20 Worst Sociopaths To Have Ever Lived
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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
From manipulative cult leaders to cold-blooded killers, history has seen some truly disturbing individuals. Join us as we examine the most notorious people who exhibited classic signs of sociopathy - antisocial behavior, manipulation, and a complete lack of empathy. These individuals used their charm and cunning to exploit others, leaving destruction in their wake. Our countdown includes Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Epstein, Jordan Belfort, Aileen Wuornos, Pablo Escobar, Jim Jones, Bernie Madoff, Elizabeth Holmes, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson and more! Which of these manipulative individuals do you find most disturbing? Let us know in the comments below!
20 Worst Sociopaths to Have Ever Lived
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re examining the most notorious people throughout history who have exhibited signs of sociopathy, those being antisocial behavior, manipulation, and a lack of empathy.
Adolf Hitler
The mid 20th century was rife with sociopathic world leaders, including the likes of Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini. Naturally, Adolf Hitler is the most infamous. One could certainly make an argument that Hitler is the most evil man to ever live, showing zero remorse for the incredible suffering that he inflicted on millions of people. The Holocaust was executed with a chilling personal detachment, and he had an inflated sense of his own importance, believing that he was both a military genius and the savior of Germany. Not to mention he was a master propagandist, using lies to manipulate the masses and craft a narrative of victimhood. Hitler is, put simply, a textbook sociopath, ticking virtually all of the requirements.
Jeffrey Epstein
One of the most infamous financiers in modern history, Jeffrey Epstein had an extensive history of exploiting and abusing young women throughout his many years in power. His ability to exploit victims without concern for their well-being is a hallmark of sociopathic behavior, with officials identifying dozens of girls that fell victim to Epstein and his elite inner circle. And speaking of that, his ability to persuade wealthy and influential figures to associate with him suggests that he was highly skilled in deception and self-promotion - further signs of sociopathic behavior. In the end, Epstein allegedly took his own life rather than face further repercussions for his heinous crimes.
Jordan Belfort
Leonardo DiCaprio has enough charm and charisma to draw us into the wild life of Jordan Belfort. But make no mistake, he’s a bad dude. Belfort ran Stratton Oakmont in the 1990s and ran numerous financial scams that earned him and his buddies a lot of money. Pump and dump schemes, underwriting IPOs, stock manipulation, money laundering - the list is extensive. And through these scams, Belfort defrauded thousands of people without remorse, knowingly ruining their futures while living a lavish lifestyle on their dime. And with traits like pathological lying, manipulativeness, and reckless risk-taking, Belfort shows strong signs of being a sociopath. He ultimately spent 22 months in prison and is now a writer and motivational speaker.
Aileen Wuornos
The line between psychopath and sociopath is often quite blurry, and Aileen Wuornos certainly walked that line. One of the most notorious serial killers in American history, Wuornos murdered seven men in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Prosecutors successfully argued that Wuornos’s primary motivation was to procure her victims’ money, displaying both a premeditation for violence and a strong lack of empathy. She has also displayed a heavy degree of manipulation, having attempted to persuade the public that she killed the men in self-defense. That said, some may argue that Wuornos was more mentally ill than sociopathic, having suffered an extremely tragic upbringing that likely damaged her psyche.
Robert William Fisher
One of the most infamous unsolved crimes in modern history is that of Robert William Fisher, a Phoenix man who allegedly murdered his family and blew up the house before fleeing to the woods. Fisher has never been seen again, and at one time was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Obvious lack of empathy aside, Fisher also displayed traits of manipulation and superficial charm, maintaining a public image of a devoted and charismatic family man. But the truth was far more malicious, and Fisher was known by close associates to be an abusive and controlling husband. Perhaps worst of all is his cold, premeditated calculation - committing the crime, setting the fire, and disappearing to start anew, his family the unfortunate sacrifices.
Karla Homolka
Canada has seen its fair share of notorious killers, including Karla Homolka. In the early 1990s, both she and her then-husband Paul Bernardo killed three people. Homolka’s own sister Tammy was their first victim, as she asphyxiated to death after being drugged by Homolka and Bernardo. The other two victims, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, were simply kidnapped off the street and murdered. But perhaps Homolka’s most sociopathic trait is her manipulation, as she successfully fooled prosecutors into believing that she was coerced by Bernardo into committing the crimes. In reality, she was a willing and active participant. Her success at manipulating the justice system and receiving a favorable plea deal is now widely recognized as one of the greatest injustices in modern criminal history.
