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00:10history is full of killer stories people places and events so lethal so downright shocking that
00:20we just can't forget them tonight some criminals are in it for the money
00:28by the 1980s the medellin cartel under pablo escobar is setting off 15 car bombs a day and bringing in
00:35more than 25 billion dollars a year in cocaine others cross the law for the thrill he is the
00:42boogeyman for all of europe he kills with such savagery and suddenness that even his own gang
00:50are terrified of him the most ruthless rack up a big body count along the way
00:57the law isn't making a dent in his rampage which spans 19 states and this goes on for 35 years
01:07these are the criminals so brutal they can only be among history's deadliest
01:20the 1980s sees a whole new class of criminal narco-terrorists the men responsible for a global
01:29drug trade fueled by greed and murder and none of them is deadlier than pablo escobar
01:39on the morning of november 27 1989 avianco flight 203 takes off from bogota colombia skies are clear
01:48conditions are perfect and then just five minutes in the plane explodes
01:56everyone on that plane 107 people dead the future president of colombia was scheduled to be on that
02:03plane and investigators wonder if the explosion of the airplane is somehow tied to a possible
02:08assassination attempt investigators discovered that it was a bomb and it turns out it's at the behest
02:15of the king of cocaine pablo escobar the base of escobar's operations take place in the city of medellin
02:25because that's where he grew up in the 1950s pablo grows up looking for a way to make a dollar
02:30any way
02:31he can he becomes a drug mule but it's just weed it's marijuana
02:37escobar's ambition grows very quickly so he sets his eyes on the cocaine trade as his future
02:45he takes over a rival's drug business in the cleanest and simplest way possible
02:52he murders him
02:55it's escobar's first confirmed kill but there are thousands more to come
03:00he systematically starts to take over these smaller operations until all of a sudden
03:06he now is not only a smuggler he is the smuggler
03:11by the 1980s the medellin cartel under pablo escobar was bringing in more than 25 billion dollars a year
03:17in cocaine and pablo escobar actually makes forbes list of the world's wealthiest men
03:23anyone who gets in his way escobar offers two choices plateau or plomo silver or lead money
03:33or a bullet in the head when escobar's bribe doesn't do the trick he unleashes waves of deadly
03:41violence in 1989 a war erupts between the cartels and the colombian police
03:50at its peak pablo escobar is setting off 15 car bombs a day the biggest of these is outside the
03:57secret police headquarters it kills 63 people and injures over two and a half thousand we haven't
04:06seen about my fistings world war ii at this point the colombian government orders the military
04:13to hunt down escobar but for 16 months don pablo remains out of sight it's not until december 2nd 1993
04:23that authorities were able to track him down and they find him in a residential neighborhood and
04:28as they try to take him out he runs there's the proverbial shootout in the streets he's hit with
04:33multiple gunshots one of which is to the head and that's how the story of the great pablo escobar
04:42ends pablo escobar effectively turned crime into a corporation and he is prepared to grease the
04:52wheels of industry with the blood of his enemies he's responsible for 15 to 20 000 deaths
04:59in his decade and a half as the cocaine king of planet earth
05:07pablo escobar thinks of himself as colombia's robin hood but his greed and brutality bring the country
05:16to its knees he's like his idol a mafia boss who claims to be savior of chicago and unleashes
05:24its bloodiest decade
05:29it's a freezing chicago morning on valentine's day in 1929 four men two in police uniforms and two in
05:36suits enter a parking garage on clark street seven men from what's called the north side gang a large
05:44criminal organization are holed up in this parking garage the policemen they ordered everybody up
05:51against the wall the men had turned their backs but instead of placing handcuffs on them the men pull
05:57out tommy guns and there is a hail of bullets 70 rounds are fired in just seconds leaving all seven
06:05dead the men walk out as calmly as they'd come in leaving behind a scene so gory and lethal that
06:13it is
06:13forever known as the saint valentine's day massacre
06:18thousands of miles away al capone is nestled into a house in miami florida the message he wanted to send
