wealthiest mobsters

In your oppinion who is or was the wealtiest mobster and state why.

hum good question ronnie, IMO I'm thinking a candidate might be Paul Castellano, he was a shrewd businessman, owned many legit business interests and obviously many illegal one's. he had a reputation as being greedy too so he was taken huge kick-ups from his underlings, I bet with the power of 20+ Capo's he was taking in ridiculous amounts every week. He flashed his wealth with that "White House" he built on Staten Island.
Someone else to consider would be Gambino though he didn't flash it around.

My thoughts too. Also remember a millionaire back in the 70's and 80's era a million back then is probably equal to four million these days. Just my oppinion though. Bonanno, Profaci, Luchese and Gambino were all very wealthy but what about rich soldiers. I bet truth be know some soldiers had more money than their capo.

Although truth be know probably more broksters(as Greg Depalma would say)than wealthy ones........

Yeah Roy DeMeo as a soldier was bringing in a TON of money for Gaggi and Paul, if he wasn't so loose he probably would of become a captain. Back in the day you had soldiers who had immense power, like Frankie Carbo who controlled the whole sport of boxing practically!

They say he was making 250,000.00 a week or month or so (Demeo)

Dont forget Tony Accardo, he was a very wealthy man when he died.

yes he was

Yeah I can imagine some of the Chicago guys would be up there also, I don't know enough though about the Outfit to comment on how much they made.

Massino had what 10 or 13 million worth of assets. I read some where that Luchese or Profaci's dining room table appraised at 40,000.00 dollars when he died. I just can not remember which one. The Genevese's are said to be the strongest but aren't the Luchese said to be the wealthiest.

Gaspipe Casso that guy was a ridiculous earner

where did you read that about the lucchese's?

I could be wrong I seem to remember from mobsters on bio, or a doc, maybe it was Manhatten mob rampage. I seem to remember them saying the Luchese's were one of the wealthiest maybe they were refering to the whole country as in I guess any of the five Newyork families would be the wealthiest.

I do know the Luchese's were raking it in from the garmet center. Do you think they were kicking any of thisw up to Corallo or do you think it was over for him when he appointed them as the new admin.

Tony Ducks was a rich guy to when he died, i bet that the Chin was loaded to. Well Massino did have to give up everything.

It'd be nice to see the gangsters' income tax returns, no? Neil Dellacroce declared $10,000 of "legitimate" income on his tax return. That became the basis of the Feds prosecuting him for tax evasion because he lost $100k in Puerto Rican casino. Cost him 5 years in the can.

I'd guess Gambino was the wealthiest, considering the size, strength and spread of his family at its peak, and all the years he stayed at the helm. But the Feds actually documented that Capone brought in $115 million in 1929 (probably worth 10-15x that amount today).

I'm guessing you mean his entire gang.

I remember reading that Capone himself didn't have a set cut of his organization's profits for income but just took what he needed.

Paul Vario was turning over about 25K a day in his prime
Alot of money in the 50's and 60's.
DeMeo was stinking rich for a guy who was only a soldier.

Gambino was loaded but didnt flaunt it as someone said.
Castellano would be a good contender because he came from a rich family and had numerous business intrests on both sides of the law.

Vario died in jail after Henry Hill turned on him.
DeMeo was found in his car trunk in the middle of January
Castellano died on the street
All that money didnt do them no good in the end did it?

When one of those guys dies how much money do you think the mob lets his real family keep.

Castellano has to be up there with his house on Todt Hill alone. Mike Franzese was making a ton of money from his gas operation. even demeo who was only a soldier has a a lot of money from his opersations

the mob dont let the fam keep anything, the guy had to have looked out for his own family while he was alive otherwise the family is screwed once he dies

that was prob more true back in the old days but there are tons of examples of guys flipping once they see the family fails to help out their blood family with cash or once they are whacked/dead the family goes and takes all their rackets/cash

look at what happened to bill cutolo's family once allie boy had him whacked out jackie deross the new underboss went to cutolo's house like three days after the murder looking for money that cutolo allegedly had stashed in his house, cutolo's wife remembered how bill used to say not to give the family shit so she didnt tell jackie where the cash was

I wonder how the Castellano boys got to keep the concrete business and meat business. Paul also owned alot of butcher shops. The family must have bought them from the mob or paying tribute.

What about the present day mob?
Who's the richest?

Soon after the death of "Tommy Ryan" and Tony ended up a very powerful boss. He was the consigliege under Funzi Tieri and ran the Harlem Rackets that was said to have earned 50 million anually. "Fat Tony" was also said to have been the richest and most powerful gangster in the U.S. He was in power during most of the 70's and was finally upended by the authorities in 1987 during the "Commission Trials". He died in prison on July 29, 1992. I found this at fortunecity.com

Anthony Salerno 1911 - 1992 600 Million USD



Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno was a member of the American Cosa Nostra and the front boss of the Genovese crime family. He was born and raised in East Harlem, New York where he worked one´s way up to the top of New York’s mafia as a basher and shylock. In November 1984 the Chicago mob sent a messenger to ask Fat Tony to lay off in Vegas. The FBI had tapped Tony’s club where the meet was and that was the beginning of the end. Had Tony gone to meet with the Chicago boys in one of the Chicago Hotels maybe things would have ended differently. In 1986 he was sentenced to 100 years prison by the “Mafia Commission Trial” where he died in 1992.
this is from forbes magazine. I guess fat tony is one of the richest and that was in th 70's and 80's would be probably a billion in todays money

