Rats have been used to torture prisoners and political enemies in many ways over the centuries — but some methods are more horrific than others.

From being partially scalped to having her eyes gouged out, Kelly Anne Bates was tortured for weeks before James Patterson Smith killed her on April 16, 1996.

After making a name for herself as a professional wrestler, Mexican serial killer Juana Barraza murdered 16 elderly women and was sentenced to 759 years in prison.

Known As "Joe the Boss," Joe Masseria headed what's now known as the Genovese crime family until he was killed in a hail of bullets in Coney Island on April 15, 1931.

Gambling genius and Chicago Outfit associate Frank Rosenthal made a fortune for the mob while running Las Vegas' Stardust casino in the 1970s.

When Willard Asylum closed in 1995 after 126 years of operation, staff members discovered hundreds of forgotten suitcases that told the stories of the patients who had died there.

Mickey Cohen took over for Bugsy Siegel and controlled virtually all the vice on the West Coast in the late 1940s and 1950s — and did it all while schmoozing with celebrities like Frank Sinatra.

Westley Allan Dodd estimated that he'd molested at least 175 children before he was hanged in 1993 for killing three boys in Vancouver, Washington.

Legend has it that Joaquín Murrieta and his band of outlaws terrorized California during the Gold Rush to avenge the Mexicans who were mistreated by American miners.

After vanquishing his rivals, crime boss Carlo Gambino took control of the Mafia's Commission and made the Gambino family into the most powerful outfit in America.

In 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of the staircase in her home. Two years later, her husband Michael Peterson was convicted of her murder — but many believe he didn’t do it.