Crime

"I will not live in silence," said Thomas A. Drake, in Washington, D.C. in May. He was charged with retaining national defense information.

Leaks and the Law: The Story of Thomas Drake

The former NSA official reached a plea deal with the government, but the case still raises questions about the public’s right to know

Mike Tyson's tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Entertainment this spring, claiming that the use of his design in the movie The Hangover Part II was copyright infringement.

Ten Famous Intellectual Property Disputes

From Barbie to cereal to a tattoo, a copyright lawsuit can get contentious; some have even reached the Supreme Court

Richard Crowninshield bludgeoned 82-year-old Capt. Joseph White while the former slave trader and shipmaster slept.

A Murder in Salem

In 1830, a brutal crime in Massachusetts riveted the nation—and inspired the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne

On the anniversary of the assassination of an anti-mafia magistrate, Palermo's citizens joined politicians in a fiaccolata, or candlelight vigil, in his honor.

In Sicily, Defying the Mafia

Fed up with extortion and violent crime, ordinary citizens are rising up against organized crime

After doing some digging, author Joshua Hammer discovered an anti-mafia movement going on in Sicily and thought it would make a good Smithsonian story.

Joshua Hammer on “In Sicily, Defying the Mafia”

People of every income level and skin color mix comfortably on Rio's gorgeous beaches like here at Ipanema-Leblon.

Reinventing Rio

The dazzling but tarnished Brazilian city gets a makeover as it prepares for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games

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Ten Infamous Islands of Exile

Established to banish dissidents and criminals, these islands are known for their one-time prisoners, from Napoleon to Nelson Mandela

Among botanist Robert Fortune's tasks in China was to learn the procedure for manufacturing tea, as shown in this 18th century tea plantation.

The Great British Tea Heist

Botanist Robert Fortune traveled to China and stole trade secrets of the tea industry, discovering a fraud in the process

Abraham Lincoln ca. 1846, photographed in Springfield Illinois by N.H. Shepherd

Abraham Lincoln, True Crime Writer

While practicing law in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln defended a man in a highly unusual case and later recounted the mystery as a short story

In the Ecuador wilderness (guides Nelson, at the helm, and Paa), Charles Bergman sought the roots of the illegal animal trade (a blue-headed parrot chick).

Wildlife Trafficking

A reporter follows the lucrative, illicit and heartrending trade in stolen wild animals deep into Ecuador's rain forest

Mali's long history as a sub-Saharan trade route underlies its artistic traditions.

Looting Mali's History

As demand for its antiquities soars, the West African country is losing its most prized artifacts to illegal sellers and smugglers

"That cigar bit [that] folks like to tell about is phony," said W.D. Jones, whose photograph of Bonnie was seized in a police raid.

The Irresistible Bonnie Parker

A pistol-wielding, cigar-chomping bank robber hams it up shortly before she and Clyde Barrow met their violent end

The boy's skeleton was crammed into a cellar pit with a broken ceramic milk pan lying across his rib cage.

Solving a 17th-Century Crime

Forensic anthropologists at the National Museum of Natural History find answers to a colonial cold case

The National Archives at Kew

Rewriting History in Great Britain

Recently uncovered documents in the British archives reveal dark secrets from World War II. One problem: they are forgeries

Medellin’s new metro cable system carries commuters in gondolas up a steep mountainside

Colombia Dispatch 9: The Story of Medellin

The Colombian city of Medellin is synonymous with the drug trade, but city leaders are hoping to keep the peace by building up communities

Meals were delivered to the inmates and they ate in their cells. Food carts ran on tracks along the catwalks in the two story cellblocks.

Eastern State Penitentiary: A Prison With a Past

Philadelphia set the stage for prison reform not only in Pennsylvania, but also the world over

"The lost synagogue" at Eastern State Penitentiary.

The Synagogue at Eastern State Penitentiary

The DefendantsNathan Leopold (left) and his lover Richard Loeb confessed that they had kidnapped and murdered Bobby Franks solely for the thrill of the experience.

Leopold and Loeb's Criminal Minds

In defense of murderers Leopold and Loeb, attorney Clarence Darrow thwarted a nation's call for vengeance

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On the Job: Courtroom Sketch Artist

Decades of depicting defendants, witnesses and judges have given Andy Austin a unique perspective on Chicago

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Rogues Gallery

Ten of the most incredible art heists of the modern era

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