Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Now in Colorado, in Notorious Company

Last month, we reported that Gary Ridgway, widely regarded to be America's most prolific serial killer, is now living in Colorado — in one of the state's Supermax facilities.

Upon his arrival, he joined some disturbing company. In 2012, we published our choices for the ten most notorious Colorado Supermax prisoners, and Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, certainly belongs on the list.

So, too, does the latest Supermax inmate: convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Tsarnaev's stay in the state will reportedly be temporary. At a thus-far-unannounced future date, he'll be transferred to a facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, where federal executions take place. He's been sentenced to death for his role in the bombing.

Below, learn more about the company Tsarnaev will be keeping during his time in Colorado — our previous most-notorious-Supermax-prisoners roster, supplemented by Wikipedia information about the ten plus Ridgway.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber", is a Nigerian man who, at the age of 23, confessed to and was convicted of attempting to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day, 2009....

Zacarias Moussaoui

Often referred to as the twentieth hijacker, Moussaoui was accused of having been a replacement for any of the nineteen participants in the 9/11 attacks who could not fulfill their lethal duties. The French citizen was convicted of conspiracy, sentenced to life without parole, and sent to Supermax.

Eric Rudolph

Rudolph was the man behind the July 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, during that year's Olympic Games — although he wasn't captured for years, despite one of the most extensive manhunts in recent memory. He has written that the purpose of his attack, which killed one person and injured many others, was "to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand." That's the type of talk that wins you a suite at Supermax.


Larry Hoover

According to the DEA, Larry Hoover ran the Gangster Disciples, a "30,000 member, militaristic gang and its drug trade" from the Joliet State Prison in Illinois. He's serving a 200-year sentence for a 1973 gang-related murder.

Barry Mills

Along with lieutenant Tyler "The Hulk" Bingham, also a Supermax resident, Mills was indicted for murder, conspiracy, drug trafficking and racketeering in relation to the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison gang. They're both serving life without the possibility of parole — meaning they'll get to know Supermax mighty well over the next few decades.

Richard Reid

Known as the "Shoe Bomber," Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism in 2002 following his attempt in December 2001 to set off a bomb hidden in his boots while on a flight from Paris to Miami. Fortunately, the explosives didn't detonate. Today, Reid is another Supermax resident, having been sentenced to life without parole.

Ted Kaczynski

For twenty years, Kaczynski spread terror via mail bombs that killed three people and injured 24 others, allegedly to advance his personal philosophy, which championed natural living over the techno-happy modern world. He's expected to spend the rest of his life at Supermax.

Terry Nichols

Nichols was convicted in Denver of conspiring in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which left 168 people dead — nineteen of them children. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to Supermax, where he filled his time in part by griping about the food served there. His complaints were dismissed in August 2010.

Ramzi Yousef

In 1993, over eight years before 9/11, Yousef masterminded a bombing at New York's World Trade Center that killed six people and injured many others — a terrible toll, but not as spectacular an attack as Yousef had hoped. He wanted the bomb to cause the entire building to collapse. He is now permanently ensconced at Supermax. 

Mohamed Rashed al-Owhali

A onetime member of al-Qaeda, Al-Owhali is the most prominent of four terrorists convicted of executing the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in several African cities. The death toll ran into the hundreds. He's among the prisoners at Supermax with the most blood on his hands.

Gary Ridgway

Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949) is the American serial killer known as the Green River Killer. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders and later confessed to nearly twice that number. As part of his plea bargain, an additional conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the most prolific American serial killer in history according to confirmed murders. He murdered numerous women and girls in Washington State during the 1980s and 1990s....
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