From notorious drug lords to infamous serial killers, these dangerous criminals are locked away in the most secure facilities on Earth. Join us as we explore the stories of murderers, terrorists, and organized crime figures who are spending their days behind the strongest bars ever built.
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00:00Saying that he's serving his term under the most severe administrative measures in maximum security.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 20 notorious criminals who are currently housed inside inescapable maximum security institutions.
00:13His brain is definitely wired differently. He's a psychopath.
00:19Sirhan Sirhan.
00:20On May 18th of last year, you were sitting and writing in your room.
00:24They are the writings of a maniac.
00:26They're the writings of Sirhan Sirhan.
00:28They're not the writings of me now.
00:34I'm not mentally ill, but I'm not perfect either.
00:37One of the most infamous assassins in modern history, Sirhan Sirhan was responsible for shooting Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5th, 1968.
00:45While Kennedy survived the initial shooting, his injuries were too severe, and he died the next day at Los Angeles' Good Samaritan Hospital.
00:52Sirhan was originally sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life in prison following a landmark court case
00:58In 1972, on November 22nd, 2013, coincidentally, the 50th anniversary of the death of Robert's brother, John F. Kennedy,
01:06Sirhan was transferred to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility outside San Diego, where he remains to this day.
01:12Funnily enough, Sirhan was actually granted parole in August 2021, but this was blocked by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
01:19This one's more impactful because it has an impact around the rest of the world.
01:23It's impactful because it had a direct impact on 11 family members, 11 children of Robert Kennedy.
01:29It changed the course of history.
01:32James Marcello.
01:33Was he convicted under the statute that Davis was talking about, the Supreme Court was talking about?
01:38Can it be applied retroactively?
01:39And it wouldn't make any difference to him anyway, because his crimes were so serious, they could easily have yielded a life imprisonment sentence, even without this.
01:47The Chicago outfit has a long and storied history, dating back to 1910 and once being led by famous mobster Al Capone.
01:54Fast forward a number of decades to the early 2000s, and the outfit was being led by one James Marcello, a.k.a. Little Jimmy.
02:01Marcello was a central target of the FBI's Operation Family Secrets, and was ultimately convicted on many serious mob-related charges, including racketeering, conspiracy, and involvement in multiple murders.
02:13He is currently housed inside ADX Florence, a notorious supermax prison in Colorado that is virtually impenetrable and which houses the most dangerous criminals in America.
02:23Judy, James Marcello has had multiple mob nicknames. He's always favored Jimmy the Man. But at age 76 and residing in the nation's toughest prison, perhaps lately he's felt more like Little Jimmy, the name many of his underlings dared to use behind his back.
02:39Damian Williams.
02:40What was it like 30 years ago?
02:42Well, it was something you simply never forget.
02:45You might not know the name, but you probably know the crime.
02:48On August 29, 1992, Los Angeles was in the midst of the famous Rodney King riots when truck driver Reginald Denny was pulled from his vehicle and beaten on live television by a group now called the LA-4.
03:00This group contained Damian Williams, who was affiliated with local Crips.
03:04Williams became nationally recognized for attacking Denny, and especially for throwing a cinder block at his head and knocking him unconscious.
03:11Williams served four years in prison for the assault, but he struggled to stay out of trouble and was later convicted of murdering drug dealer Grover Tinner in 2000.
03:19He is currently serving 46 years to life in California State Prison, Sentinella.
03:24Within seconds, his door was ripped open. Mr. Denny was pulled from the vehicle, and he was beaten. He was kicked.
03:33James Holmes.
03:34For a lot of survivors that I talk to, it's like on that day, the day that's the anniversary or tragedyversary, tragedyversary as some people call it, that's the day they just want to shut down and quiet out the world and not talk to anybody.
03:51On July 20, 2012, dozens of people packed into Aurora, Colorado's Century 16 movie theater to watch The Dark Knight Rises.
