# Most successful (famous, wealthy, respected) person who turned out to be a serial killer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315 "2014-07-04T01:43:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/41 "2014-07-13T14:28:13Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > The Congo is in Africa. > > Guyana is in South America. Hey, don’t be too harsh, for the longest time I thought the movie Predator was set in Vietnam. To be fair though I first saw it when I was pretty young and realised my mistake when I rewatched it later… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/42 "2014-07-13T16:03:33Z")
Hitler doesn’t count, but what about some of the other Nazis? Amon Goeth, for example? Not for running the camp, as that was part of his job, but randomly picking off workers from his balcony with a rifle is going above and beyond. Dude just liked killing people. Even the Nazis thought he was crazy - just before the end of the war, he was relieved of command and put in a mental institution. But up to that point he’d had a very successful military career. Bonus fact gleaned from Wiki: his grand daughter is half Nigerian. Take that, you Nazi fuck! ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/43 "2014-07-13T16:19:22Z")
Going way back, Madame Delphine LaLaurie from New Orleans. She was a well-respected high-society person that threw lavish parties. Turned out she also kept slaves locked up in an attic and tortured them slowly to death. I believe it was discovered when a fire broke out and the responders found her victims. American Horror Story made this a part of their Coven series and she was played by Kathy Bates. Her mansion is on every ghost tour in the Quarter and was owned by Nicolas Cage for a time. > **[Delphine LaLaurie](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphine_LaLaurie)** > > Marie Delphine Macarty or MacCarthy (March 19, 1787 – December 7, 1849), more commonly known as Madame Blanque or, after her third marriage, as Madame LaLaurie, was a New Orleans socialite and serial killer who tortured and murdered slaves in her household. > Born during the Spanish colonial period, LaLaurie married three times in Louisiana and was twice widowed. She maintained her position in New Orleans society until April 10, 1834, when rescuers responded to a fire at her Royal Street mansio... ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/44 "2014-07-13T17:32:28Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Hitler doesn’t count, but what about some of the other Nazis? Amon Goeth, for example? Not for running the camp, as that was part of his job, but randomly picking off workers from his balcony with a rifle is going above and beyond. Dude just liked killing people. Even the Nazis thought he was crazy - just before the end of the war, he was relieved of command and put in a mental institution. But up to that point he’d had a very successful military career. > > Bonus fact gleaned from Wiki: his grand daughter is half Nigerian. Take that, you Nazi fuck! In my opinion, psycho genocidial types should be in a category of their own. Reason: the issue, as I see it, is the conflict between appearance (famous, respectable) and reality (serial killer). Killers who are recruited by their own society to commit mass crimes don’t face such a conflict - they can be respected and famous _because_ they committed such crimes. So I’d exclude psycho generals, genocidal Nazis, barbarian leaders and the like, in favour of those who attempted to keep their crimes hidden from their society to avoid infamy and punishment. Yes, it is true that, when the Nazis were losing, they attempted to hide their crimes - but they were not hidden from “their” society, that is, from fellow Nazi leaders. Had the Nazis won, they would have boasted of their crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/45 "2014-07-13T17:56:41Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > [Russell Williams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Williams) was the commander of the largest airbase in Canada. “Subsequent to his conviction, his uniform was burned, his medals were destroyed and his vehicle crushed and scrapped.” Wow. Even Canadjuns can be relentless bastards, given sufficient provocation. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/46 "2014-07-13T18:00:20Z")
> [@Fishtar](#): > > Excluding political guys…but including the murdering of peasants… > > …that Elizibeth Bathorny was a bad one. But I am sure there were much worse mals Lords who never got in trouble. Yes, I’d bet that the worst serial killer of all was probably some long-forgotten Central European aristocrat. For many generations in Europe, “ordinary people” were pretty much the personal playthings of high-ranking figures among the nobility and their allies in political/military/religious circles. (IMHO, this could be the underlying reason that WWII was inevitable and necessary - to put an end to that system once and for all) ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/47 "2014-07-13T18:10:19Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > The Congo is in Africa. > > Guyana is in South America. That’s why I pointed out that it was in Guyana, and posted the Wikipedia link. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315/48 "2014-07-13T18:12:23Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > Going way back, Madame Delphine LaLaurie from New Orleans. She was a well-respected high-society person that threw lavish parties. Turned out she also kept slaves locked up in an attic and tortured them slowly to death. I believe it was discovered when a fire broke out and the responders found her victims. American Horror Story made this a part of their Coven series and she was played by Kathy Bates. Her mansion is on every ghost tour in the Quarter and was owned by Nicolas Cage for a time. > > [Delphine LaLaurie - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphine_LaLaurie) I vaguely remember reading about this case. Someone mentioned Jack the Ripper earlier. He was almost certain to have been a local nobody. Certainly unlikely to have been from the upper echelons of society. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-successful-famous-wealthy-respected-person-who-turned-out-to-be-a-serial-killer/692315.md?page=2)