20 Notorious Crimes of The Century (So Far)

20 Notorious Crimes of the Century So Far

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re examining 20 Notorious Crimes of the Century So Far.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the most shocking and era-defining crimes that have occurred between the year 2000 and 2022.

Do you remember hearing about these stories in the news? Let us know in the comments below!

The Enron Scandal

Formed back in 1985, Enron was an American energy company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Enron was claiming $100 billion in revenue by the year 2000, but the company collapsed just one year later, with Enron declaring bankruptcy in October 2001. It was revealed that Enron executives had been partaking in accounting fraud and hiding billions of dollars in company debt. Enron’s CEO, Jeffrey Skilling, was later sentenced to 24 years in prison. He served twelve and was released in February 2019. The Enron scandal helped lead to the creation of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, a federal law centered around corporate bookkeeping.

Brock Turner

People v. Turner turned out to be one of the most controversial court cases of the century - not only for the nature of the crime, but for the hotly contested outcome. Brock Turner was a Stanford University student who assaulted an unconscious woman on January 18, 2015. Despite being convicted of felony sexual assault, Turner was sentenced to just six months in prison, resulting in public outrage. To make matters worse, he only served three of the six months. The judge who presided over the case was eventually recalled, which essentially means that he was fired by county voters. And in response to the lenient sentencing, California passed a bill requiring a mandatory three-year prison term for the assault of an unconscious or intoxicated person.

The 2005 London Bombings

On July 7, 2005, the United Kingdom experienced its worst terrorist attack in 17 years. The incident is known as the 7/7 bombings, owing to its taking place on the seventh day of the seventh month. In the midst of the morning rush, four Islamic terrorists detonated explosive backpacks across the city, targeting both the London Underground and the public Tavistock Square. 52 citizens died in the bombings and a further 784 were injured, making this the deadliest UK terrorist attack since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988.

The Christchurch Mosque Shootings

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern referred to March 15, 2019 as one of her country’s “darkest days.” That was when a gunman traveled to the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre and committed two mass shootings, resulting in 51 deaths and 40 injuries. The shooting at Al Noor was live streamed on Facebook and further disseminated through various video sharing sites, resulting in further outrage. The shooter was a far-right extremist who harbored a hatred of Islam, and he was eventually sentenced to life in prison without parole. This sentence was unprecedented in New Zealand’s history. In response to the shooting, the country passed a bill banning semi-automatic guns, with a buy-back scheme for such firearms that had been legally obtained.

The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Missing person cases tend to captivate people, owing both to the nature of the stories and our interest in mysteries. And if there’s one disappearance of the century that captured the world’s attention, it was that of three-year-old Madeleine McCann. The English girl was vacationing with her family in Portugal when she went missing. She and her siblings were put to bed at 8:30pm, while her parents went to dine at a nearby restaurant. When McCann’s mother checked on her at 10:00pm, she found her daughter missing. The case turned into a media circus, with British tabloid Daily Express in particular blaming and vilifying Madeleine’s parents. Madeleine’s disappearance remains unsolved, although German authorities have put forth a man named Christian Brückner as a prime suspect.

The Orlando Nightclub Shooting

It was the deadliest attack against LGBT people in the history of the United States, claiming the lives of 49 victims, with 58 others injured. In the very early morning of June 12, 2016, domestic terrorist Omar Mateen shot up a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida called Pulse. The FBI deemed the occurrence a terrorist attack; Mateen claimed that the shooting was motivated by US-led interventions in Iraq and Syria. The police negotiated with Mateen for some hours following the shooting, and over a dozen SWAT officers breached the building shortly after 5 AM. They killed Mateen following a brief shootout.

The Boston Marathon Bombing

Seeing the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as a war against Muslims, radicalized brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev staged this domestic terrorist attack. On April 15, 2013, they placed two homemade pressure cooker bombs on the route of the Boston Marathon and blew them up. Three were killed, and hundreds injured. The case remained cold for three days, until the FBI released photos of the Tsarnaev brothers. They remained free until April 19, when Tamerlan was killed in a shootout and Dzhokhar was arrested. He was sentenced to death and is currently imprisoned in a Colorado supermax called ADX Florence.

The Death of Caylee Anthony

In some ways, the trial of Casey Anthony is the 21st century’s equivalent to the O. J. Simpson case. It was studiously watched and studied by millions, and it involved a flawed prosecution and highly controversial outcome. After missing toddler Caylee Anthony was found dead on December 11, 2008, suspicion immediately fell on her mother, Casey. The prosecution argued that Casey Anthony had grown sick of being a mother and killed her daughter with chloroform. The defense claimed that Caylee had drowned and was secretly disposed of in the nearby woods. The defense won, and Anthony was found not guilty, spurring public cries of outrage and disbelief.

The Charlie Hebdo Shooting

This tragedy catapulted questions about religion and free speech to the forefront of everyone’s minds in January, 2015. Shortly before noon on January 7, two Islamic terrorists entered the offices of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people. A further 11 were also injured in the attack. The assailants remained free for two days but were eventually killed in a shootout with the police. They had targeted Charlie Hebdo for its cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which many Muslim groups see as blasphemous. The response to the shooting was swift and fierce, with marches in support of Charlie Hebdo held across France, and the phrase “Je suis Charlie” - or “I am Charlie” - trending across social media.

Elizabeth Holmes & Theranos

It seemed like the health technology company Theranos was set to change the world! The company claimed that it had revolutionized the science of blood testing and was subsequently valued at $10 billion in the mid 2010s. Its young founder, Elizabeth Holmes, had raised over $700 million in investments and was personally valued at over $4 billion. However, everything came crashing down in 2015. Experts started investigating Theranos’ claims, and with help from a whistleblower, the Wall Street Journal uncovered a dark secret - Theranos had lied about its technology, defrauding investors. Theranos was dissolved and Holmes was sentenced to just over eleven years in prison for criminal fraud.

