The wreck of the Nossa Senhora do Cabo, a Portuguese treasure ship seized by pirates in 1721, has been identified near ...

Though John Adams was old and ill when he died, the curious timing of his demise sparked countless unusual theories.

Other, lesser-known towns were often just as raucous as Tombstone and Deadwood. Jerome, Arizona, for example, was once called ...

As East Germany begins to construct the Berlin Wall, guards are sent to watch over the temporary line of barbed wire separating the east and the west. One East German guard, Konrad Schumann, takes ...

The origins of the Gambino crime family are not all that different from those of the Genoveses. In fact, it was Giuseppe Morello’s ally Ignazio Lupo, also known as “Lupo the Wolf,” who started the ...

In 1991, the Bonanno family regained their seat on the Commission when Massino was appointed boss following Rastelli’s death. Massino took an isolationist approach to running the family, shutting down ...

The history of the Lucchese crime family doesn’t go back quite as far as that of the Genovese and Gambino families. While it was originally formed by members of the Morello gang who had split off, it ...

While the other gangs in the Five Families date back to before the Castellammarese War, the Colombo family didn’t come about until 1928. Then, Joe Profaci put together a bootlegging gang that would ...

The history of the Astor family begins with one man — John Jacob Astor. Astor was born on July 17, 1763 in modern-day Germany. As a teenager, Astor moved to England and worked on building musical ...

As a deity of agriculture, Kokopelli is said to chase away the winter by playing his flute, each year ushering in the spring and symbolizing the newfound growth that accompanies it. He is also ...

By 1991, many in the Soviet Union felt that change was in the air. The last several years had seen the end of the war in Afghanistan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a series of revolutions across ...

Athelstan rose to become England’s first king in the early 10th century. But his journey to the throne was far from easy. Born to Edward the Elder and his mistress, Athelstan faced opposition due to ...