Caligula
Ruling the Roman Empire between 37 and 41 AD, Caligula is often depicted as one of the most tyrannical men in ancient history. Of course, most of these accounts were written by his enemies long after his death, so we have to take everything with a grain of salt. But if their words are to be believed, Caligula was a textbook sociopath. He was not only an exceedingly cruel man, but he was also extremely reckless and impulsive, his lavish spending draining Rome’s treasury. Perhaps most important of all, Caligula had wild delusions of grandeur, often declaring himself a living God and forcing people to worship him as such. His tyrannical, careless, and increasingly embarrassing behavior resulted in his assassination on January 24, 41 AD.
Pablo Escobar
While he was hailed as a savior-like figure in various areas of Colombia, Pablo Escobar did a lot of heinous things to get in his position of authority. Escobar fits the traits of a sociopath to a tee, distributing vast amounts of addictive drugs - mostly cocaine - in order to fund a lavish lifestyle. He didn’t care how many lives he ruined with these drugs; he just wanted the money and the power that came with them. On top of that, Escobar was known for being extremely manipulative, and he did anything he could to remain in power. That includes murder and even acts of domestic terrorism, like bombing an entire passenger plane in order to kill a presidential candidate that was supposed to be onboard.
Genghis Khan
His very name is synonymous with violence. Born with the name Temüjin around 1162, he adopted the title Genghis Khan in 1206 and embarked on one of the cruelest expansions in human history. He was basically a James Bond villain, hoping for total world domination and willing to massacre whoever got in his way. Genghis Khan ordered the mass extermination of entire cities, sometimes killing millions in a single campaign, like decimating the Khwarazmian Empire and laying waste to Nishapur. He was also known for being very charismatic, inspiring intense loyalty and admiration amongst his followers. Throughout most of modern history, Genghis Khan has been regarded as a merciless barbarian.
Jim Jones
By their very nature, cult leaders often exhibit sociopathic traits, especially when it comes to their manipulative charisma. Jim Jones was no different, attracting a legion of followers through passionate speeches, pathological lying, and promises of a utopian society, which he hoped to establish through Jonestown in Guyana. He also displayed delusions of grandeur, claiming to be the reincarnation of various powerful figures, including Jesus, Gandhi, and even Vladimir Lenin. And of course his final act was an extreme display of reckless violence, killing over 900 people by poisoning them with cyanide. The Jonestown massacre is considered one of the most shocking events in modern American history, the unfortunate endgame of a malicious and sociopathic leader.
Bernie Madoff
When it comes to financial manipulation, it’s hard to beat the story of Bernie Madoff. Madoff had it all on Wall Street; he ran a multibillion-dollar company and held sway over the Nasdaq stock exchange. But his own hubris eventually got the best of him. Madoff confessed to his sons Mark and Andrew that he had orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in history through his Investment Securities firm, swindling investors out of billions. Mark and Andrew then turned on their father and reported him to the FBI, who arrested Madoff on a charge of securities fraud. He eventually pled guilty to 11 felonies and was sentenced to 150 years in prison, where he died in April 2021.
Richard Scott Smith
Fans of Showtime’s “Love Fraud” may recognize the name Richard Scott Smith, as he was the primary subject of the four-part documentary. Smith was a serial con artist, running numerous online romance scams and ruining the lives of multiple women. These women appear in the documentary, sharing their harrowing stories of being duped and misled. Smith would use a fake identity and marry his victims, then use their financial information to obtain a line of credit. He would then flee, off to marry someone else, leaving his previous partners both heartbroken and in severe debt. Smith was known to have married at least ten times before he was arrested at the end of the series.
Anna Sorokin
Financial schemes are getting harder by the day, thanks to rapid technological advancements, but they still happen. Just ask Anna Sorokin, a Russian-born woman who defrauded various institutions of nearly $300,000. Having emigrated to New York in 2013, Sorokin quickly became a master manipulator. She invented a new identity - Anna Delvey - and forged financial documents to appear like a rich German heiress with access to a multimillion-euro trust fund. With these documents, Sorokin secured massive loans, which she used to sustain a lavish lifestyle. However, her deceit was exposed when she duped her friend Rachel DeLoache Williams of over $60,000. Williams alerted the police, leading to Sorokin’s arrest in a sting operation. She subsequently served two years in prison.