The Murder of Jamal Khashoggi

On October 2, 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered his country’s consulate in Turkey, while his fiancee waited outside. He did not come back out. Many believed that he was killed inside the consulate, as Khashoggi often criticized the Saudi government. This assertion remained unproven until October 25, when the Saudi government admitted their involvement. A team of Saudi assassins ambushed Khashoggi inside the consulate, killed him, and disposed of his body. They covered up evidence to suppress the truth throughout the following weeks. The CIA reported high confidence that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the murder. He became Prime Minister of the country in September 2022.

The USA Gymnastics Scandal

In September 2016, The Indianapolis Star broke a major story about abuse in American gymnastics. USA Gymnastics was accused of ignoring complaints about coaches and covering up misconduct. At the center of the story was national team physician Larry Nassar, who for at least 14 years, abused 265 young women under the pretense of medical treatment. He was convicted of numerous charges at the state and federal level and will spend the rest of his life in prison. The United States Olympic Committee has announced that USA Gymnastics will be decertified, and the body has filed for bankruptcy.

The Las Vegas Shooting

On the night of October 1, 2017, the United States experienced its deadliest mass shooting, surpassing the Orlando nightclub incident the previous year. For unknown reasons, a man named Stephen Paddock took aim from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, and fired over 1,000 rounds into the audience of a country music festival. The shooting would claim the lives of 60 victims and injure roughly 867 others. The 23 guns found in Paddock’s suite had been purchased legally and he had no documented history of mental illness. In response, the US Justice Department banned the sale of bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire in even more rapid succession.

Jeffrey Epstein

For decades, financier and socialite Jeffrey Epstein used his power to abuse young women. Police and the FBI compiled overwhelming evidence in 2008, only for Epstein to be given a “sweetheart deal” by U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta, negotiated by lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Epstein served just 13 months with work release. It wasn’t until 2019 that Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking. In the wake of the scandal, Acosta, who had become Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary, resigned in disgrace. Epstein was found dead in his cell, having apparently taken his own life. However, given the high-profile people he may have implicated, from politicians to royals, theories have run wild. While Epstein escaped prosecution, co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The Murder of George Floyd

The killing of George Floyd may be the most infamous example of police brutality in the century so far. On May 25, 2020, the police were called on Floyd after a store clerk accused him of using counterfeit money. Despite Floyd’s cries that he couldn’t breathe, responding officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, resulting in his death. The scene was caught on video, and public outrage led to the largest protests in US history. The majority were peaceful, but there were also riots and looting in some cities, as well as instances of police violence against demonstrators and journalists. Derek Chauvin was found guilty for the killing and sentenced to two decades behind bars.

Attack on the United States Capitol

The images of the furious and violent mob that stormed the US Capitol are not easily forgotten. After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, he and his team sought to overturn the results, with 63 lawsuits and pressure on state and federal officials. As these attempts failed, and recounts confirmed the results, he held a rally on January 6th to repeat his false claim that the election was rigged. His followers, which included far right militias, stormed the Capitol to prevent senators from certifying the election results. Some of the rioters on the grounds were armed with guns, knives, axes, batons, baseball bats, stun guns, and chemical sprays. The attack resulted in five deaths, with an additional four distraught officers taking their own lives in the months afterwards.

The Edward Snowden Leaks

We may have assumed that the government was watching prior to 2013 … but we didn’t know how. That year, NSA contractor Edward Snowden turned whistleblower and leaked thousands of documents, revealing a global mass surveillance program of foreign and domestic nationals orchestrated by the US and its allies. He claims that he’d raised concerns through internal channels to no avail. The programs collect data - including emails, text messages, metadata, and more - using corporate partnerships, or just by sucking information up en masse from data centers and fiber optic cables. Snowden fled the US to avoid prosecution, and has been labeled as a hero by his admirers and traitor by his critics.

Harvey Weinstein

The sexual abuse perpetuated by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was an open secret for years. But in October 2017, exposés in The New York Times and The New Yorker laid everything bare. Since those reports, a total of over 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault. Weinstein was eventually convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. The case sparked the #MeToo movement, which seeks to publicize and end sexual misconduct. A number of other prominent figures faced similar allegations in the 2010s, including actor and comedian Bill Cosby, who was imprisoned but controversially released in 2021.

Sandy Hook

The United States was shocked on December 14, 2012, when 20 year old shooter Adam Lanza attacked Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza killed his mother before traveling to the school, where he proceeded to shoot and kill a further 26 people. He later took his own life. At the time, it was the second deadliest school shooting in American history, following Virginia Tech in 2007. The shooter’s motive remains unknown. The incident prompted a powerful reaction in the media owing to the nature of the violence, the high body count, and the young ages of the victims. It also prompted some of the most infamous examples of misinformation this century, with popular conspiracy theorist Alex Jones spreading particularly cruel falsehoods.

9/11

September 11, 2001, heralded the violence and unrest that would characterize the next few decades. With a list of grievances around US policies in the Middle East and elsewhere, nineteen Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked and crashed three commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane was brought down following a revolt by passengers and crew. The deadliest terrorists attack in history, September 11 claimed the lives of 2,977 victims and left thousands injured. 9/11 changed everything, entrenching conspiracy theories in our social fabric, ushering in a new era of mass surveillance, and leading to the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s an unforgettable tragedy that, even decades later, remains the most notorious crime of the century.