Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted criminals are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives. Crimes that warrant life imprisonment are extremely serious and usually violent. Examples of these crimes are murder, torture, terrorism, child abuse resulting in death, rape, espionage, treason, Illegal drug trade, human trafficking, severe fraud and financial crimes, aggravated Property damage, arson, hate crime, kidnapping, burglary, and robbery, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and genocide.
James Burke, also known as "Jimmy the Gent", was an American gangster and Lucchese crime family associate who is believed to have organized the 1978 Lufthansa heist, the largest cash robbery in American history at the time. He was believed to be responsible for the deaths of those involved in the months after the robbery.
The Gangster Disciple Nation, also known as Growth & Development, is an African American street and prison gang which was formed in 1968 by Larry Hoover and David Barksdale. The two rival gangsters united together to form the Black Gangster Disciple Nation (BGDN). Since 1989, after a decline in leadership caused friction between the two gangs, the BGDN has divided into different factions known today as the Gangster Disciple Nation and the other being the Black Disciple Nation.
James Michael Coonan is an American mobster and racketeer from Manhattan, New York who served as the boss of the Westies gang, an Irish mob group based in Hell's Kitchen, from approximately 1977 to 1988. Coonan was incarcerated and began serving a 75-year prison term in 1988.
Leroy Nicholas Barnes was an American crime boss, active in New York City during the 1970s.
Rayful Edmond III is an American former drug trafficker in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s. Edmond is largely responsible for having introduced crack cocaine into the Washington, D.C. area during the crack epidemic, resulting in an escalating crime rate in the city which became known as the "murder capital of the United States".
Frank Lucas was an American drug lord who operated in Harlem, New York City, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia. Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen, as depicted in the feature film American Gangster (2007), which fictionalized aspects of his life. This claim was denied by his Southeast Asian associate Leslie "Ike" Atkinson.
Thomas "Yonnie" Licavoli was an American gangster and bootlegger during Prohibition. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Licavoli, along with brother Peter Joseph Licavoli and cousin James Licavoli, worked with Jewish gangsters to take over illegal gambling in St. Louis. The Licavolis soon moved on to Detroit, Michigan and would control criminal operations in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, throughout the Prohibition era.
American Gangster is a documentary television series, which airs on BET. The show features some of black America's most infamous and powerful gangsters and is narrated by Ving Rhames. The series premiere, on November 28, 2006, amassed around one million viewers. The first season ended on January 9, 2007, and comprised 6 episodes; a season 1 DVD was released on October 23, 2007. The second season aired October 3, 2007; a season 2 DVD was released on June 10, 2008. In April 2009, A&E Networks purchased the rights to air seasons 1–3 on their networks. They can be seen primarily on the Bio Channel and the flagship A&E Channel. They can also be seen on A&E's Crime and Investigation Network.
Matthew Madonna is a member of the Lucchese crime family who served as acting boss before being imprisoned in 2017.
Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6, 2007, when Christian's vehicle was carjacked. The couple were taken to a rental house. Both of them were raped, tortured, and murdered. Four males and one female were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. In 2007, a grand jury indicted Letalvis Darnell Cobbins, Lemaricus Devall Davidson, George Geovonni Thomas, and Vanessa Lynn Coleman on counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder. Also in 2007, Eric DeWayne Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury of being an accessory to a carjacking, resulting in serious bodily injury to another person and misprision of a felony. In 2018, Boyd was indicted on state-level charges of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder.
Barry Byron Mills was an American gangster and leader of the Aryan Brotherhood (AB) prison gang. Nicknamed "The Baron", Mills was incarcerated in the California state prison system at a young age, where he rose within the AB organization during the 1970s and 80s.
Troy Michael Kell is an inmate on death row in Utah. Kell was sentenced to life in prison by the State of Nevada for the 1986 murder of James "Cotton" Kelly. He was transferred to the Utah State Prison as part of a prisoner exchange program shortly after his conviction and on July 6, 1994, Kell attacked and killed inmate Lonnie Blackmon at the Utah Department of Corrections Gunnison facility. Kell stabbed Blackmon a total of 67 times while his associate, Eric Daniels, held Blackmon down. Kell was sentenced to death by firing squad for the murder.
Richard M. Roberts is an American attorney. Roberts was a former law enforcement officer who worked as a detective in the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and Essex County Bureau of Narcotics. After completing law school at Seton Hall University and passing the bar examination, Roberts served as an Assistant Prosecutor in the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
Tung Kuei-sen was a member of the Taiwan-based United Bamboo Gang. Along with Chen Chi-li and Wu Tun, he is best known for his murder of dissident journalist Henry Liu in Daly City, California in October 1984.
Wallace Rice is a gangster who was part of the 1970s heroin trade in Harlem, New York. Rice was one of the seven members of The Council that included Leroy "Nicky" Barnes, known as "Mr Untouchable", its leader.
The Council was an African-American organized crime syndicate in New York City that controlled the heroin trade in the Harlem area of the city during the 1970s. Formed by Nicky Barnes in 1972, the seven-man organization ran the heroin trade in Harlem, handled local criminal disputes, and solved other issues related to the drug trade. The Council was heavily connected to the Italian-American Mafia in New York City, where Matthew Madonna of the Lucchese crime family supplied the group with raw heroin, which was then diluted and distributed in Harlem. At its peak, Council-manufactured heroin began to be distributed across New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, as far west as Arizona, and even into Canada. Nicky Barnes was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1978, and in 1982 he became a federal informant, with his testimony leading to the dissolution of The Council in 1983.
Albert Geddis Martinez, better known as Alpo Martinez, Abraham G. Rodriquez, or more simply as Alpo or Po was an American drug dealer from Harlem, New York City of Puerto Rican descent. He rose to prominence in the mid–1980s. In addition to New York, Martinez expanded his drug trade to other cities, notably Washington, D.C.
Lee Jae-yong, anglicized as Jay Y. Lee, is a South Korean business magnate and convicted felon who has been serving as the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics since October 2022. He is the only son of Lee Kun-hee and Hong Ra-hee. As of September 2021, Lee has an estimated net worth of US$11 billion, making him the fourth-wealthiest person in South Korea.
The Nine Trey Gangster Bloods or Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (NTG) are a violent set of the United Blood Nation street gang, which is itself a set of the Bloods gang. The gang operates on the East Coast of the United States.