Billy McFarland
Called “the poster boy for millennial scamming” by Vanity Fair, Billy McFarland is widely known as the man behind the ill-fated Fyre Festival. Well, ill-fated isn’t the right word. More like manipulative. Taking place in the Bahamas, the Fyre Festival was marketed as a luxury music event with villas, gourmet food, the whole nine yards. Visitors paid good money to attend, but upon arrival, they were met with a horribly planned disaster that bore no resemblance to the promised opulence. Tons of lawsuits emerged accusing McFarland of fraud, and he was found guilty on two counts. He was ordered to pay $26 million in damages and served three and a half years in prison.
Joe Exotic
The Tiger King himself operated the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, known for its prominent display of large cats. And, as chronicled in the famous Netflix documentary, he had a fierce rivalry with Carole Baskin, the owner of Florida’s Big Cat Rescue. Exotic displayed numerous sociopathic tendencies, which were on full display in the documentary. Despite his purported love for animals, he was continuously alleged to have mistreated those in his park. Not only did he publicly accuse Baskin of killing her missing husband, Don Lewis, he also put out a hit on her which failed and led to his arrest. Exotic was convicted on charges of animal mistreatment and attempted murder-for-hire, and sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Dorothea Puente
Known as the Death House Landlady, Dorothea Puente sounds like someone out of a fairy tale. She opened a boarding house in Sacramento and seemed like an upstanding member of the community, donating to various charities and using her boarding house to host AA meetings. She also aided her elderly guests in setting up their Social Security checks. However, this was all part of Puente’s grand plan. Throughout the 1980s, the matron killed nine guests of her boarding house, buried their remains in her yard, and cashed their Social Security checks. It shows that Puente was a maniac who was highly aggressive and driven primarily by her own financial gain.
Elizabeth Holmes
And speaking of people willing to deceive for financial gain, let’s talk about the infamous Elizabeth Holmes. Like Bernie Madoff, Holmes manipulated investors with her company Theranos, which claimed to have revolutionized blood testing with a fancy new machine. However, this machine never actually worked. Holmes not only lied to investors about the company’s capabilities, but she lied to her own customers through the machine’s bogus results. Theranos raised more than $700 million, and Forbes valued Holmes as the youngest self-made female billionaire in American history. But it all came crashing down when investigators looked into the company and uncovered a massive web of deceit. Holmes was charged with fraud and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Diane Downs
Called a “deviant sociopath” by one psychiatrist, Diane Downs gained notoriety for a particularly heinous crime conducted in 1983. On May 19, Downs shot her three children, then wounded herself in the left arm. She subsequently rushed them to a hospital, claiming that they had been the victims of an attempted carjacking. However, hospital staff were immediately suspicious of her story. Two of the children survived, but one tragically passed from her injuries. Following an official investigation, Downs was arrested nine months later and convicted largely on the testimony of one of her surviving children. She supposedly committed the acts because the man she was entangled with didn’t want kids in their lives. In 1984, Downs was sentenced to life in prison.
Ted Bundy
Ask any professional and they’ll tell you that Ted Bundy was as mean as they come. His own attorney, Polly Nelson, called him “the very definition of heartless evil.” Biographer Ann Rule said he was “a sadistic sociopath.” Even Bundy labeled himself as “the most cold-hearted son of a [gun] you'll ever meet.” “Gun” is our own word. Bundy was an attractive man, who skillfully manipulated his persona to enchant women, often luring them into his car, where he would restrain and kill them. Even after his arrest, Bundy tried to maintain his innocence, weaving lies for lawyers, the media, and visitors alike. However, as the truth closed in, he eventually realized that the game was up and confessed to killing 30 people.
Charles Manson
At his twelfth parole hearing, Charles Manson was said to have a “history of controlling behavior.” That’s putting it lightly. Perhaps the most infamous cult leader of all time, Manson was the head of his eponymous Family, which gained notoriety in 1969 after killing actress Sharon Tate. But Tate was just one of nine victims, most of whom Manson murdered by proxy, through his manipulated Family members. His motive is still ambiguous, but author Vincent Bugliosi believes that he intended to start a race war. At the aforementioned parole hearing, the panel also indicated that Manson had no remorse for the crimes and harbored a total lack of empathy. He died in prison at the age of 83.
