The Virginia Tech shooting remains the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. educational institution, and Cho carried it out in two separate attacks across campus within a single morning. His case prompted significant national debate over gaps in mental health reporting to federal firearms background check systems, as his documented psychiatric history had not disqualified him from legally purchasing the weapons he used. The scale of the attack and the institutional failures it exposed led to federal legislation reforming background check procedures.

A senior hitman within the Nuova Camorra Organizzata, he carried out killings with a frequency and method that earned him a reputation even within a criminal organization built on violence. The figure of 67 men killed while incarcerated places him in a category that goes beyond organized crime activity and into something closer to sustained, systematic elimination. His eventual decision to become a pentito in 1982 made him the first NCO member to cooperate with Italian authorities, giving prosecutors a rare internal perspective on the Camorra's inner workings.

Operating across three Indian states for nearly four decades, Veerappan built a criminal enterprise rooted in sandalwood smuggling and elephant poaching before expanding into kidnapping and political extortion. His longevity as a fugitive — and the estimated ₹100 crore spent by two state governments attempting to capture him — reflects both the difficulty of policing India's forested interior and his considerable skill at evasion. The scale of wildlife destruction attributed to him, combined with violent resistance against law enforcement, made his case one of the most sustained manhunts in Indian history.