hitler to Charles Manson, there is no shortage of frightening figures in our history books. However, not all of these awful people receive so much attention. In fact, many of them are barely remembered.
Pietro Caruso
When fascist Italy aligned itself with the Nazis, few embraced the alliance more than Pietro Caruso. He was the police chief of Rome and responsible for upholding law and order. However, he ended up doing the exact opposite. Caruso was a loyal bloodhound of Mussolini. Together with Herbert Kappler, the Gestapo commander of Rome, he participated in many horrors and gleefully pursued Mussolini's enemies. His greatest atrocity was the mass execution of Fosse Andeatine in 1944: In just one day, he gathered over 300 people in front of Nazi rifles. Caruso was especially famous for his sadism-a notable achievement during a time when bloodthirsty Nazis freely roamed the country. After the war, Caruso was put on trial for his crimes. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. But he almost didn't make it to his own execution: The furious Romans stormed his guard before the shooting and attempted to drown him in the Tiber River.
Hiroko Nagata
Western people often think of [apan as a restrained, misogynistic culture with little room for extremists-let alone female extremists. While this may be true to a certain extent, Hiroko Nagata managed to break the mold way back in 1972. Unfortunately, she broke it by forming a terrorist faction and killing a bunch of people. Nagata was the leader of United Red Army, a militant leftist group that wanted a Communist revolution in [apan. Her group was notorious for its extreme brutality, and before long, she got in trouble for conspiring to kill two people who tried to leave the group. But mere conspiring wasn't enough for her. In a single year, she led a number of horrifyingly violent group killings. The 12 victims were brutally beaten, tortured, and stabbed. These people weren't even her enemies-they were fellow members of her faction that she said weren't "revolutionary enough." She was eventually arrested in an incident that involved hostages and the deaths of two police officers and one civilian. In the end, she died a lonely death, perishing on death row after a brain tumor operation and a long illness. She was 65.
Goran [elisic
When a person is commonly known as "Serb Adolf," you know he's probably not a particularly nice person. Goran [elisic certainly lived up to his nickname. Originally a humble farm machinery mechanic, [elisic's talent for murder and cruelty became apparent during the Bosnian War. Fighting for the Bosnian Serb forces, who were responsible for 90 percent of the war crimes during the conflict, [elisic rose in the ranks until he was placed in charge of a detention camp. His camp held hundreds of Muslims and Croats, who were all tortured, murdered (often by [elisic himself), and buried in hidden graves during the Serbs' ethnic cleansing campaign in 1992. [elisic, who was only 23 at the time of his crimes, was arrested in 1998. He pleaded guilty to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, he was acquitted on the charges of genocide because the prosecution could not prove them conclusively. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison and is currently serving his sentence in Italy.
Kenji Doihara
Kenji Doihara was a Japanese general during World War II. He was in charge of operations during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which earned him the nickname "Lawrence of Manchuria" (a reference to Lawrence of Arabia). But this was merely because he was able to dress and act like Chinese natives-not because he was heroic. Unlike his movie counterpart, Doihara wasn't out to help people. He was in it for personal gain and didn't care how many people he hurt to get there. Despite his high rank, Doihara was a rampant opium user and a thoroughly corrupt soul. He was heavily involved in Japan's conquest of massive areas of China, which broke traditional Chinese societal structures and plunged the country in deep confusion. Doihara seized the opportunity to become the mastermind behind all Manchurian crime. He controlled the drug trade and was the kingpin behind almost every criminal faction. Luckily, his near-total control of the underworld didn't last. After numerous terrifying deeds, he was caught, prosecuted for a long list of war crimes, and hanged in December 1948.
Laszlo Baky
Laszlo Baky had two passions: politics and violence. His brutal, counterrevolutionary work in Hungary earned him a high-ranking place in the Gendarmerie (a military faction acting as a police force). Baky became a prominent figure in the Hungarian Nazi party and eventually rose to the rank of state secretary. In 1944, Nazi Germany invaded Hungary, and Baky was the happiest man on earth. Teaming up with SS leader Adolf Eichmann and a fellow Hungarian Nazi named Andor Jaross, Baky became responsible for gathering Hungary's Jews and sending them to concentration camps. Baky loved his job and was horrifyingly good at it. In a terrifying display of efficient logistics, Baky and his companions shipped hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews to their deaths. Luckily, Baky was removed from power before the end of 1944. He fled the country but was caught a year later and sentenced to hang.
Pedro the Cruel
Tall, muscular, and well educated, Pedro of Castile seemed like the perfect king for Castile (a part of Spain). However, he soon proved the opposite. A petty and angry man with little talent as a leader, Pedro reacted to most situations with violence. He was an immoral and unfaithful husband and thought little of killing his wives and lovers if they became a burden. Pedro was originally a decent ruler, but the combination of bad political decisions, a controlling mother, and a close call with the Black Death changed him. Pedro started to brutally murder anyone and everyone in Castile he perceived as a threat. A series of awful deaths followed, and it seemed that no one in Castile was safe from Pedro's cruel madness. Ironically, he was kind of right about his paranoia: In the end, he was assassinated by his own brother.
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was one of the lesser-known despots of World War II. He was a career officer who seized power in Romania by forcing the king into exile. Antonescu symphathized with the Nazis in their mission to "purge" the world. Antonescu was a cruel man who had no problem with killing hundreds of thousands of people in