Can you think of any other examples? Let us know in the comments below!
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re examining the most notorious people throughout history who have exhibited signs of sociopathy, those being antisocial behavior, manipulation, and a lack of empathy.
Adolf Hitler
The mid 20th century was rife with sociopathic world leaders, including the likes of Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini. Naturally, Adolf Hitler is the most infamous. One could certainly make an argument that Hitler is the most evil man to ever live, showing zero remorse for the incredible suffering that he inflicted on millions of people. The Holocaust was executed with a chilling personal detachment, and he had an inflated sense of his own importance, believing that he was both a military genius and the savior of Germany. Not to mention he was a master propagandist, using lies to manipulate the masses and craft a narrative of victimhood. Hitler is, put simply, a textbook sociopath, ticking virtually all of the requirements.
Jeffrey Epstein
One of the most infamous financiers in modern history, Jeffrey Epstein had an extensive history of exploiting and abusing young women throughout his many years in power. His ability to exploit victims without concern for their well-being is a hallmark of sociopathic behavior, with officials identifying dozens of girls that fell victim to Epstein and his elite inner circle. And speaking of that, his ability to persuade wealthy and influential figures to associate with him suggests that he was highly skilled in deception and self-promotion - further signs of sociopathic behavior. In the end, Epstein allegedly took his own life rather than face further repercussions for his heinous crimes.
Jordan Belfort
Leonardo DiCaprio has enough charm and charisma to draw us into the wild life of Jordan Belfort. But make no mistake, he’s a bad dude. Belfort ran Stratton Oakmont in the 1990s and ran numerous financial scams that earned him and his buddies a lot of money. Pump and dump schemes, underwriting IPOs, stock manipulation, money laundering - the list is extensive. And through these scams, Belfort defrauded thousands of people without remorse, knowingly ruining their futures while living a lavish lifestyle on their dime. And with traits like pathological lying, manipulativeness, and reckless risk-taking, Belfort shows strong signs of being a sociopath. He ultimately spent 22 months in prison and is now a writer and motivational speaker.
Aileen Wuornos
The line between psychopath and sociopath is often quite blurry, and Aileen Wuornos certainly walked that line. One of the most notorious serial killers in American history, Wuornos murdered seven men in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Prosecutors successfully argued that Wuornos’s primary motivation was to procure her victims’ money, displaying both a premeditation for violence and a strong lack of empathy. She has also displayed a heavy degree of manipulation, having attempted to persuade the public that she killed the men in self-defense. That said, some may argue that Wuornos was more mentally ill than sociopathic, having suffered an extremely tragic upbringing that likely damaged her psyche.
Robert William Fisher
One of the most infamous unsolved crimes in modern history is that of Robert William Fisher, a Phoenix man who allegedly murdered his family and blew up the house before fleeing to the woods. Fisher has never been seen again, and at one time was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Obvious lack of empathy aside, Fisher also displayed traits of manipulation and superficial charm, maintaining a public image of a devoted and charismatic family man. But the truth was far more malicious, and Fisher was known by close associates to be an abusive and controlling husband. Perhaps worst of all is his cold, premeditated calculation - committing the crime, setting the fire, and disappearing to start anew, his family the unfortunate sacrifices.
Karla Homolka
Canada has seen its fair share of notorious killers, including Karla Homolka. In the early 1990s, both she and her then-husband Paul Bernardo killed three people. Homolka’s own sister Tammy was their first victim, as she asphyxiated to death after being drugged by Homolka and Bernardo. The other two victims, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, were simply kidnapped off the street and murdered. But perhaps Homolka’s most sociopathic trait is her manipulation, as she successfully fooled prosecutors into believing that she was coerced by Bernardo into committing the crimes. In reality, she was a willing and active participant. Her success at manipulating the justice system and receiving a favorable plea deal is now widely recognized as one of the greatest injustices in modern criminal history.