03:58Unfortunately, that's where James Holmes decided to enact a horrible plan.
04:03Suffering from severe mental illness, Holmes entered the theater with multiple firearms and canisters of tear gas.
04:09He threw the gas into the crowd before opening fire, killing 12 and injuring 62.
04:14Eight more would become injured while attempting to flee the theater.
04:17Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but his defense argument didn't work against the jury, and he was given 12 life sentences plus an additional 3,318 years in prison.
04:28He is currently held in USP Allenwood in Pennsylvania.
04:31Convicted murderer, theater shooter James Holmes, sentenced to more than 3,300 years in prison today.
04:37That's on top of the 12 life sentences he's already serving.
04:41The judge sentencing Holmes to 48 years in prison for each count of attempted first-degree murder, 32 years for each count of second-degree attempted murder, and another six years for the booby traps he left in an apartment.
04:52Gary Ridgway.
04:53You're a loser, you're a coward, you're a nobody, you're an animal.
05:00These are relatives of victims of the Green River Killer.
05:04May God have mercy on your pathetic soul because the rest of us who know the truth about you won't.
05:09One of the most prolific serial killers in history, Gary Ridgway was known as the Green River Killer and was convicted of murdering 49 people throughout the 1980s and 90s.
05:19However, his true body count could be much higher, with Ridgway himself claiming to have murdered 71.
05:24Regardless, Ridgway was given 49 life sentences, one for each confirmed victim, and is imprisoned in Washington State Penitentiary.
05:32Given the nickname The Walls, Washington State is an enormous and historically violent prison that dates back to the 1880s.
05:39It even housed Washington's death row inmates and carried out its executions before the state abolished capital punishment.
05:46Now, no death penalty in the state of Washington.
05:48Governor Jay Inslee today signed away capital punishment, making permanent the moratorium on executions that he ordered back in 2014.
05:56David Berkowitz.
05:57They all bought it, David.
06:00Didn't they?
06:02Even the shrinks.
06:11Especially the shrinks.
06:13Another notorious serial killer, David Berkowitz is perhaps better known as the Son of Sam.
06:17Between July 1976 and July 1977, Berkowitz terrorized the already gritty streets of New York, targeting and shooting random people with his .44 Special Caliber Bulldog revolver.
06:28Six people were killed in the shootings, and many more were injured.
06:32As a result, Berkowitz became the target of the largest manhunt in the city's history.
06:36They finally caught him on August 10, 1977, and he pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree murder, resulting in six consecutive life sentences.
06:45He was moved around various New York prisons, including Attica, which he referred to as, quote, a nightmare, and is currently imprisoned in the Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
06:54People would never understand where I came from.
06:56No matter how much I try to explain it, they wouldn't understand what it was to walk in darkness.
07:04A notable terrorist, Ramzi Yusuf is widely remembered as the main perpetrator and mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
07:26On February 26, 1993, Yusuf and accomplices parked a rider truck loaded with a homemade bomb in the building's underground parking garage.
07:34The resulting explosion killed six and injured well over 1,000.
07:38Despite the massive damage, Yusuf failed in his primary goal, which was to completely collapse the North Tower, thereby killing thousands.
07:45He was finally captured after years on the run, and was given two life sentences plus 240 years.
07:52He is currently inside ADX Florence, in a cell block commonly known as Bomber's Row.
07:57Three months after their convictions, on May 24, 1994, Judge Kevin Duffy sentenced each bomber to a year in prison for each year of life he had deprived the victims.
08:09It came to 240 years apiece, with no possibility of parole.
08:14Eric Rudolph
08:15Eric Rudolph is not a folk hero.
08:17He has not been proven guilty.
08:19He's nothing more than a cold-blooded murderer.
08:22Joining Ramzi Yusuf on Bomber's Row is Eric Rudolph, the perpetrator of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
08:28The 1996 Summer Olympics were being held in Atlanta, and Rudolph saw an opportunity.