06:24was chicago is mine what i want done will get done
06:31alphonse gabriel capone is born in brooklyn new york in 1899 early on he learns he has a gift
06:39for violence at 14 he drops out of school because he hits a teacher in his later teens he's actually
06:47working as a bouncer at a bar and he gets into an argument with one of the patrons who pulls
06:53out a
06:53knife and they cut capone's face the wound is so deep it leaves a big scar that that ultimately gives
07:01him the nickname of scarface and it happened to gain the attention of johnny torio the most
07:06influential criminal in that area at the time torio now takes capone under his wing and in 1990 the two
07:14of them head out to chicago torio starts a gang called the chicago outfit and their goal is to engage
07:22in bootlegging because in the 1920s we have prohibition torio and capone are making oodles of cash and so torio
07:32decides he's had enough he retires to sicily and he hands the keys to the castle to al capone
07:39at 26 capone now controls one of the largest bootlegging operations in the country with capone at the
07:49helm the chicago outfit makes about 100 million dollars a year which is equivalent to over a billion
07:58dollars in today's currency the name of al capone becomes a household name so when he goes out to
08:06dinners and he goes out to sports events people aren't there to see the players the baseball players
08:11when al capone walks in the stadium it's known he's there he's portraying himself to be a man of the
08:16community the guy who opens up soup kitchens the guy who gives back to the community but underneath
08:22this is a man who is a cold-hearted killer capone continues to have his competition murdered witnesses
08:33silenced there's this one story capone hears that three of his lieutenants are plotting against him so
08:40what does he do he invites them to dinner during the dinner capone breaks out a baseball bat and
08:47proceeds to beat all three of these men to death while everyone else at the table just looks on
08:56no charges or accusations seem to stick to capone however in 1931 authorities finally find a pretty
09:06surprising way to get al capone tax evasion
09:13al capone is found guilty and he is sent to alcatraz a year later he is diagnosed with
09:21neurosyphilis and it leaves him weak and disoriented in 1939 al capone is released from alcatraz he goes to
09:31florida and in 1947 at the age of 48 he dies a broken man everybody believes he was responsible for
09:39nearly 400 murders and he created the model on how to run the mob and that is the true deadliness
09:47and legend of al capone's life
09:53the criminal who murders more than any other serial killer in american history starts out in florida
10:02january 1st 1971 on route 27 just outside of miami a man and a woman are enjoying an intimate
10:09celebration in a car the woman's name is mary brosley and the gentleman's name is samuel little
10:16a 30 year old cemetery worker and what mary doesn't know is that samuel is about to make her his
10:25very
10:25first murder victim and strangle her to death it turns out samuel little has dreamt about choking
10:34women from a very early age he's only five years old when he develops a fetish for choking his
10:41kindergarten teacher has a habit of rubbing her neck and he is fixated on this as a teenager he starts
10:50going down the wrong path shoplifting he's still in cars he's doing burglaries he's starting to get
10:56into juvie then he's in prison but when he's released he figures out as long as he keeps moving
11:04and lives a nomadic life he can get away with just about anything starting in 1977 he goes on a
11:11rampage
11:12that lasts 35 years samuel little is the pale rider of the apocalypse everywhere he goes death follows
11:22him his wanderings take him to 19 states at least he targets women marginalized by society living on
11:30the fringes that he thinks no one will care finally in 2012 little is arrested in louisville kentucky
11:38on a narcotics charge they do a cheek swap and put it into the dna database almost instantly the dna
11:48matches three separate murders two years later samuel little is convicted and sentenced to life without
11:57parole at this point samuel little is 78 years old he's never going to get out of prison so he
12:04starts
12:04talking about all sorts of murders that he committed what year did marianna occur oh 72 got seen her down
12:13at the guard on 17th avenue i met her in a nightclub in new orleans that's the only one that
12:22i ever killed my
12:23child in through his confessions and his drawings detectives are able to help discover the remains
