Disgraced religious figure John Geoghan

Perhaps America's best-known pedophile and maybe even a record holder was former Roman Catholic priest John Geoghan.

The troubled father was accused of pedophilia by around 130 boys and young men over his long career in the Boston area, shuffled from one parish to another by his superiors.

Geoghan was defrocked in 1998 and cost the church many millions of dollars in settlements. Some cases remain pending. The way his diocese handled his case was part of what led to the resignation of his Cardinal, Bernard Law, in 2002.

For a while, the aging priest lived in a home for retired clergy but was sentenced to 9-10 years in prison in 2002. Pedophiles appear to be most prisoners' and most guards' least favorite kind of criminal, and Geoghan's life in stir was a virtual hell on earth.

In 2003, a tattoo-covered homophobic young inmate, Joseph L. Druce, got into Geoghan's cell and strangled him to death.