Here is the list of the Top ten criminal assassins we review in our Top 10 countdown, along with some brief information about each one:
- Gavrilo Princip – Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Princip was a member of the Serbian nationalist group “Young Bosnia.” He assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo in 1914, which is widely considered to have precipitated World War I. Princip died in prison of tuberculosis in 1918.
- Lee Harvey Oswald – Born in New Orleans, Oswald was a former Marine who assassinated President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. Oswald was captured but was himself assassinated two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
- John Wilkes Booth – Born in Maryland, Booth was an actor who sympathized with the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. He assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 1865. Booth was hunted down and killed by Union soldiers a few days later.
- Marcus Junius Brutus – Born in Rome, Brutus was a senator and one of the key conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. He was involved in the stabbing of Caesar and helped lead the conspiracy against him. Brutus later committed suicide after losing a battle against Caesar’s heir, Octavian.
- Jack Ruby – Born in Chicago, Ruby was a nightclub owner who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who had assassinated President Kennedy. Ruby was captured, tried, and sentenced to death, but died in prison from cancer before his execution.
- Yigal Amir – Born in Israel, Amir was a law student who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Amir was captured and sentenced to life in prison.
- Nathuram Godse – Born in India, Godse was a member of a right-wing Hindu nationalist group. He assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s independence movement, in 1948. Godse was tried and executed for the crime.
- Leon Czolgosz – Born in Michigan, Czolgosz was an anarchist who assassinated President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901. Czolgosz was captured and executed by electrocution later that year.
- Khalid Islambouli – Born in Egypt, Islambouli was one of the members of the assassination squad that killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. He was captured and executed for his role in the assassination.
- Guiseppe Zangara – Born in Italy, Zangara attempted to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami in 1933 but instead killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. Zangara was captured, tried, and executed in the electric chair.
For more details, you can read out Top 10 Criminal Assassins countdown, or follow the links on each name to get more details about the specific person.