History's Biggest Villains

On March 2, 1989, Ramon Laso’s car fell off a 60 foot cliff while he was driving with his 6 year old son. The car burst into flames and the boy didn’t make it, but Ramon was unharmed, despite claims that he was passed out for 15 minutes. He received a large insurance settlement, which he used to open a video rental store. His wife was mysteriously found decapitated by a train 9 months earlier, but this was ruled as a suicide. Since Ramon was living life normally as if his wife and son weren’t dead, his father in law became suspicious and hired a private investigator to find evidence of murder, and he did. Ramon was found guilty in 1993 and was sentenced to 56 years, but by 2001, he was paroled already.

Earl Bradley was a pediatrician that worked in Northeast Philadelphia in the 80’s, as he was successful enough to open his own practice. But his career choice wasn’t because of a genuine desire to help, it was to gain access to victims for his pedophilic urges. In the mid 90s, he was accused twice of sexual misconduct towards his young patients, so he abruptly closed his practice and moved to Lewes, Delaware. He worked at Beebe Medical Center, where more allegations continued to mount. He then opened another private practice, Baybees Pediatrics in Milford, where he masqueraded as a friendly member of the community. But behind this mask, he continued to torment and abuse young children, with his youngest victim being just 3 months old. Despite numerous reports against him, Earl remained free. In 2009, 15 years after the first complaint, he was finally apprehended after yet another incident of him touching a young girl inappropriately. When police raided his practice, they found 13 hours of videotapes, displaying sadistic crimes that lead many to believe that he was the worst child predator in American history, but how did he escape justice for so long?

Africa is a continent rich with wildlife, culture and a history of perseverance. But unfortunately, their abundance of natural resources made them a target for European colonists looking to claim this land, but there were no arranged sales, the land was just taken simply because they felt they were entitled to it. Since many of these African countries were already under European control, these institutions felt like they could do whatever they wanted to the indigenous people. Most know 20th century Germany for their actions while a certain man with a mustache was in charge, but even before he rose to power, the German government had already subjugated an entire group of people, but this was in the small country of Namibia. German leadership was desperate to turn the Herero people into a subservient class,stealing all their possessions, enacting unfair judicial systems that targeted them and just outright killing them. When the Herero people chose to rise up, the Germans claimed to be the victims, calling for the extermination of the entire tribe. It seemed like killing 75,000 people wasn’t enough, as even after a peace agreement was reached, the remaining survivors were put into concentration camps. This was only the tip of the iceberg when talking about an atrocity that seems to be swept under the rug.

As you probably know, child protective service agencies always do a great job of making sure that children are safe. That’s why when LaShawn Ragland reported that his friend Banita Jacks was starving her children, along with another report from a social worker that she was holding them hostage, CPS did absolutely nothing about it. After the death of her boyfriend in 2007, Banita went completely off the rails, isolating herself and her kids, as nobody was able to get in contact with them. Even as the children were pulled from school, nobody came to check on them. Banita’s mother hadn’t heard from her granddaughters in over 2 years, but on January 7, 2008, she found out what happened to them, as this case brought major legislation changes in the nation’s capital.

Gary Evans grew up in a horrible situation, as his father frequently abused him and his siblings. At the age of eight, he became interested in expensive things. So in turn, he started stealing things and pawning them off.. This habit continued all through his early 20s, as a combination of the deaths of both of his parents and his mental health issues, he went on a spree of robbery and murder, as his victims were his close friends whom he had committed crimes with. He was extremely paranoid, feeling like someone was always out to get him, so when these men gave him the slightest suspicion, he shot and dismembered them. When he was finally caught, he used a secret key to break out of his cuffs and escape from the police van, and Gary made sure he wouldn’t face justice for his crimes.