It’s not always easy to track down folks who made a lot of money from their criminal activities.
Many of them have passed on to the great beyond, while others are still alive and well, either doing time in prison or wandering around freely.
The following is a list of some of history’s world’s richest criminals.
1. Leona Helmsley: Estimated Net worth $8 billion
She was notorious for her ruthless business savvy, flashy attitude, and tough demeanor, earning her the nickname “Queen of Mean,” is a nickname she embraced wholeheartedly. Leona Helmsley was a legend in her own right.
However, In 1989, the fearless lady was charged with tax evasion by the federal government. She was found guilty after a thorough inquiry.
Leona was found guilty of tax fraud and other offenses. She is now considered one of the world’s wealthiest female criminals.
In addition, She was a high school dropout who went on to become a hotel baroness and built a multi-billion dollar fortune, making her one of the world’s richest criminals women.
2. Carlos Lehder: Estimated Net worth $2.7 billion
Carlos Lehder is a former Colombian drug lord and co-founder of the Medellin Cartel. Lehder was born in Armenia and is currently imprisoned in the United States.
However, Lehder’s engagement in illegal activity began at a young age. When his father began selling used cars, Lehder added a criminal touch to the operation by selling stolen vehicles.
Lehder came up with the notion of drug trafficking while serving a prison sentence for auto theft. In addition
His ultimate plan was to use small planes to transfer cocaine to the United States, revolutionizing the cocaine trade.
Lehder created the foundations of what would become a massive cocaine business with the help of Jung, a fellow prison inmate.
3. Adnan Khashoggi: Estimated Net worth $2 billion
Adnan Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian billionaire who was well-known for his lavish lifestyle and lucrative business transactions. additionally
He is an arms trader, was briefly the world’s wealthiest person in the early 1980s, when his net worth peaked at $4 billion, giving him the moniker “Great Gatsby of the Middle East.”
Khashoggi was the CEO of the Triad International Holding Company, a multibillion-dollar private investment firm with a diverse portfolio of assets and enterprises.
However, Adnan Khashoggi was a key figure in both the Iran-Contra and Lockheed bribery investigations.
He was charged in the Iran-Contra scandal but acquitted in the United States.
He was also the spark for a string of bankruptcies that resulted in the Securities Investor Protection Corporation’s highest payout in its history.
4. Griselda Blanco: Estimated Net worth $2 Billion
Fourth on our list of richest criminals globally is Griselda Blanco, also known as The black widow or La Madrina and cocaine Godmother.
Additionally, In the 1980s, she rose to fame and influence by running cocaine for the Medellin Cartel and developing special underwear to aid cartel members in smuggling cocaine across the border.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Blanco was one of the country’s largest cocaine traffickers.
However, She was also allegedly responsible for at least 200 deaths of men, women, and children, making her one of the most vicious crime bosses of all time (though the number could be as high as 2,000).
Many of her victims were drug dealers, while some were absolutely uninvolved spectators.
5. Joaquin Guzman Loera: Estimated Net worth $1 billion
The Sinaloa Cartel was founded by El Chapo Guzman, a Mexican drug lord.
The criminal organization was called after the Mexican state of Sinaloa, which is located on the Pacific coast in 2003,
El Chapo rose to become Mexico’s top drug lord and was dubbed the world’s most powerful trafficker.
However, ” The cartel is thought to be responsible for 25% of all illegal drugs entering the United States through Mexico.
6. Frank Costello: Estimated Net worth $1 billion
Frank Costello was the Luciano crime family’s Italian-American mob boss. He escaped an assassination attempt planned by Vito Genovese and carried out by Vincent Gigante in 1957.
However, Costello, on the other hand, was persuaded by the row to relinquish authority to Genovese and retire. From his robbery operations, this mafia leader made a lot of money.
Learn more about Frank Costello’s biography, criminal career, and how much money he made while operating his huge criminal organization.
7. Carlo Gambino: Estimated Net worth $400M
Carlo Gambino was a Sicilian American mobster and a crime family boss who, after inflation, of his death. He is one of the richest criminals in history.
