889 articles
Triad (organized crime)
Triad (organized crime) is a Chinese organized crime society linked to secret brotherhood societies founded in Fujian in 1761 or 1762, derived from the Tiandihui.
Trial and sentencing of Robert H. Richards IV
Trial and sentencing of Robert H. Richards IV: 2008-2009 Delaware case in which the du Pont heir pleaded guilty to fourth-degree rape of his three-year-old daughter and received a suspended eight-year sentence served as probation, which became public controversy in 2014.
Trial of the Nine Trey Gangsters
Trial of the Nine Trey Gangsters: 2019 SDNY federal racketeering case against Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods members, famous for Tekashi 6ix9ine's cooperation; Mack and Ellison convicted October 3, 2019.
Trinitarios
Trinitarios (3NI, La Trinitaria): transnational Dominican street and prison gang founded in the New York correctional system (late 1980s to early 1990s), known for drug trafficking, extreme violence, machete use, rivalry with DDP, and RICO prosecutions in Massachusetts, New York, and Spain.
Turkish mafia
Turkish mafia: organized crime groups of Turkish origin in Turkey and the European diaspora, rooted in Laz migrant syndicates of early-20th-century Istanbul, historically dominant in the Balkan heroin route and now active in cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking.
Turpin case
The Turpin case: 2018 Perris, California prosecution of David and Louise Turpin for torturing and starving their 13 children; guilty pleas, 25-years-to-life sentences, and the 2022 Larson Report on Riverside County's failed aftercare.
Types of rape
Types of rape, also called categories of sexual assault: statutory rape, marital rape, acquaintance and date rape, prison rape, and conflict-related sexual violence, distinguished by consent- versus coercion-based legal models across jurisdictions.
Underboss
The Underboss, or Sottocapo, is the second-in-command of a traditional organized crime family. This role involves relaying messages and is a primary target of federal law.
United Blood Nation
United Blood Nation (UBN): East Coast Bloods offshoot founded 1993 on Rikers Island by Omar Portee and Leonard McKenzie; prison-born gang with sets, 'The 31' rules, dues, and major 2017–2019 North Carolina RICO prosecutions.
Unjust vexation
Unjust vexation, under Article 287(2) of the Philippine Revised Penal Code, is a light, undefined catch-all offense penalizing acts that unjustifiably annoy or vex; punished by arresto menor or a P1,000 to P40,000 fine.
Unlawful assembly
Unlawful assembly is a public order offence: a group gathered for a common purpose becomes criminal through its conduct or object, typically where observers reasonably fear a breach of the peace. Known in English common law, Canadian, Indian (BNS s.189), and US statutes; abolished in England and Wales by the Public Order Act 1986.
Upskirt
Upskirting: covert photography or filming under a person's clothing without consent. Criminal in England and Wales under the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 after Gina Martin's campaign; Scotland criminalized it earlier.
Uxoricide
Uxoricide is the killing of a wife by her husband or partner, from Latin uxor + -cide; contrasted with mariticide. Covers its etymology, legal history, and global prevalence and risk-factor research.
Vagrancy
Vagrancy: a legal offense criminalizing idleness, homelessness, or wandering without visible means of support. Traced to England's 1349 Statute of Labourers; struck down as vague in Papachristou (1972); revived in modern sleeping/camping ordinances upheld in Grants Pass v. Johnson (2024).
Vandalism
Vandalism, also called criminal mischief or malicious mischief, is the willful damage or defacement of another's property. Covers legal elements, misdemeanor-felony grading ($250-$5,000 thresholds), Cohen's motivation typology, and prevention.
Vice
Vice (crime): consensual immorality offenses such as gambling, prostitution, narcotics, alcohol, and obscenity; also called victimless crimes, policed by vice squads and increasingly replaced by licensing and sin-tax regulation.
Victor Lustig
Victor Lustig, self-styled "Count," was a con man born (claimed) 1890 in Hostinné, Bohemia, who sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap twice in 1925, ran the money-box and Al Capone cons, and died on Alcatraz in 1947.
Villisca axe murders
The Villisca axe murders were the unsolved June 1912 bludgeoning deaths of eight people, the Josiah Moore family and the two Stillinger sisters, in Villisca, Iowa. Reverend George Kelly was tried twice and acquitted; Senator Frank F. Jones, William Mansfield, and Henry Lee Moore were also suspects.
Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal
Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal: Janel Grant's January 2024 federal lawsuit against McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and WWE over sexual abuse and a $3 million NDA, the SEC settlement, and 2026 arbitration.
Vince McMahon sexual misconduct allegations
Vince McMahon sexual misconduct allegations: accusations since 1992 against the WWE co-founder, including Rita Chatterton's 1986 rape claim, 2022 hush-money revelations, the SEC order, and Janel Grant's 2024 sex trafficking lawsuit.
Vincent Brothers
Vincent Brothers, Bakersfield vice principal and convicted mass murderer, killed his wife Joanie Harper, her three children, and her mother on July 6, 2003; convicted 2007, sentenced to death by Judge Michael Bush.
Vinson Filyaw
Vinson Wayne Filyaw (1969-2021), the 'Girl in the Bunker' kidnapper, abducted 14-year-old Elizabeth Shoaf in South Carolina in 2006 while posing as police, held her ten days underground, and received a record 421-year sentence before dying in prison.
Virginia Tech shooting
The Virginia Tech shooting, also called the Virginia Tech massacre, occurred April 16, 2007, when senior Seung-Hui Cho killed 27 students and 5 faculty and wounded more than 17 at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, before killing himself; it led to Virginia mental health and background-check reforms.
Vito Genovese
Vito "Don Vito" Genovese (1897–1969), Italian-born American Mafia boss, underboss to Lucky Luciano, later boss of the New York family bearing his name; convicted of narcotics conspiracy in 1959 and linked to the 1957 Apalachin raid.
Vizconde murders
Vizconde murders (Vizconde massacre): killings of Estrellita, Carmela, and Jennifer Vizconde in Parañaque, Philippines, June 1991; Hubert Webb and six others convicted in 2000, acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2010; case remains unsolved.
Voyeurism
Voyeurism: sexual arousal from secretly watching unsuspecting people naked, disrobing, or in sexual activity; a paraphilia distinct from voyeuristic disorder (DSM-5-TR, ICD-11 6D31), criminalized as video voyeurism and upskirting in many countries.
Vyapam scam
The Vyapam scam (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal) was a Madhya Pradesh professional examination and recruitment fraud involving impersonators, leaked papers, and OMR manipulation; over 2,000 arrests, dozens of linked deaths, and a Supreme Court-ordered CBI probe from 2015.
Wah Ching (华青)
Wah Ching (華青), a Chinese American gang founded in 1960s San Francisco Chinatown by foreign-born immigrant youths, evolved from street gang into organized crime, known for the 1977 Golden Dragon massacre and Los Angeles/San Gabriel Valley operations.
Wanda Holloway
Wanda Webb Holloway, the "Texas Cheerleader Mom" or "Pom-Pom Mom," tried in 1991 to hire a hit man via Terry Harper to kill Verna Heath; convicted, overturned on juror ineligibility, 1996 no-contest plea.
Wartime sexual violence
Wartime sexual violence, or conflict-related sexual violence, is rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and similar acts committed by force or coercion during armed conflict; prohibited under IHL, prosecutable as war crimes, and documented in Ukraine, DRC, and other conflicts.