England’s Greatest Crime Fighter Was Also Its Greatest Criminal Kingpin
Jonathan Wilde (1682 – 1725) was an 18th century English master criminal. He reigned over an underground kingdom of thieves and highwaymen, ran a far-flung extortion racket, and was Britain’s biggest fence for stolen goods. After pretending to have finally seen the light and reformed his evil ways, the authorities turned to Wilde, gave him the title “Thief Taker“, and set him loose on the criminals running amok and terrorizing London.
Wilde took to his new job and title with a passion. He organized highly effective teams of thief catchers, who fell upon the criminals with a will, breaking up gangs and sending criminals to the gallows by the dozen. During his thief-catching career, at least 120 people were executed based on Wilde’s testimony and on information he provided to the authorities.
He also set up a side business as a private detective, recovering stolen goods for a fee. What he failed to inform his clients was that it was his own thieves who had stolen their goods in the first place. “Recovery” simply came down to Wilde sifting through his warehouses of stolen property. Far from having gone legit, Wilde had hoodwinked everybody, and the Thief Catcher became an even bigger criminal kingpin, ridding himself of competitors by delivering them to the authorities.
The term “double-cross” owes its origins to Wilde. He had a ledger in which the names of partners who ran afoul of him, and whom he was setting up for delivery to the authorities and the gallows, were marked with two Xs. He was finally brought down when a criminal double-crossed by Wilde accused him of fencing stolen goods. An investigation confirmed the accusation, and Wilde was arrested. At that point, many of his underlings turned crown evidence and testified against him. It was not long before his scheme of simultaneously being England’s greatest crime fighter, as well as England’s greatest criminal, came out. He was swiftly tried, convicted, and hanged at Tyburn, where he had sent so many others to their deaths.