the.com/ringleader
The one who turns a group of idiots into an organized catastrophe.
means The person who leads or directs others in some activity, especially mischief, wrongdoing, or rebellion.
from A 16th-century compound of 'ring' and 'leader.' The 'ring' here is the old sense of a circle or group of people standing together — a ring of conspirators, a ring of dancers — and the ringleader was originally the one who led off the ring, the first to move, the one who set the whole circle going. The word quickly slid toward troublemaking, since whoever starts the dance is also the one to blame for it.
- circus origin
- Once literally led the ring, performers and beasts alike
- legal weight
- Courts hand them the heaviest sentences in conspiracies
- the ring
- References crowds gathering in a circle to watch
- plural problem
- By definition, there can only be one
al capone — led the chicago outfit organized crime syndicate during prohibition in the 1920s-30s
charles ponzi — orchestrated the boston postal reply coupon scheme that defrauded 40,000 people in 1920