12:31and close 60 cold cases and over time little tells the police that he has killed 93 women
12:42making samuel little the most prolific serial killer in u.s history
12:52criminals like samuel little are the most feared today but not long ago it's pirates like blackbeard
13:00and captain kid who spread the terror and in an ocean of violent male pirates the deadliest of them all
13:08is a woman from china
13:14it's the late 1700s in guangzhou in southern china and in this particular port city there's a floating
13:21brothel with a very famous courtesan named ching xi she's very intelligent well-spoken very charismatic
13:30and this means that she has a lot of experience working with really powerful men from a very young
13:36age in the early 19th century that famous pirate jung yi comes in for her legendary services and falls in
13:47love with her they get married and they become partners co-leaders of yi's pirate fleet the red flag fleet
13:57this pirate alliance terrorizes the waters off southeastern china near vietnam they ramp up the
14:04attacks on english and portuguese merchant ships and they also sink 35 vessels of the chinese navy
14:11as the fearsome reputation of the red flag fleet grows the pirates suffer a major setback
14:21in 1807 their entire pirate fleet is engulfed in this wild sea storm
14:29and zhong yi is washed overboard and drowned
14:38the leader of this entire operation is gone
14:42but ching xi she steps up and takes command of the entire fleet
14:48she builds this confederation into an even bigger and wealthier and deadlier force to be reckoned with
14:56ching xi commands a fleet of 2 000 pirate ships 80 000 men by 1808 xi has gained control of
15:08the
15:08waters off china's southeastern coast then she decides to head inland sailing up the pearl river
15:17she embarks on a bloody campaign they sack and steal murdering 12 000 people in order to fill the holds
15:27of
15:27her ship with stolen treasure and ransom payments the chinese government tries to fight these pirates for
15:33years but without much success and it gets so bad that international trade is suffering so the chinese
15:40government ultimately wants to cut a deal with ching xi in 1810 the government offers amnesty to the
15:48pirate queen and her buccaneers in exchange for their surrender but she drives a hard bargain
15:56she demands that she and every single member of her entire pirate fleet get a full pardon and she also
16:03demands that she's able to keep up to 70 percent of all of the loot that they've managed to steal
16:10shockingly the chinese government agrees to all of the terms
16:16so the most successful and merciless pirate in history has a peaceful retirement until her death in 1844
16:25and she never really suffers any consequences for the tens of thousands of people she killed over the years
16:35imperial rome is dangerous the kind of place where political conflict can end in murder
16:47in ancient rome the most gifted practitioner of the dark arts of poisoning your enemies is a woman by the
16:55name of lacusta and she becomes incredibly valuable to the roman elite
17:03by the year 54 lacusta is arrested and accused of poisoning multiple people
17:09lacusta lacusta is in prison but suddenly her skills are needed not just by anybody but by agrippina the
17:19younger this is the most powerful woman in the roman empire and she wants her husband dead
17:29she's married to the current emperor claudius but she has a son by her previous husband that son is
17:36nero the famous nero the famous nero so she is on the lookout for a way to bump off her
17:42husband and
17:43ensure that her son nero can gain the empire when agrippina hears of lacusta she has her released from
17:51prison and orders her to come up with a plan to kill emperor claudius lacusta says give him his favorite
18:00meal
18:01mushrooms they put the poison in the biggest most delicious mushroom on this plate claudius takes the
18:09poison mushroom and begins to feel the symptoms minutes later the emperor suffers horrible stomach
18:17cramps and runs off to use the restroom they start to get worried that not enough poison is left in
18:23his system with the instruction of lacusta agrippina encourages the husband he needs to vomit his doctor
18:31comes to tickle his throat with a feather to help him vomit this feather has been specially prepared by
18:39the poison master lacusta and within two hours claudius he is a royal corpse as nero ascends the throne
18:48lacusta becomes the unofficial poisoner or the regime and the new emperor has a job for her
18:56now nero's concern is that britannicus claudius's 13 year old son might make a play to become emperor
