Though society is quick to condemn the criminals cycling through our justice system, some law-breakers actually have good intentions.
On Nov. 27, the hacktivist group Anonymous successfully replaced a major ISIS website with a full-page advertisement for Viagra. The website even allowed for purchases through the usage of bitcoins. Although Anonymous may have criminal leanings, you have to admit, the crimes it is currently committing against ISIS have good intentions. I now present to you some criminals who ended up doing good, even though what they did was completely illegal.
Meet Pasquale D’Angelo, a 37-year-old Italian man. In February 2008, D’Angelo undertook several robberies in the city of Rimini, Italy. Armed with a scary-looking toy pistol, D’Angelo managed to grab £1,900 from the Cassa di Risparmio di Forli bank before dashing outside and throwing wads of money at the various homeless people lining the streets.
Nine days later, D’Angelo held up the Banca Nazionale di Lavoro and made off with £2,640. Once more, D’Angelo began running about all over town, distributing cash among the poorer customers at the town bar, butcher shop, fruit stand and hairdresser’s. As he made his way toward the church, he was finally arrested, though not before becoming a favorite among the disenfranchised in Rimini.
Of course, D’Angelo isn’t the only European Robin Hood whose many exploits have been covered by the news in the past decade. In fact, the mayor of Marinaleda, Spain, Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, spearheaded a campaign to raid grocery stores and donate the stolen goods to food pantries, making it impossible for the lifted food to be returned. In fact, Gordillo’s involvement was ridiculously obvious, as he'd often shout directly into a bullhorn, “Aren’t you all hungry? Let’s go shopping!”
Gordillo was sued multiple times by various grocers, but they pulled back after they decided that suing a man who was donating stolen food to food pantries was bad publicity, deciding instead to donate even more food to the food pantry where Gordillo had sent all of his goods. Some of his more extreme critics, in fact, attempted to assassinate him. Although he was threatened with multiple stints in prison, he has yet to serve out any of his sentences.
Criminal heroism simply seems to appear in the form of various thieves and robbers. John Dearborn, an armed robber who was serving 10 years in a correctional facility in Uncasville, Connecticut, noticed that the prison guard, Daniel Parker, was in the middle of a stroke-like seizure as he watched the prisoners in the lounge. While his fellow prisoners implored Dearborn not to save Parker’s life, Dearborn ensured that Parker could breathe properly as he called for medical assistance.
In return for single-handedly saving Parker’s life, the state of Connecticut waived two years of Dearborn’s sentence. Simultaneously, Dearborn was also transferred to another prison, likely to prevent him from being physically attacked by his fellow prisoners for saving the life of someone they viewed as an oppressor.
Though this article is not an endorsement for well-intentioned crimes, you have to admit that there are criminals out there in the world who have a lot of heart.
Richard Hwang is a student at Athens High School. Do you know of any other criminals who broke the law but helped better society? Email him at rhwang999@gmail.com.
