Assassination takes plain old murder to another level, and not just because the word itself sounds so much more intriguing. Anyone can decide they want to be evil and kill someone else, but assassinations involve getting close enough to take out a world leader. Throw in the political motivation necessary to make it a proper assassination, and you have some seriously interesting, if morbid, crimes.
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From the murder of Alexander the Great's father in ancient Greece to the death of John F Kennedy in the 1960s, assassinations have brought down leaders in their prime, elevated dangerous and powerful figures, and scarred national characters. In the loss of popular, charismatic, and effective leaders, historians and laymen have seen prospects for a better world vanish, all on the whim of killers driven by delusion, power lust, or personal obsessions.
Because of all the people with guns guarding them, assassins usually don't live much longer than their illustrious targets. Others get the death penalty after a trial. But there are a surprising number of assassins and attempted assassins who are still alive and kicking. A whole lot of them have even gotten out of prison for various reasons, meaning you could be walking down the street next to someone who straight-up killed a world leader. Here are several assassins that are among us to this day.
Of all the notorious crime syndicates in American history, one of the infamous has to be that of Murder, Inc. As Britannica explains, the mobsters of Murder, Inc. were a group of assassins who spread terror throughout the United States in the 1930s. They were largely headed by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Albert Anastasia, and killing was their currency. They accepted contracts or hits on foes, and took them out in exceptionally brutal and violent ways.
World War I was brewing long before 1914. Per History, imperial ambitions fueled by the Industrial Revolution drove the great powers of Europe into competition for resources and military superiority. One nation's fears and suspicions of another would compel them to join alliances designed to check each other's potential aggression. The rise of nationalism during the Victorian era only further fueled tensions on the continent.
Despite having left his position as Japan's prime minister in 2020 due to health issues, Abe was still very active in national politics, especially within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The LDP, according to Britannica, is the country's largest political party and is known for working closely with business interests and championing a pro-United States foreign policy. As news circulated that Abe had succumbed to his injuries, there was an outpouring of tributes from world leaders around the globe.
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