Articles tagged as Crime | Smithsonian Magazine

Malaysia Seizes 30 Tons of Trafficked Pangolin Parts

The pangolin is believed to be the most trafficked mammal in the world

February 13, 2019

A former park superintendent says it will take centuries to regrow some of the iconic plants destroyed during the 35-day furlough

January 30, 2019

Le Roux’s diplomatic passport from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, under the name Paul Solotshi Calder Le Roux

The Computer Programmer Who Ran a Global Drug Trafficking Empire

A new book uncovers the intricacies of Paul Le Roux’s cartel and how it fueled the opioid epidemic ravaging the U.S. today

January 29, 2019

The painting was donated to the church by a former Belgian senator 16 years ago.

Possible Michelangelo Painting Disappears From a Belgian Church Days Before Authentication

Pastor Jan Van Raemdonck had observed similarities between the canvas and a 1538 sketch by the Old Master

January 16, 2019

The 1999 discovery of the Nebra Sky Disc, a 3,600-year-old bronze object adorned with gold renderings of celestial bodies, sparked resurgence of interest in deceased prince, who was buried at same archaeological site

This Bronze Age Regicide May Be World’s Oldest-Known Political Murder

The prince of Helmsdorf’s skeleton revealed three brutal injuries, including one that suggests he knew his killer and attempted to fend off the attack

December 26, 2018

In Bambi, the titular fawn's mother is shot by unseen antagonist "Man" in a notoriously heart-wrenching scene

Man Convicted of Poaching Ordered to Watch ‘Bambi’ Monthly While in Jail

David Berry Jr. of Missouri was implicated in a multi-year hunting operation that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of deer

December 19, 2018

Thousands of yellow vest protesters seen in front of the Arc De Triomphe on December 8, 2018.

Arc de Triomphe to Reopen After Being Vandalized During ‘Yellow Vest’ Protests

Demonstrators sprayed the famed monument with graffiti and ransacked its small museum

December 11, 2018

In the past decade, there’s been a huge spike in internet access though that number is beginning to slow down

December 11, 2018

Thomas Jennings, accused of murdering Clarence D. Hiller, Chicago, Illinois, 1910.

The First Criminal Trial That Used Fingerprints as Evidence

Thomas Jennings used a freshly painted railing to flee a murder scene but unwittingly left behind something that would change detective work forever

December 5, 2018

The majority of homicides catalogued on the map occurred in public places, including crowded streets and markets

Relive Medieval London’s Bloody Murders With This New Interactive Death Map

The macabre tool features tales of revenge, thwarted love, infanticide—and a urinal that drove a man to murder

November 30, 2018

A man cleans a skull near a mass grave at the Chaung Ek torture camp run by the Khmer Rouge in this undated photo.

Landmark Verdict Finds Two of Khmer Rouge’s Surviving Leaders Guilty of Genocide

It is the first time that such a verdict has been meted out against high-ranking members of the brutal Cambodian regime

November 16, 2018

The damage inflicted to the glass box encasing Magna Carta

Man Arrested for Trying to Steal an Original Copy of the Magna Carta

The suspect was apprehended after taking a hammer to a glass case containing the 13th-century document

October 26, 2018

Earlier this month a researcher stabbed another individual at Bellinghausen Station after suffering an “emotional breakdown”

October 25, 2018

An 1887 illustration by British artist Hablot Knight Browne of “resurrectionists” stealing dead bodies from a graveyard.

In Need of Cadavers, 19th-Century Medical Students Raided Baltimore’s Graves

With a half-dozen medical schools and a shortage of bodies, grave robbing thrived—and with no consequences for the culprits

October 25, 2018

More than half of Americans of European descent could be matched to a third cousin or closer through anonymous DNA samples

You Could Be Identified Through a Genealogy Database—Even If Your DNA Hasn’t Been Tested

New study finds that approximately 60 percent of people of European-descent in the U.S. can be matched to a third cousin or closer

October 15, 2018

The street artist hid a built-in shredder in the frame of the artwork when he created it in 2006

October 8, 2018

A cartoon from a U.S. newspaper from 1880 reads: 'Terrorism in the South. Citizens beaten and shot at."

The Deadliest Massacre in Reconstruction-Era Louisiana Happened 150 Years Ago

In September 1868, Southern white Democrats hunted down around 200 African-Americans in an effort to suppress voter turnout

September 28, 2018

Did Murder Help Catalyze Thomas Gainsborough’s Early Career?

New documentary evidence suggests the famed artist’s uncle and cousin were victims of targeted killings

September 27, 2018

New genetic evidence confirms that ivory poaching in Africa involves only a few powerful players who consolidate the goods for illegal trade abroad.

How DNA Testing Could Bring Down Ivory Trade’s Biggest Criminals

Genetic testing exposes three major cartels illegally trafficking ivory out of several African countries

September 19, 2018

The shoes were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005 and were recently recovered in Minneapolis

September 4, 2018