19:03so he essentially schemes up a plan with lacusta to take the kid out at the royal banquet nero
19:10serves britannicus a scalding hot beverage they want to evade detection by taste testers so it's
19:18this beverage that the taste tester checks that checks out okay it's not poisoned what they do is
19:24they put the poison in cool water knowing that britannicus will call for water to dilute and to cool
19:31down his hot drink so effectively they've gotten britannicus to call for his own death
19:39the poisoner continues killing people quietly but her fortunes change in 68 a.d nero is out of favor
19:49with the senate and he is forced to flee rome once nero is deposed history catches up with lacusta
19:57and nero's successor galba leads her in chains through rome and has her executed her sentence is
20:03condemnation to beast she is torn apart and eaten by lions in the arena
20:14even though people say lacusta was history's first serial killer it's very likely that we
20:20underestimate her body count if lacusta does her job well many of her victims are unknown to history
20:29nearly 2 000 years after lacusta kills for nero an american criminal fills the same role this time for the
20:40mafia
20:44it's 1960 it's jersey city there's two men in a car watching a man in a park
20:51the only thing that's apparent about the man is that he's homeless one of the guys gets out of the
20:57car walks up to the man doesn't say anything pulls out a gun and shoots him in the back of
21:02the head
21:04the shooter is richard klinsky who is a worker in a film lab the other occupant in the car roy
21:12de mayo who
21:13is notorious gambino organized crime figure that wasn't just a cold-blooded murder that was a job
21:19application and guess what he now had a job over the course of a long and deadly career
21:26kuklinski will murder dozens for payment but he actually commits his first murder at the ripe old
21:34age of 13. he's taking a beating from a bully at school a guy named charlie lane and in that
21:40confrontation he decides to fight back he grabs a large wooden dowel and he beats him to the point
21:45where he kills him he picks up the body throws it over a bridge and charlie lane his body is
21:53never found
21:56so as klinsky enters his teenage years he's imposing he's six foot five three hundred pounds
22:03he has hands like bear paws he is just perfect for the job he's about to take on
22:09he's creating a gang advancing into burglary and armed robbery and car theft
22:15but in the 1950s kuklinski gets married has kids and keeps up a regular job in a film lab
22:23but what isn't known is that this film lab it's actually a video piracy racket to distribute
22:31pornography pornography through the film lab is what puts him on the radar of organized crime in
22:36the region because pornography is their racket they track klinsky down and they give him a good old
22:41fashion beat the thing is roy de mayo watches this beat and realizes this guy could take a beating
22:47maybe i'll have a use for somebody like this with de mayo as his mentor kuklinski goes from street thug
22:55to professional hitman for the five major crime families in the new york area in 1981 there's a guy
23:04named louis maskey that the mafia was dead kuklinski sets up a meeting with this guy and kills him
23:13two years later maskey's body is discovered in a park wrapped in plastic and when police come across
23:19the body his body is not decomposing they determine that it's been dead for about two weeks medical
23:25examiners try to establish a more specific time of death and are puzzled when they take a closer look
23:33under the microscope they find is something that's called these ice crystal artifacts the only way that
23:40this would be in your body is if you had been under extremely cold temperatures after killing maskey
23:49kuklinski actually puts him in an industrial strength freezer for two years because he understands that
23:54when the police find it they won't be able to determine the proper time of death which further
23:58makes it difficult to identify who and how this man was killed that is how kuklinski gets the nickname
24:06the iceman the iceman leaves a path of destruction through america's underworld finally in 1986 clues from
24:17a string of unsolved murders point to kuklinski in december of 1986 the new jersey task force successfully
24:25arrests kuklinski in front of his house with his wife and takes him in kuklinski is charged with the
24:32murders of five men on april 22 1988 he's found guilty and given two consecutive life sentences
24:43once he goes to prison he confesses to upwards of 100 murders