08:32According to his manifesto, he wished to, quote,
08:35"...confound, anger, and embarrass the Washington government."
08:39So, he targeted Centennial Olympic Park with a homemade bomb,
08:42killing one person directly and injuring 111.
08:45The damage would have been much greater if it wasn't for the efforts of security guard Richard Jewell,
08:50who noticed the suspicious backpack and helped clear the surrounding area.
08:53Rudolph committed additional bombings in Alabama and Georgia before he was caught and arrested.
08:58He was given four consecutive life sentences.
09:00And I believe he will be taken with no confrontation.
09:04It might be a year from now, or it might be tomorrow.
09:09I don't know.
09:10But I'll assure you, he will be caught.
09:13Mark David Chapman
09:14This evening, John Lennon arrived at the emergency room at the Roosevelt Hospital.
09:19He was dead at the time of his arrival.
09:22December 8, 1980
09:24As John Lennon entered the archway of the Dakota, Mark David Chapman shot him four times from behind.
09:29While Lennon was rushed to the hospital, Chapman stayed behind, calmly reading a book until the police arrived.
09:35Unfortunately, Lennon did not survive the trip to the hospital.
09:38The world entered a period of mourning while Chapman went through rigorous psychiatric evaluations,
09:43with many experts finding him mentally ill.
09:45However, Chapman pled guilty, believing that it was the will of God, and he was given 20 years to life.
09:51He spent most of his time in Attica, but he transferred in 2022 to the Maximum Security Greenhaven Correctional Facility.
09:58He has also been denied parole 13 times.
10:01I was standing there with a gun in my pocket.
10:04Knew you were going to shoot him?
10:07Sorry?
10:07Knew you were going to shoot him?
10:09Absolutely.
10:10Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
10:11Come on out!
10:14Come on, Dzhokhar, let's go!
10:16Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar planned and orchestrated the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
10:22The brothers placed two homemade pressure cooker bombs along the finish line, both of which successfully exploded.
10:28Three people died in the initial bombing, and hundreds more were injured, many catastrophically.
10:32A giant manhunt for the brothers then occurred throughout the streets of Boston,
10:36resulting in further deaths, including that of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was shot by police and run over by a fleeing Dzhokhar.
10:43Dzhokhar was later caught hiding in a boat and was convicted of a slew of crimes, resulting in his imprisonment in ADX Florence.
10:49He is currently being held on the prison's death row, awaiting execution.
10:53Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is suing the federal government for $250,000, claiming his treatment at the federal Supermax Correctional Complex Florence has been unlawful, unreasonable, and discriminatory.
11:07Richard Reid
11:08Infamously known as the Shoe Bomber, Reid is a British terrorist who, in December 2001, attempted to detonate explosives packed into the shoes he was wearing while on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami.
11:21And it changed the way we travel.
11:23And it wasn't caught by the FBI or CIA, but instead by a South Florida flight attendant who blocked disaster.
11:30This attempt was thwarted by the vigilant passengers and crew members on board.
11:34And I said, excuse me, sir, what are you doing? What are you doing? He ignored me. I asked him almost three, four times, and he ignored me. So what I did is I just grabbed him and pulled him.
11:43Following his arrest, Reid was tried in the United States on charges of terrorism.
11:48He received life without the possibility of parole and is currently incarcerated with many other highly dangerous criminals inside ADX Florence.
11:56This facility is renowned for housing inmates requiring the highest level of security and is often where individuals guilty of the most serious offenses in the U.S. are placed.
12:06The war hero is too big for me. I'm just a person who was given a task and I did it.
12:13I think that it's going to take more than a terrorist to just stop my life.
12:16Robert Bowers
12:17As we think about those 11 people that were killed there in Pittsburgh in the synagogue.
12:22On October 27, 2018, Robert Bowers stormed Pittsburgh's Tree of Life or Le Simcha congregation during Shabbat morning services.
