10. Kennedy ($ 400 million)
Father of John F. Kennedy was harmless-looking patriarch of one of the most influential families in America. He had great relationships with alcohol smugglers who earned millions during Prohibition – and according to some, even he was a smuggler. It is believed that Kennedy was running business with gangster Frank Costello, head of La Cosa Nostra in New York. They imported alcohol in the country, which easily sold after the First World War. Kennedy not only won hundreds of millions of illegal business, but also framed one of his competitors for rape to acquire his business (not to mention that he was an anti-Semite and supporter of Hitler, with whom they tried to meet in person twice ). His fortune today is estimated at $ 4-5 billion equivalent to inflation, and in 1957 was named one of the richest people in America magazine Fortune. Hardly would have been reasonable for the Kennedy family to completely deny it.
Meyer Lansky ($ 400 million)
Well dressed Lansky, known as the accounting officer of the Mafia, builds huge illegal gambling empire in America in 30 years, stretching from Florida to Las Vegas.Much of his wealth accumulated thanks to his close relationship with the mafia, especially with Bugsy Siegel, known as one of the most feared gangsters of his time (he is the inspiration behind Moe Green from “The Godfather”). Lansky himself inspired Michael Corleone of “The Godfather 2” and Max Berkowitz of “Once Upon a Time in America”.Even after his retirement, Lansky managed to enter the top 400 richest people in America. At the time of his death in 1983, the FBI suspected that he had hidden $ 300 million in bank accounts around the world.Despite all the accusations against him, Lansky never convicted of anything more than illegal betting. He died at his home of 80 years from lung cancer.
8. Griselda Blanco ($ 500 million)
Godmother of Miami is the most unscrupulous gangster in the drug business in the 70s and 80s. Was known for her sense of business as well as a sociopath (took 11 years old child for hostage, then shot him in the head). Blanco also been suspected in the murder of her three husbands, ordering more than 200 killings and forcing men to have sex with her. Her criminal empire brought her in $ 80 million per month before being charged with three murders. The case is falling apart because of technical details and it was released from prison in 2004. On 3 September 2012, Blanco was shot on the street by a passing motorist in Colombia.
7. Anthony Salerno ($ 600 million)
Fat Tony was not as nice as the double in “The Simpsons.” Easily recognizable with cigar and hat, Salerno rises to the boss of the Genovese family in the 70s, after spending several decades exercising their skills in illegal gambling, racketeering and debt collection. In the 60s, his criminal empire in New York generates $ 50 million annually. Salerno was known for sending his closest personal friends Christmas cards with pictures of him in his pajamas. In 1988 he was sentenced to 70 years in prison and died four years later of a stroke.
6. Al Capone ($ 100 million per year)
Bill Gates of the underworld in his time. Capone supplies America with a flow of illegal alcohol in the 20s and 30s and was untouchable in Chicago. His iron grip over his city provide a stable income.
Although no precise estimates, in 1929 his criminal activities may have brought him more than $ 100 million per year, which is more than $ 1.3 billion in today’s money. Legendary gangster even found the time to be philanthropist and public figure. Until they condemn him for tax evasion in the amount of 32,488 dollars. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison and died of syphilis on 25 January 1947 at 48 years.
5. Joaquin Loera ($ 1 billion)
Mexican Joaquin Loera is much less known compared to drug lords such as Pablo Escobar, but that does not make him less influential. Quite the opposite. Loera, who spent most of his money selling drugs from Mexico, has long eluded the authorities and before his capture he was the most powerful drug kingpin in the world.
In 1993 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mexico for murder and drug dealing. After bribing guards in 2001, he escaped from prison with maximum security. US authorities announced a reward of $ 5 million for information leading to his capture, and the Mexican government added another $ 2 million. Loera was arrested again on 22 February 2014 in Mexico, where he could be sentenced to 40 years in prison.
4. Carlos Lehder ($ 2.7 billion)
Carlos Lehder is a founding member of the cartel Medellin, a group of drug lords who were responsible for passing the drug for $ 60 million a day. Described as a megalomaniac, this criminal throwing crazy money for transporting valuable cocaine and even bought a private jet and would like to become a Bahamian island in the base of his operation to import drugs into the United States.
Finally was captured and sentenced to life imprisonment without the right of appeal plus 135 years, although later his sentence was reduced to 55 years.
3. Susumu Ishii ($ 4 billion)
Godfather of the Yakuza was suicide torpedo during World War II. Once you managed to survive, however, he stands as a gangster in the band Inagawa-kai. Earns his $ 4 billion primarily through loans, bank transactions and real estate fraud. Even in 1989 hired Prescott Bush, the brother of George Bush as a counselor of his group, even though Bush denies knowing about criminal activities of their customers. Isiy became known as “the richest gangster in the world” and everything he touches, brought him millions. After the great economic collapse in Japan in the late 80s, however, he lost most of his investment and retired. The gangster was so popular that in 1991, his funeral attended by over 6,000 people.
2. Amado Carrillo Fuentes ($ 25 billion)
Cocaine baron Amado Fuentes was like a villain out of a James Bond film. Drove huge drug mafia in Mexico, has a fleet of 727 aircraft (for which was called the Lord of heaven) and even have plastic surgery to change his look. US authorities describe him as one of the most powerful criminals of his era. After US and Mexican authorities tighten noose around Carrillo, he undergoes plastic surgery and liposuction of the abdomen, to escape them. During the nine-hour operation, however, the boss died of complications caused by anesthesia or corrupted respirator. According to some theories may have been murdered.
1. Pablo Escobar ($ 30 billion)
Born in the Colombian village without electricity, Pablo Escobar was able to rise to one of the richest and most influential people in the world. At the height of his criminal career he passed 15 tons of cocaine every day, providing reliable supplies, as offered to the authorities “silver or lead” – bullets or bribes. In 1989, Forbes magazine estimated that Escobar is the seventh richest man in the world with about $ 30 billion. In the late 80s, he controlled 80% of the global cocaine market. Fight other Colombian cartels to stay in business made Colombia the capital of murders with 27,100 murders in 1992. Killings continued to grow after Escobar put a bounty on each policeman killed.
In 1992, US Special Forces form a group of highly qualified professionals trained and advise special Colombian police unit how to hunt and capture Escobar. Thus began the war against the biggest drug kingpin in the world, which killed more than 300 of his closest relatives and people, and most of his property was destroyed. The war ended on 2 December 1993, when the Colombian authorities able to find Escobar in Medellin. Along with his bodyguard, he began a shootout with police and tried to escape, but both were shot.