Caligula
Ruling the Roman Empire between 37 and 41 AD, Caligula is often depicted as one of the most tyrannical men in ancient history. Of course, most of these accounts were written by his enemies long after his death, so we have to take everything with a grain of salt. But if their words are to be believed, Caligula was a textbook sociopath. He was not only an exceedingly cruel man, but he was also extremely reckless and impulsive, his lavish spending draining Rome’s treasury. Perhaps most important of all, Caligula had wild delusions of grandeur, often declaring himself a living God and forcing people to worship him as such. His tyrannical, careless, and increasingly embarrassing behavior resulted in his assassination on January 24, 41 AD.
Pablo Escobar
While he was hailed as a savior-like figure in various areas of Colombia, Pablo Escobar did a lot of heinous things to get in his position of authority. Escobar fits the traits of a sociopath to a tee, distributing vast amounts of addictive drugs - mostly cocaine - in order to fund a lavish lifestyle. He didn’t care how many lives he ruined with these drugs; he just wanted the money and the power that came with them. On top of that, Escobar was known for being extremely manipulative, and he did anything he could to remain in power. That includes murder and even acts of domestic terrorism, like bombing an entire passenger plane in order to kill a presidential candidate that was supposed to be onboard.
Genghis Khan
His very name is synonymous with violence. Born with the name Temüjin around 1162, he adopted the title Genghis Khan in 1206 and embarked on one of the cruelest expansions in human history. He was basically a James Bond villain, hoping for total world domination and willing to massacre whoever got in his way. Genghis Khan ordered the mass extermination of entire cities, sometimes killing millions in a single campaign, like decimating the Khwarazmian Empire and laying waste to Nishapur. He was also known for being very charismatic, inspiring intense loyalty and admiration amongst his followers. Throughout most of modern history, Genghis Khan has been regarded as a merciless barbarian.
Jim Jones
By their very nature, cult leaders often exhibit sociopathic traits, especially when it comes to their manipulative charisma. Jim Jones was no different, attracting a legion of followers through passionate speeches, pathological lying, and promises of a utopian society, which he hoped to establish through Jonestown in Guyana. He also displayed delusions of grandeur, claiming to be the reincarnation of various powerful figures, including Jesus, Gandhi, and even Vladimir Lenin. And of course his final act was an extreme display of reckless violence, killing over 900 people by poisoning them with cyanide. The Jonestown massacre is considered one of the most shocking events in modern American history, the unfortunate endgame of a malicious and sociopathic leader.
Bernie Madoff
When it comes to financial manipulation, it’s hard to beat the story of Bernie Madoff. Madoff had it all on Wall Street; he ran a multibillion-dollar company and held sway over the Nasdaq stock exchange. But his own hubris eventually got the best of him. Madoff confessed to his sons Mark and Andrew that he had orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in history through his Investment Securities firm, swindling investors out of billions. Mark and Andrew then turned on their father and reported him to the FBI, who arrested Madoff on a charge of securities fraud. He eventually pled guilty to 11 felonies and was sentenced to 150 years in prison, where he died in April 2021.
Richard Scott Smith
Fans of Showtime’s “Love Fraud” may recognize the name Richard Scott Smith, as he was the primary subject of the four-part documentary. Smith was a serial con artist, running numerous online romance scams and ruining the lives of multiple women. These women appear in the documentary, sharing their harrowing stories of being duped and misled. Smith would use a fake identity and marry his victims, then use their financial information to obtain a line of credit. He would then flee, off to marry someone else, leaving his previous partners both heartbroken and in severe debt. Smith was known to have married at least ten times before he was arrested at the end of the series.
Anna Sorokin
Financial schemes are getting harder by the day, thanks to rapid technological advancements, but they still happen. Just ask Anna Sorokin, a Russian-born woman who defrauded various institutions of nearly $300,000. Having emigrated to New York in 2013, Sorokin quickly became a master manipulator. She invented a new identity - Anna Delvey - and forged financial documents to appear like a rich German heiress with access to a multimillion-euro trust fund. With these documents, Sorokin secured massive loans, which she used to sustain a lavish lifestyle. However, her deceit was exposed when she duped her friend Rachel DeLoache Williams of over $60,000. Williams alerted the police, leading to Sorokin’s arrest in a sting operation. She subsequently served two years in prison.