12:30He opened fire inside the synagogue with three handguns and a semi-automatic rifle, injuring six and killing 11.
12:37Bowers was mainly motivated by far-right nationalist ideologies, including deep-seated anti-Semitism and a belief in the white replacement conspiracy theory,
12:45which posits that Jews are replacing white populations with non-white immigrants.
12:50Bowers was apprehended following a shootout and was convicted of 63 federal crimes.
12:55He is currently on death row at USP Terre Haute awaiting execution, with Joe Biden having refused to commute his death sentence to life in prison.
13:02Their jury decision was unanimous in voting for Robert Bowers to be sentenced to death.
13:08The aggravating factors that Bowers caused injury, harm, and loss, not only to the 11 victims, but their family and friends as well.
13:17Alec Murdoch
13:18This former lawyer from a prominent legal family in South Carolina became the center of a high-profile case that captured national attention.
13:26The legacy and legal influence of the Murdoch family in southeastern South Carolina dates back to the early 1900s.
13:32In 2021, Murdoch was convicted of the murder of his wife Maggie and their son Paul amid a web of financial fraud and misdeeds.
13:40In the murder of your wife Maggie Murdoch, I sentence you for the term of the rest of your natural life.
13:49His trial unveiled a shocking narrative of deceit, financial desperation, and ultimately violence, leading to life without the possibility of parole.
13:58High-profile inmates like Murdoch are often placed in maximum security to ensure their safety and prevent escape, although they may be transferred at a later date as circumstances dictate.
14:08Would you ever do anything to harm Maggie?
14:11I would never hurt Maggie.
14:14Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
14:15Often described as the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Mohammed remains detained at Guantanamo Bay's Camp Delta.
14:24By his own words, he said he was responsible for the 9-11 operation from A to Z. That was in the 2007 confession.
14:32His role in planning the attacks that led to the death of nearly 3,000 people and caused extensive destruction, including the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, places him at the center of one of the most significant terrorist plots in history.
14:45Today, he appeared with four others accused of training the hijackers, helping financially, and finding flight schools for them.
14:53Arrested in 2003 in Pakistan, Mohammed has faced various charges related to terrorism and murder.
14:58His detention at Guantanamo, a high-security military facility, reflects the extraordinary nature of his alleged actions,
15:05and the ongoing legal and ethical debates surrounding the treatment and rights of detainees in the context of global terrorism.
15:12Of nearly 800 men and boys who've been detained at Guantanamo Bay, 39 remain.
15:18About a quarter were cleared for release as far back as 2010, but are still waiting to leave.
15:25Dylan Roof
15:25The suspect in Wednesday night's deadly church massacre now in custody.
15:30Roof was found guilty for the racially motivated massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015,
15:38where he murdered nine African-American churchgoers.
15:41This heinous act was intended to incite racial tensions and violence.
15:45Roof, who embraced white supremacist ideologies, was found guilty on 33 federal charges, encompassing hate crimes.
15:52In 2017, he received a death sentence, marking a rare federal execution order aimed at denouncing racially motivated violence.
16:01The first person in America to be given the death penalty in federal court for a hate crime.
16:07Roof's incarceration on federal death row under maximum security conditions is not only a consequence of his acts,
16:13but also serves as a stark reminder of the deadly impact of hate and bigotry.
16:18The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his bid to have his conviction overturned.
16:21He can still pursue other appeals, though.
16:24John Floyd Thomas Jr.
16:26One of Los Angeles' most prolific serial killers, Thomas Jr. was arrested in 2009
16:32and linked through DNA evidence to a series of brutal murders spanning several decades.
16:37This is a scary story, people.
16:38L.A.'s most prolific serial killer may have been caught.
16:42His crimes mainly targeted elderly and vulnerable women in the Los Angeles area.
16:46His method of operation typically involved breaking into the homes of his victims,
16:51where he would then attack and murder them.
