American Criminals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Arizona

Her full name was Arizona Donnie Clark Barker, but most people called her 'Kate' or 'Ma.'

Answer: Marion

Gotti, the 'Teflon Don,' was housed at the maximum security correctional facility in Marion, Illinois. He died in June, 2002 of throat cancer.

Answer: Richard Speck

Speck viciously stabbed and murdered eight young women that summer day. Originally sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted when the US Supreme Court abolished capital punishment. He was resentenced to a term of over 400 years. He died in prison of a heart attack in 1991.

Answer: 14

Whitman shot a total of 46 people from the tower, killing fourteen. He was shot and killed that same day by police officers who stormed the building in an attempt to end the slaughter. An autopsy revealed that a brain tumor may have been responsible for his sudden aggressive behavior.

Answer: The Hillside Strangler

Bianchi, along with his cousin Angelo Buono, killed ten women in southern California and Washington State from 1977 to 1979. Bianchi is serving his sentence at the Walla Walla Penitentiary, while Buono served his in California's Folsom Prison. Buono died on September 21, 2002 at age 67.

Answer: Robert James

Soon after James was sentenced to die, the state of California began using the gas chamber as its primary means of execution. James appealed his sentence, stating that he should be executed in the gas chamber instead of being hanged. His appeal was denied and his sentence stood, based on the fact that hanging was still the primary means when sentence was passed.

The other three men mentioned above were executed in San Quentin's gas chamber.

Answer: Death

Manson and members of his 'family' cheated the gas chamber in 1972 when the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional. Their sentences were commuted to life. When the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, it was not retroactive and the life sentences stood.

Answer: Bruno Richard Hauptmann

Hauptmann professed his innocence until the moment he died. Various theories exist regarding whether or not he did indeed murder the son of America's most famous aviator.

Answer: Nathan Leopold

Leopold was convicted along with Richard Loeb in 1924 for the 'thrill killing' of 14 year-old Bobbie Franks. The two of them, both from extremely wealthy Chicago families, saw themselves as intellectually superior and performed the murderous act simply to see if they could get away with it.

They were arrested for the crime and were spared the death penalty with each received a life sentence for the murder and 99 years for the kidnapping of young Bobbie. Loeb was killed in prison in 1936, while Leopold was paroled in 1958 and lived until 1971.

The Alfred Hitchcock film 'Rope' is loosely based on the story of Loeb and Leopold.

Answer: John Billington

Crime in America got off to an early start. Billington arrived on the Mayflower when it landed at Plymouth in 1620. Ten years later, he shot and killed John Newcomen, a fellow settler. Billington was tried, convicted and hanged for his crime.