In addition, Carlo Gambino was born in August 1902 in Palermo, Sicily, and died in October 1976.
However, He was the Gambino crime family’s Godfather and namesake. Following the 1957 Apalachin Convention, Carlo Gambino took control of the American Mafia Commission.
Throughout his life, he maintained a high level of secrecy.
In addition, He carried out murder instructions for new mob bosses as a teenager. Carlo Gambino joined the Cosa Nostra at the age of 19 and immigrated to the United States in 1921.
He became a member of the Young Turks and married his first cousin afterward.
8. Low Taek jho: Estimated Net worth $150 million
Low Taek Jho, often known as Jho Low, is a Malaysian businessman and international fugitive wanted by authorities connected with the 1MDB crisis. He was born on November 4, 1981.
In addition, He is accused of orchestrating the large fraud, which police say was a conspiracy to divert US$4.5 billion from 1MDB to Low’s personal accounts.
According to the US authorities, he is the recipient of a slew of discretionary trust assets allegedly derived from Malaysia’s 1MDB fund.
However, Low is thought to be in China, where he covertly travels around major cities. Al-Jazeera claimed in November 2020 that Low was now residing in Macau in “a mansion owned by a prominent member of the Chinese Communist Party.”
9. Al Capone: Estimated Net worth $100 million
Al Capone is 9th on our list of richest criminals. He was also known as Scarface.
And was a notorious American mobster and businessman who rose to prominence during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit.
Unfortunately, At the age of 33, his seven-year reign as a crime lord came to an end when he was sentenced to prison.
10. Big Meech: Estimated Net worth $100 million
Demetrius Flenory, also known as Big Meech, is a convicted drug dealer from the United States.
Additionally, He is well known for being a co-founder of the Black Mafia Family, one of the greatest cocaine trafficking organizations in the United States.
In addition, Big Meech pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering and was arrested in 2005. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Furthermore, Meech’s sentence was just reduced to three years by US District Judge David M. Lawson on Monday (June 14), and he will be released in 2028.
11. Benjamin Siegel: Estimated net worth $100 million
Benjamin, popularly known as Bugsy, is one of the richest criminals of all time. He was a mobster and was the force behind the Las Vegas strip development.
Bugsy had involvement with the Jewish mob and the Italian American mafia, and the well-known Italian Jewish national crime syndicate.
Furthermore, he was described as a charismatic and handsome man.
12. Ray Edmond: Estimated Net worth $50 million
Ray Edmond, one of the richest criminals of all time, was a drug lord. He is based in Washington and operated from there. Edmond was the one who brought crack cocaine to Washington.
Furthermore, because of his activities, Washington DC was referred to as the murder capital of the United States.
13. John Gotti: Estimated net worth $30 million
At the height of his criminal empire, John Gotti was an American gangster and mafia lord, making him one of the richest criminals.
He was recognized for avoiding federal charges for his crimes, earning him the moniker “Teflon Don” from the press.
In 1992, he was found guilty of some federal charges. He was the leader of the Gambino crime family, which was based in New York City.
Furthermore, Loan sharking, construction, gambling, hijacking, and extortion brought hundreds of millions of dollars per year for the Gambino family.
14. Paul Castellano: Estimated net worth $20 million
Paul was also known as “The Howard Hughes of the Mob” and “Big Paulie” (or “PC” to his family) and succeeded Carlo Gambino as the head of the Gambino crime family.
Gower was On December 16, 1985. Unfortunately, Castellano was assassinated by John Gotti, who would later become his boss, in an unsanctioned killing.
15. Ephren Taylor: Estimated Net worth $10 million
Ephren Taylor was born in Blackwater, Mississippi, and first became well-known as the creator of a videogame that made him a millionaire in his early twenties.
At least, it was his version of events. He took his narrative of generating millions and went around the country, serving predominantly African-American church groups.
Taylor made investing speeches and lectures. He encouraged churchgoers to invest enormous sums of money in his real estate development transactions, improving and renovating disadvantaged regions such as inner-city ghettos.
His “Building Wealth Tour” included appearances at some of the country’s significant mega-churches, including New Birth Baptist Church and Lakewood Church.