Billy McFarland
Called “the poster boy for millennial scamming” by Vanity Fair, Billy McFarland is widely known as the man behind the ill-fated Fyre Festival. Well, ill-fated isn’t the right word. More like manipulative. Taking place in the Bahamas, the Fyre Festival was marketed as a luxury music event with villas, gourmet food, the whole nine yards. Visitors paid good money to attend, but upon arrival, they were met with a horribly planned disaster that bore no resemblance to the promised opulence. Tons of lawsuits emerged accusing McFarland of fraud, and he was found guilty on two counts. He was ordered to pay $26 million in damages and served three and a half years in prison.
Joe Exotic
The Tiger King himself operated the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, known for its prominent display of large cats. And, as chronicled in the famous Netflix documentary, he had a fierce rivalry with Carole Baskin, the owner of Florida’s Big Cat Rescue. Exotic displayed numerous sociopathic tendencies, which were on full display in the documentary. Despite his purported love for animals, he was continuously alleged to have mistreated those in his park. Not only did he publicly accuse Baskin of killing her missing husband, Don Lewis, he also put out a hit on her which failed and led to his arrest. Exotic was convicted on charges of animal mistreatment and attempted murder-for-hire, and sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Dorothea Puente
Known as the Death House Landlady, Dorothea Puente sounds like someone out of a fairy tale. She opened a boarding house in Sacramento and seemed like an upstanding member of the community, donating to various charities and using her boarding house to host AA meetings. She also aided her elderly guests in setting up their Social Security checks. However, this was all part of Puente’s grand plan. Throughout the 1980s, the matron killed nine guests of her boarding house, buried their remains in her yard, and cashed their Social Security checks. It shows that Puente was a maniac who was highly aggressive and driven primarily by her own financial gain.
Elizabeth Holmes
And speaking of people willing to deceive for financial gain, let’s talk about the infamous Elizabeth Holmes. Like Bernie Madoff, Holmes manipulated investors with her company Theranos, which claimed to have revolutionized blood testing with a fancy new machine. However, this machine never actually worked. Holmes not only lied to investors about the company’s capabilities, but she lied to her own customers through the machine’s bogus results. Theranos raised more than $700 million, and Forbes valued Holmes as the youngest self-made female billionaire in American history. But it all came crashing down when investigators looked into the company and uncovered a massive web of deceit. Holmes was charged with fraud and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Diane Downs
Called a “deviant sociopath” by one psychiatrist, Diane Downs gained notoriety for a particularly heinous crime conducted in 1983. On May 19, Downs shot her three children, then wounded herself in the left arm. She subsequently rushed them to a hospital, claiming that they had been the victims of an attempted carjacking. However, hospital staff were immediately suspicious of her story. Two of the children survived, but one tragically passed from her injuries. Following an official investigation, Downs was arrested nine months later and convicted largely on the testimony of one of her surviving children. She supposedly committed the acts because the man she was entangled with didn’t want kids in their lives. In 1984, Downs was sentenced to life in prison.
Ted Bundy
Ask any professional and they’ll tell you that Ted Bundy was as mean as they come. His own attorney, Polly Nelson, called him “the very definition of heartless evil.” Biographer Ann Rule said he was “a sadistic sociopath.” Even Bundy labeled himself as “the most cold-hearted son of a [gun] you'll ever meet.” “Gun” is our own word. Bundy was an attractive man, who skillfully manipulated his persona to enchant women, often luring them into his car, where he would restrain and kill them. Even after his arrest, Bundy tried to maintain his innocence, weaving lies for lawyers, the media, and visitors alike. However, as the truth closed in, he eventually realized that the game was up and confessed to killing 30 people.
Charles Manson
At his twelfth parole hearing, Charles Manson was said to have a “history of controlling behavior.” That’s putting it lightly. Perhaps the most infamous cult leader of all time, Manson was the head of his eponymous Family, which gained notoriety in 1969 after killing actress Sharon Tate. But Tate was just one of nine victims, most of whom Manson murdered by proxy, through his manipulated Family members. His motive is still ambiguous, but author Vincent Bugliosi believes that he intended to start a race war. At the aforementioned parole hearing, the panel also indicated that Manson had no remorse for the crimes and harbored a total lack of empathy. He died in prison at the age of 83.
Can you think of any other examples? Let us know in the comments below!
