10. Jonathan Wilde Was a Crime Fighter and Criminal Kingpin
Eighteenth century English master criminal Jonathan Wilde (1682 – 1725) reigned over an underground kingdom of thieves and highwaymen, ran a far flung extortion racket, and was Britain’s biggest fence for stolen goods. After he feigned reform, the authorities turned to Wilde, gave him the title “Thief Taker”, and set him loose on the criminals running amok and terrorizing London at the time.
Wilde took to his new job and title with a passion, forming highly effective teams of thief catchers who fell upon the criminals with a will, breaking up gangs and sending criminals to the gallows by the dozen. During his thief catching career, at least 120 were executed based on Wilde’s testimony and information that he furnished the authorities.
As a side business, Wilde also had a gig as a private detective, recovering stolen goods for a fee. What he failed to tell his clients, however, was that their goods had been stolen by thieves working for Wilde, and that “recovery” simply came down to sifting through his warehouses of stolen property. Far from going legit, Wilde had hoodwinked everybody, and the Thief Catcher became an even bigger criminal kingpin, ridding himself of competitors by delivering them to the authorities.
He was finally brought down when a criminal double crossed by Wilde accused him of fencing stolen goods. An investigation confirmed the malfeasance, and Wilde was arrested. That was when many of his underlings turned crown’s evidence against him, and his whole scheme of simultaneously being England’s greatest crime fighter and greatest criminal came out. He was swiftly tried, convicted, and hanged at Tyburn, where he had sent so many others to their doom.