24:53it's hard to imagine when you look at those photographs of him as a boy that he is going
24:57to grow up to be one of the deadliest hitmen of all time in the 1930s the great depression ushers
25:09in
25:09a new breed of criminal they're broke they're desperate and they're deadly they are bank robbers
25:16and there's one of them who uses his trigger finger to get what he wants and he'll take down anyone
25:23in his way
25:28lester joseph gillis is born in chicago in 1908 as a preteen he joins a gang
25:35committing petty theft by the time gillis is 13 years old he's arrested and put into a juvenile facility
25:43for stealing a car it's during this time that he's given the nickname babyface
25:49he's about five foot four and he's got a very cherub-like face in 1932 in california babyface
25:58meets john chase a bootlegger who becomes his partner in crime babyface starts to put together
26:05a super gang basically his most promising associates and they start going on this bank robbing spree
26:12across the midwest places like indiana minnesota michigan it's during this rampage that nelson's
26:19new partners start to get a sense of his hair trigger temper in april of 1934 babyface nelson and
26:28some others are at a lodge called little bohemia in wisconsin during a card game the lodge owner
26:35notices that all the guests are carrying guns and he tips off the police when fbi agents show up they
26:42see a car driving away and they shoot they kill the driver and badly injure two of the passengers
26:50all three men in that car innocent civilians when the gangsters hear the fbi open fire out the front
26:57door they exit out the back but not babyface nelson instead nelson moves towards the gunfire
27:06after a brutal gun battle nelson escapes into the woods and he holds up in a cabin that's about
27:11a mile away as the fbi start to close in on him he just kicks open the front door and
27:17starts opening
27:18fire on all of them he kills one fbi special agent he seriously injures others and then he steals their
27:25fbi car and drives away the fbi raid is a disaster under public pressure fbi director j edgar hoover declares
27:37babyface nelson public enemy number one and gives shoot to kill orders there's even a 5 000 reward on
27:46his head but for months nelson evades captured finally on november 27 1934 two fbi agents spot babyface nelson
28:00nelson driving in a stolen car in barrington nelson is with his wife helen and friend chase when the fbi
28:09finds him there's a wild five minute gunfight in public it becomes known as the battle of barrington nelson
28:18nelson is supposedly shot 17 times and still like the terminator nelson is still able to fire back at
28:29the agents and continue walking toward them he shoots one special agent in the head and leaves another
28:36mortally wounded once the firefight is over chase grabs nelson and drives off
28:44later that evening the fbi discovered nelson's body wrapped in a blanket near a cemetery in skogey
28:50illinois the 1930s is full of criminals and gangsters who make headlines but none are nearly as deadly
28:57as babyface nelson he is the one man who has killed more federal officers than anyone else in the history
29:04of the united states nelson's death ends a crime spree that leaves a trail of blood across america 400
29:16years earlier another cold-blooded killer terrorizes europe his crimes are so shocking that some believe
29:24he's in league with the devil in 1540 we meet perhaps the most horrific criminal of the 16th century
29:37peter nears he's born to a peasant family and he actually joins a gang of highway robbers when he's 20.
29:45this particular gang specialty is robbing travelers in the alsace region between france and germany
29:51nears hills with such savagery and suddenness that even his own gang are terrified of him
29:59he is the boogeyman for all of europe
30:06there are claims that he's able to commit these crimes and escape because he uses black magic others
30:12swear that he's a cannibal in 1577 nears executes one of the deadliest robberies of his career his gang
30:24hides out in a dark forest near neumarkt and he ambushes an entire caravan of merchants
30:33they offered no resistance and he slaughters them all just the same
30:39the same way over the wall of america
30:40pamphlets and posters are describing nears physical appearance and they're posted all over western europe
30:47nears is robbing and killing spree continues for four more years
30:52Finally, in 1581, his luck runs out.
30:57He goes to an inn, and there, other guests notice his similarity to the pamphlets describing his appearance.
