In 1962 a U.S. solider sent to guard the peace in South Korea undertook an extraordinary journey, at the height of the Cold War he deserted his unit and walked across the most heavily fortified area on Earth and defected to an alien communist state, North Korea.The existence of an American defector living in the hearth of the Cold War enemy was denied for decades by both the United States and
On May 23, 2014, in Isla Vista, California, a young man named Elliot Rodger took it upon himself to kill 6 people and injure 14 more near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara, before turning a gun on himself and taking his own life. In this "20/20" special we take a closer look at how Elliot came to commit such crimes and for the first time we hear his
Since 2001 the United States has seen a drastic increase in opiate related overdose deaths, the figures themselves have quadrupled and in 2014 Massachusetts alone saw more than 1,250 deaths related to heroin overdoses. 85 percent of all crimes committed on Cape Cod are opiate related.Heroin: Cape Cod, USA takes us on a journey to Cape Cod itself and exposes the epidemic that is cu
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that control the inner workings of organised crime in New York within the infamous criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia or Cosa Nostra. The Gambino family is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963 when the structure of organised crime first gained public attention.The Gambino family
In April 1945, Hitler was the most wanted man in Europe. Dead or alive, the victorious Allies needed to see his body in the dock of a courtroom or in a grave but in the chaos of war proof that the dictator had died proved elusive. Maybe Hitler was dead or maybe he had escaped, this was a question many had at the time.The mystery of the missing dictator drew in spies, scientists and historians
Into the Abyss is a documentary by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, it is a tale of two men who were convicted of a triple homicide which took place in Conroe, Texas back in 2001. One of these men was Michael Perry, the primary subject of this film, he was sent to death row for the murder of Sandra Stotler, a middle aged housewife who happened to own a nice car in which&
In this three part BBC documentary series, TV presenter Billie JD Porter sets out to discover what its really like to live in China, a country that remains semi-communist and still enforces some pretty strict rules. With a population of 1.3 billion, 1 in 5 of the worlds people live in China, it's a place where respect for the state and your elders is being drilled into the next generatio
When it comes to tattoos we have all heard the phrase "you'll regret that when your older", well this short documentary by Angie Bird explores that concept, sitting down with several elderly folk who all have tattoos to discuss the meanings and memories behind the ink. This film sets about challenging the idea that if we get tattoos when we are young, that in later life we will come to regret it.
12,00 years ago the Vikings explode out of the cold north sea, like beasts unleashed on an unsuspecting world. They come from a land of deep water fjords and bitter clan rivalries, today the area is known as Scandinavia. They left behind legends of their violence and courage, sagas of exploration and conquest and something even more remarkable, buried beneath the earth of their Scandinavia homelan