0 the leader of a group of people who are doing something harmful or illegal: --
1 the leader of a group of people who cause trouble or commit crimes --
The comment was made by the deputy director of the same authority that there was often a ringleader who could not care less about authority.
The ringleaders have been tried, convicted and given prison sentences ranging from 6 to 28 months.
At the very beginning, the three organisers or ringleaders of the new association were promptly dismissed.
The known ringleaders have been arrested and criminal prosecutions are being instituted.
A large mass meeting was called together by the ringleaders.
Take two men, one of whom is the ringleader and is sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
But within that figure there are probably a few dozen ringleaders—maybe 100 or 200.
One is the ringleader who gets three years, the other taking a relatively minor part gets 18 months.