31:04Upon his capture, Peter Nears is interrogated and tortured.
31:09He admits to the killing of 544 people, including 24 pregnant women.
31:17He's sentenced to death, and they do it in gruesome style.
31:23Nears' punishment is a three-day event.
31:26On day one, they cut strips of flesh from his body, and then they pour boiling hot oil into those
31:32open wounds.
31:33On day two, they cover his feet in grease, and then they plunge his feet into hot coals, literally searing
31:41and burning the soles off of his feet.
31:44On the third day, his executioners strap him to a device called the braking wheel.
31:50By tying up his hands and feet, he's completely vulnerable, and his punishers batter him with these heavy wooden clubs.
32:03And they break almost every bone in every limb.
32:06To finish him off, the authorities quarter him, and they cut him into four parts.
32:12They display the dismembered chunks of Peter Nears on four different major roads,
32:18so that everybody can see that justice has been done, and the reign of horror is over.
32:30The Windy City is no stranger to murder, but one 19th century killer is so vicious, they'll call him the
32:39Beast of Chicago.
32:44He's born in 1861 in New Hampshire, and his real name is Herman Mudgett.
32:50And even as a kid, he exhibits an affinity for death.
32:54He's obsessed with skeletons, he's dissecting small animals.
32:57As he gets older, he actually goes to the University of Michigan to study medicine.
33:03While he's in medical school, he comes up with this somewhat brilliant scheme.
33:07He takes the cadavers from the medical school, then he takes out insurance policies for non-existent people.
33:12And when the bodies are discovered, he's the bereaved beneficiary, and now he's collecting all those proceeds.
33:21He makes his way west to the city of Chicago, and he decides to change his name to H.H.
33:29Holmes.
33:30And it doesn't take long before he comes up with his new scam.
33:33He purchases a plot of land, and now he starts to build this building that will be known as the
33:39castle.
33:41Holmes booby-traps the castle with the assistance of a man named Benjamin Pitesell, who's a skilled carpenter that also
33:48has a bit of a criminal record.
33:49From the outside, the structure looks like any middle-class property on the south side of Chicago.
33:56But its hidden passageways will serve a dark purpose.
34:01He starts inviting creditors and business associates to the castle, and he locks them in a small room.
34:06And he forces them to sign these life insurance policies that say that if they die, the insurance money will
34:12go to him.
34:14After getting the signature on the life insurance docs, he takes shocking next steps.
34:20According to some, there are these holes in each one of the rooms that he pipes in carbon monoxide.
34:27That essentially serves as an airtight vault to suffocate the victim.
34:31Within the hallways of the castle, there are trap doors that will just suddenly open underneath someone who's standing on
34:37top of them, and they are sent directly down to the basement.
34:40Inside of that basement, there are tables set up for dissections.
34:47There's even a kiln down there, which is really almost a makeshift crematorium.
34:55In 1893, a major attraction comes to Chicago, the World's Fair.
35:02The exhibition showcases achievements from 46 countries.
35:06It brings 27 million people to the city.
35:10Holmes' castle is four miles south from Jackson Park, where the World's Fair is taking place.
35:16And people are looking for a place to stay.
35:19From May to October of that year, a number of people last seen entering Holmes' murder castle go missing.
35:28Some of the people that go missing include Holmes' secretary, you have an actress, you have a wealthy tourist, and
35:35other people as well.
35:35In July of 1894, the police get suspicious about the disappearances in the neighborhood.
35:43Holmes and his accomplice, Peitzel, promptly flee Chicago.
35:49They go to Philadelphia, and that's where Holmes comes up with his next scheme.
35:54This one's going to be, hey, partner, we are going to now fake your death to collect insurance money.
36:00Peitzel agrees, but what he doesn't know is the back end of Holmes' plan.
36:06Holmes is actually going to kill Peitzel.
36:09He suffocates him with chloroform, and then he burns the body to make it look like Peitzel died in a
36:15fire.