16:53The murder victims in all cases under review were older white women, most of them lower-income widows living alone.
17:00Thomas Jr. was convicted of multiple counts, and this shed light on a series of cold cases that had remained unsolved for years.
17:07Thomas Jr. was incarcerated in a maximum security prison, reflecting the threat he poses to public safety.
17:13Terry Nichols
17:15On April 19, 1995, a rental truck filled with homemade explosives detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
17:23This co-conspirator in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing is serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole at ADX Florence,
17:31the aforementioned maximum security federal prison.
17:34The bombing, one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on U.S. soil prior to September 11, 2001,
17:40resulted in the deaths of 168 people and injured over 600.
17:46Nichols received federal and state charges for conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and involuntary manslaughter.
17:52In 2004, he was tried again on state charges in Oklahoma and convicted of 161 counts of first-degree murder.
17:59His incarceration at ADX Florence, known for its stringent security measures, is indicative of the perceived ongoing threat he poses.
18:07Even decades later, Americans still try to find rationale and reason, an explanation for acts of senseless terror and hope that they will never happen again.
18:17Dennis Rader
18:18The BTK killer carried out a series of murders spanning from 1974 to 1991.
18:25I am BTK. I'm the guy they're after.
18:27His criminal activities caused widespread fear and garnered extensive media coverage, particularly in and around Wichita, Kansas.
18:35I really feel pretty good.
18:36I feel like I'm kind of like a star right now.
18:38No remorse.
18:40Little emotion.
18:41He just talks like he's coming home from the day at the office.
18:44These crimes went unsolved for decades until a renewed investigation, aided by advances in forensic science, led to his arrest in 2005.
18:53The police and a cast of dozens proudly announced his capture to the citizens of Wichita and the world.
18:59He received 10 consecutive life terms and is incarcerated at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas, a maximum security prison.
19:08This facility is designed to house inmates who have committed serious felonies, ensuring high levels of security and surveillance.
19:15Danilo Cavalcanti
19:16This Brazilian national was convicted of murder in the United States and subsequently undertook a daring escape from a Pennsylvania prison in September 2023.
19:26His escape was not seen by the tower guard.
19:29That guard, by the way, is on leave and being investigated.
19:32He was deemed guilty for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, which authorities described as an attempt to silence her from revealing his wanted status in Brazil for another murder.
19:41Cavalcanti's escape prompted a massive manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies, highlighting the challenges of managing high-risk inmates.
19:49Cavalcanti's capture came after a night of nail-biting tension.
19:53He was first spotted around 1 a.m. by a drug enforcement plane using thermal night vision cameras.
20:00His escape underscores the importance of maximum security measures in prisons to prevent prison breaks to ensure public safety,
20:07especially with inmates who have a history of violence and flight risk.
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20:26Joaquin Guzman
20:27El Chapo was once deemed the world's most powerful narco and is serving a life sentence plus 30 years in ADX Florence.
20:35Like the rest here, segregated and on permanent lockdown 23 hours a day.
20:40His leadership of the Sinaloa cartel involved the large-scale smuggling of illegal substances into the U.S., leading to widespread violence and corruption.
20:49Captured in 2016 after two dramatic escapes from Mexican prisons, Guzman's trial in 2019 resulted in convictions for money laundering and involvement in organized crime.
20:59He tunneled out of the last Mexican prison where he was locked up and rode to freedom on an underground motorcycle.
21:05His imprisonment under maximum security conditions is a testament to his perceived risk of escape and ongoing threat to public safety.
21:12A jailbreak that no one has ever succeeded in pulling off and, dare we say, probably never will.
21:19You would think not, but he's done it before, as you mentioned, just not in the United States.
21:22Twice. That's true.
21:23Do you think we'll ever see these people again? Let us know in the comments below.
21:27I wish that Senator Kennedy was still alive.
21:29I wish that Senator Kennedy was still alive.