Everyone is familiar with Captain Kidd, Blackbeard and John Lafitte. How about Albert Hicks?
Though his name is less familiar, Hicks has the dubious honor of having been the last person executed for piracy in the United States.
Hicks was executed by hanging on July 13, 1860, for murders committed at sea. A crowd estimated in excess of 7,000 witnessed his execution on Bedloe’s (now Liberty) Island in New York Harbor, many being excursionists taken out by steamboats.