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Willy Falcon
Willy Falcon (Augusto Guillermo Falcon), Cuban-born Miami trafficker who with Sal Magluta ran Los Muchachos, importing 75 tons of cocaine; acquitted in 1996 amid jury bribery, later imprisoned for money laundering and released in 2017.
Wineville Chicken Coop murders
The Wineville Chicken Coop murders were 1928 California child killings by Gordon Stewart Northcott at his Wineville ranch; convicted of three murders, executed 1930; town renamed Mira Loma.
Winter Hill Gang
Winter Hill Gang: Irish-American organized crime group from Somerville, Massachusetts, also called the Irish Mob, led successively by Buddy McLean, Howie Winter, and Whitey Bulger; fought the McLaughlin Gang in the 1960s and collapsed after Bulger's 1994 flight and 2011 arrest.
WIPO Copyright Treaty
The WIPO Copyright Treaty is an international copyright treaty adopted in Geneva in 1996 that extends copyright protection and authors' rights into the digital environment, particularly the Internet.
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), one of the 1996 Internet treaties, entered into force May 20, 2002; it protects performers and producers of phonograms with reproduction, distribution, rental, making-available, and moral rights.
Wisconsin Supreme Court
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the state's highest court: seven justices elected to 10-year nonpartisan terms, led by Chief Justice Jill Karofsky, with a 5-2 liberal majority after Chris Taylor's 2026 election.
Wiseguy (book)
Wiseguy is Nicholas Pileggi's 1985 nonfiction book about Henry Hill, a Lucchese crime family associate who became a federal witness, later adapted into the 1990 film GoodFellas.
Withdrawal from the Council of Europe
Withdrawal from the Council of Europe: voluntary exit under Article 7 or expulsion under Article 8. Greece withdrew 12 December 1969 to avoid expulsion, effective 31 December 1970, and rejoined 28 November 1974; Russia was expelled 16 March 2022.
Withdrawal from the European Union
Withdrawal from the European Union, governed by Article 50 TEU (Lisbon Treaty), lets a Member State leave voluntarily after notifying the European Council, negotiating a withdrawal agreement within two years, extendable; first used by the UK in Brexit.
Withdrawal from the United Nations
Withdrawal from the United Nations: the Charter is silent on exit; Indonesia's 1965-1966 announced withdrawal was treated as suspended cooperation, and recent US withdrawals target UN entities, not membership.
Witness protection
Witness protection safeguards people at risk of serious harm for their role in criminal justice, from courtroom measures to relocation under a new identity. The U.S. WITSEC, run by the U.S. Marshals Service since 1971 under the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, has protected over 19,250 participants.
Wolf family murders
Wolf family murders: the April 22, 1920 killings of eight members of a German-Russian farm family near Turtle Lake, North Dakota; baby Emma survived, neighbor Henry Layer confessed and died in prison in 1925, and the case remains disputed.
Wolseley, Saskatchewan
Wolseley, Saskatchewan, a town on Fairy Lake east of Regina, home to the 1894-95 Wolseley Court House, the only surviving Territorial-era courthouse in the province, plus the swinging bridge and Town Hall/Opera House.
Women justices of US state supreme courts
Women justices of US state supreme courts: female members of the 52 state and DC high courts. First seated 1922 (Florence Allen, Ohio); now about 42 percent of seats, with 17 female-majority benches and 26 women chief justices as of 2025.
Women's Charter
The Women's Charter 1961 is the principal Singapore statute governing non-Muslim marriage, divorce, maintenance, and family protection; passed in 1961, it introduced monogamous marriage and remains the core of Singapore family law.
Women's fear of crime
Women's fear of crime: the consistent finding that women report more fear of crime than men despite lower victimization, the fear–victimization paradox, its explanations (shadow of sexual assault, vulnerability, feminist geography), and behavioral costs.
Wonderland Gang
Wonderland Gang: Los Angeles drug-dealing group of the late 1970s and early 1980s based at 8763 Wonderland Avenue, Laurel Canyon; led by Ron Launius. Known for the 1981 Eddie Nash robbery and the unsolved July 1, 1981 Wonderland murders.
Wonderland murders
The Wonderland murders were the unsolved 1981 bludgeoning deaths of four people in a Laurel Canyon house in Los Angeles, tied to the Wonderland Gang drug dealers.
Wooden horse (device)
Wooden horse, also called Spanish Donkey or chevalet: a military punishment device, a sharp wooden ridge on legs on which offenders sat astride with weighted limbs, used in European and American armies into the Civil War era.
Woody Allen sexual abuse allegation
Dylan Farrow's allegation that Woody Allen sexually assaulted her in 1992 at age seven; also known as the Allen-Farrow case. Allen denies it; investigations disagreed, no charges were filed, and the 2021 HBO series Allen v. Farrow revived the dispute.
Worcester v. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832): Supreme Court case in which John Marshall held the Cherokee Nation a distinct sovereign community and Georgia's laws void on Cherokee land; Georgia and Andrew Jackson did not enforce it, preceding the Trail of Tears.
Work made for hire
A work made for hire is a US copyright category in which the employer or commissioning party, not the creator, is treated as the author and copyright owner.
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation is state-regulated no-fault insurance in the United States paying medical, wage-loss, and rehabilitation benefits for occupational injuries in exchange for limited employer liability. It began with Bismarck's 1884 German laws, a 1908 federal act, and Wisconsin's 1911 program.
Working holiday visa
Working holiday visa: temporary bilateral-scheme visa letting young people (usually 18-30 or 18-35) holiday and work abroad up to 12 months or longer; major schemes run by Australia (subclasses 417/462), New Zealand, Canada (IEC), UK (Youth Mobility Scheme), and Japan.
World Intellectual Property Organization
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), UN specialized agency in Geneva, 194 member states, administers 28 IP treaties including the PCT, Madrid, and Hague systems; Director General Daren Tang, second term from 2026.
World Passport
World Passport: identity and travel document issued since 1954 by the World Service Authority (WSA) of Garry Davis's World Government of World Citizens; claims limited recognition, rejected by most states as not issued by a competent authority.
World Radiocommunication Conference
The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), also known from its WRC-93 predecessor as the WARC system, is the ITU's treaty conference revising the Radio Regulations for spectrum and satellite orbits, held every three to four years; WRC-23 met in Dubai and WRC-27 will meet in Shanghai.
World's End Murders
World's End Murders: 1977 killings of Helen Scott and Christine Eadie, 17, after leaving the World's End pub, Edinburgh. Killer Angus Sinclair convicted at 2014 retrial under the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011 after a 2007 acquittal, jailed 37 years.
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (ILO Convention No. 182): ILO treaty requiring immediate elimination of slavery, sexual exploitation, illicit-use, and hazardous child labour; adopted 17 June 1999, in force 19 November 2000, universally ratified by all 187 ILO members in 2020.
Writ
A writ is a formal written court order commanding action or restraint; key forms include habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, quo warranto, and execution, authorized in U.S. federal courts by the All Writs Act.