In late 19th-century Russia, a woman named Madame Popova ran a murder-for-hire service that promised to "liberate" women from cruel husbands. For a fee, she killed targets by poison, with a weapon, with her own hands, or by hiring an assassin. Between 1879 and 1909, she claimed more than 300 victims. Police arrested her in 1909, and she was convicted and executed that year.
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