9,901 articles
Viktor Shokin (Віктор Миколайович Шокін)
Viktor Shokin (Віктор Миколайович Шокін), Ukrainian Prosecutor General February 2015 to March 2016, dismissed under US pressure over corruption inaction; his firing later anchored disputed Biden-Burisma claims.
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 Foster
Vince Foster (Vincent Walker Foster Jr., 1945–1993), Arkansas lawyer and Clinton's Deputy White House Counsel, died by suicide in Fort Marcy Park on July 20, 1993; five government investigations confirmed suicide, fueling enduring conspiracy theories.
Vince G. Chhabria
Vince Girdhari Chhabria, born in 1969 in San Francisco, is a United States district judge for the Northern District of California, appointed by President Obama in 2014.
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 Basciano
Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, convicted in three federal trials including a capital case, serving two consecutive life sentences.
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.
Vincent Bugliosi
Vincent Bugliosi (1934–2015) was an American attorney who, as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, prosecuted Charles Manson and wrote the bestselling book Helter Skelter.
Vincent Corleone
Vincent Corleone (Vincent Santino Corleone, Vincent Mancini-Corleone), fictional character in The Godfather Part III (1990), played by Andy García; illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone and Lucy Mancini who becomes Michael Corleone's successor as Don.
Vincent Drucci
Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci (Ludovico Di Ambrosio, 1898-1927), Chicago North Side Gang boss after Hymie Weiss, killed by Patrolman Daniel Healy on April 4, 1927, the rare mob boss killed by police.
Vincent Gigante
Vincent "Chin" Gigante, nicknamed the Oddfather, was an American mobster who became boss of the Genovese crime family and evaded prosecution for decades by feigning mental illness.
Vincent L. Briccetti
Vincent Louis Briccetti, born 1954, is an American jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the Southern District of New York, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011.
Vincent Palermo
Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo, DeCavalcante crime family captain, ruling panel member, and acting boss in New Jersey; became a federal cooperating witness in 2000 and entered witness protection in Houston.
Vincenzo Peruggia
Vincenzo Peruggia (1881-1925), Italian house painter and glazier, stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre on 21 August 1911, hid it in Paris for over two years, and was arrested in Florence in December 1913 after offering it to dealer Alfredo Geri.
Vinson Court
The Vinson Court (1946-1953), the U.S. Supreme Court under 13th Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, was a divided Truman-era bench that decided Youngstown, Dennis, Sweatt, and McLaurin and left Brown v. Board undecided at Vinson's death.
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.
Violence Against Women Act
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is the 1994 U.S. federal law, Title IV of P.L. 103-322, funding responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking; reauthorized in 2000, 2005, 2013, and 2022.
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (1994 crime bill, H.R. 3355, Public Law 103-322) is the largest U.S. federal crime law, signed September 13, 1994, funding 100,000 police and prisons, enacting VAWA, the three-strikes rule, the ten-year assault weapons ban, and Wetterling sex offender registration.
Violent non-state actor
Violent non-state actor (VNSA), also armed non-state actor: an organized group outside state command using or threatening collective violence for political, ideological, economic, or territorial aims; bound by Common Article 3 IHL but lacking combatant immunity.
Vipul Pancholi
Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi, Supreme Court of India judge since 29 August 2025; former Chief Justice of Patna High Court and Gujarat High Court judge; elevated 4:1 over Justice Nagarathna's dissent; in line for CJI in October 2031.
Viramontes v. Cook County
Viramontes v. Cook County, No. 25-238, a pending Supreme Court case consolidated with Grant v. Higgins, testing whether the Second Amendment protects AR-15 platform semiautomatic rifles against Cook County, Illinois's assault weapons ban; argument set for December 2, 2026.
Virginia A. Phillips
Virginia A. Phillips, born 1957, is an American jurist serving as a senior judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California since 2022.
Virginia Company
Virginia Company of London, joint-stock company chartered by James I on April 10, 1606 (with the Plymouth Company), founded Jamestown in 1607, used lotteries and headrights, and lost its charter to the Crown on May 24, 1624.
Virginia E. Hopkins
Virginia E. Hopkins, born Virginia Emerson Hopkins in 1952, is an American jurist who served as a US district judge for the Northern District of Alabama from 2004 to 2019.
Virginia Hill
Virginia Hill (1916-1966), the "Queen of the Mob," was an American courier and money launderer for the Chicago Outfit and Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend, in whose Beverly Hills home he was murdered in 1947; she testified at the 1951 Kefauver hearings and died in Austria in 1966.
Virginia M. H. Covington
Virginia M. H. Covington, born 1955, is an American jurist serving as a federal district judge in Florida since 2004, appointed by President George W. Bush.
Virginia M. Kendall
Virginia Mary Kendall, born 1962, is an American federal judge on the Northern District of Illinois since 2006, appointed by George W. Bush and serving as chief judge since 2024.
Virginia Plan
Virginia Plan: fifteen resolutions drafted chiefly by James Madison and presented by Edmund Randolph on May 29, 1787, proposing a three-branch national government with population-based bicameral representation; blueprint of the U.S. Constitution.
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.