36:15The insurance company pays Holmes the money, but when the use of chloroform is discovered in a post-mortem autopsy,
36:22that's when the police are alerted.
36:24And on November 17, 1894, Holmes is tracked down to Boston, Massachusetts, where he is charged with murder.
36:31The trial is a national sensation.
36:34The beast of Chicago was convicted of murdering not only Peitzel, but also his three children were in Holmes' care.
36:44H.H. Holmes is sentenced to death.
36:47After his sentencing, he confesses to upwards of 23 homicides.
36:52But some historians that have researched Holmes, they believe that he may actually be responsible for more than 100 murders.
37:00On May 7, 1896, H.H. Holmes is hanged in a Philadelphia prison.
37:06Holmes' crimes are so sensational that it all but guarantees that his legacy as the beast of Chicago will go
37:16on long after his death.
37:23Treason is a capital crime in America.
37:26That doesn't stop one CIA worker from turning traitor during the Cold War.
37:33Aldrich Ames is born in 1941 into a healthy middle-class family.
37:38In fact, his father is actually a CIA officer, and Aldrich starts working for the CIA in 1962.
37:43A.H. Holmes learns to speak Russian, and slowly but surely climbs the CIA ladder over the next two decades.
37:50In the 1980s, he's a case officer specializing in the recruitment of Soviet agents.
37:56A.H. Holmes' job is to find individuals who are willing to sell state secrets.
38:02And in April 1985, he decides to sell classified documents himself.
38:10He sets up a meeting with an official from the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., and offers him some
38:17minor state secrets in exchange for the princely sum of $50,000.
38:22It marks the beginning of Ames' career as a Soviet mole.
38:27Less than a month after Ames first approaches the KGB, he starts telling them about Soviet informants who are working
38:33for the U.S. government.
38:33For the exposed spies, it opens a world of pain.
38:40In July 1986, KGB agents burst into an office in Moscow and put a very surprised Russian general in a
38:47chokehold.
38:48And there's video footage of this.
38:51It's Major General Dmitry Polyakov, a high-ranking officer in GRU, the Soviet's military intelligence agency.
38:59Polyakov is also a spy for the CIA.
39:04Two years later, Polyakov is sentenced to death.
39:08By this time, the CIA knows that there has to be a mole, but they don't actually suspect Ames.
39:15He's actually promoted to a new position as the head of CIA's Soviet counterintelligence division.
39:20He becomes the person in charge of finding the mole when he himself is the mole.
39:25He compromises at least 100 CIA operations and betrays many Russian agents who are working for the U.S.
39:34At least 10 of those men are arrested and then executed.
39:40In the early 1990s, Ames' flashy lifestyle begins to attract the attention of his colleagues.
39:48He buys a house for $500,000 in cash, and he's driving a new Jaguar to work.
39:55Coworkers start to notice his new designer suits and the dental implants that he got, and that's when they start
40:01to get suspicious.
40:02In 1993, the FBI decides they need to spy on the spy and set up a surveillance operation that continues
40:13for 10 months.
40:17In February of 1994, Ames and his wife are leaving their home in Arlington, Virginia, and as soon as they
40:22step across the threshold, FBI swoops in and arrests him.
40:27He's tried for treason, and to escape the death penalty, he pleads guilty.
40:31And the deadliest double agent in American history is currently still carrying out a life sentence.
40:39The death count we know of is really just a small fraction of what likely existed because the whole Soviet
40:45Union existed behind an iron curtain at the time.
40:48What we do know is what Ames himself received from the Russians, a total of $4.6 million, which makes
40:55him both the deadliest double agent in American history and the highest paid double agent in American history.
41:06A lot of criminals resort to violence to get what they want, but it's a special breed who kills without
41:14hesitation.
41:15From a remorseless hitman to a twisted conman to pirates, thieves, and gangsters, these are the cold-blooded killers ranked
41:25among history's deadliest.
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