5.Meyer Lansky 1902 - 1993 400 Million USD

Meyer Lansky was born in Grodno Russia and emigrated with is family to the U.S.A in 1911, where he settled down on the East Side of Manhattan. At the age of 25 he established gambling operations in Florida and Cuba in a time long before credit card machines. Later he realised own vulnerability to tax evasion prosecution, in response he transferred illegal funds from his growing casino empire to Europe. A few years later he even bought a complete offshore bank in Switzerland.

The only problem by getting rich as criminal is that you probably won´t life very long so don´t get into mischiefs …
from forbes

when mikey scars flipped he testified that castellano's kids still paid the family while jr gotti was running things

6. Anthony “Fat Tony” Salermo



Italian Mobster “Fat Tony” Salermo made his millions running the numbers and drugs racket in East Harlem after most other Italian mobsters left the area as it became more Black and Latino in the 1960s making tens of millions of dollars. As the front man for the Genovese crime family, Salermo was named the America’s Top Gangster by Fortune Magazine in 1986 due to his wealth of more than one billion dollars and influence. In 1988 Salermo was convicted of racketeering charges and was sentenced to 70 years in prison.
newsone top 10 richest criminals

thanks Dapper I always wondered

3. Joseph Kennedy



Joseph Kennedy is the patriarch of one of America’s most powerful and prestigious families. One of his sons became President, another District Attorney and presidential candidate and another a Senator. At his peak Kennedy was one of the richest men in America but as the saying goes behind every great fortune, there is a great crime. Kennedy was already in the liquor business before prohibition but according to several books and gangsters, became a bootlegger with ties to the New York and Chicago underworlds after liquor was made illegal. After prohibition was ended Kennedy made a fortune off selling legitimate liquor as well as through Hollywood and the stock market. Kennedy was named one of the 20 richest people in America in 1954 by Fortune Magazine and had a net worth of more than $300 Million, which would be in the high billions today . It has been reported that Kennedy contacted mobster Frank Costello, who was known to brag that he was a bootlegger with Kennedy, to use another mobster, Chicago’s Sam Giancana to help his son John get elected through his ties to Chicago and the unions.
news one

Just for the record, law enforcement has always considered the Genovese family to be the wealthiest Mafia family in both New York and the nation. Even when the Gambinos surpassed them in size, the Genovese were always considered to be richer. Nevertheless, Genovese guys have often been said to be the least likely to flaunt their wealth.

What about Joe Todaro Sr? After selling 25 million odd chicken wings and pizza's, you'd think he'd be doing alright. No wonder he's been made no serious moves to be charged with over the last thirty or so years.

Who was that Colombo g--ah John S-------? He's doing alright, as a modern day example (not saying he's the richest, just he's doin' alright). Thats the thing, as "weak" as some would call the Colombo outfit, it only takes a handful or so of guys like this to put a real back bone to operations. So imagine a borgata with a bunch of guys like that.

Some of the Genovese and Lucchese guys just entrenched in waste haulage and carting and other businesses in NY would have to be up there. And there's some monster books around.

Ivy, in your own opinion, who are some of the highest present day mob earners and most profitable bookmaking crews?

I don't know if he's still active but Salvatore LoCascio made a ton of both legal and illegal money, his cramming and stock frauds have made hundreds of millions.

I would think the chin.He was in charge of the bigggest family and even before he was boss he was the most powerful capo.I wonder what he did with his money?He lived in a modest home wore a bathrobe allday and didnt travel too much in his later years.

Thats right Nicky Salvatore and the other guy made very high millions off porn credit card scam

I say Jerry Angiulo was neck-deep in the usual "business activities" commonplace in any Mafia regime: gambling, loansharking, prostitution, drug dealing and, where deemed necessary, murder. But in the early 50's he isn't a made man, so
he promised to Patriarca $ 100.000 per month, if he had made him.He became the underboss of the Patriarca crime family, managing the activities of the Boston underworld from the '50s to 1986.

Generally speaking, the Genovese family has the biggest and most profitable bookmaking and loansharking operations in the New York/New Jersey area. When you boil it all down, that and the fact they have the most labor union influence left, is what makes them the #1 family.



I don't recall Locascio's crew being involved in stock fraud. Their main two scams were the internet porn scam and phone cramming scam.



Chin was actually known for not taking a lot of money off his captains. He was already a millionaire and so didn't really need it. And you're right, he never really went anywhere. After he died, one law enforcement official was talking about what Chin got out of it. He thought it was really just the "pure power" he exercised.

THANKS IVY

I remember reading that about Gigante. That, and the fact that he lived pretty much his entire life in and around New York, never getting on a plane once or anything. I believe the prison he served at in Springfield was possibly the furthest he'd ever been from NY.

Not sure if they r made men but angelo and vincent ponte
multi multi multi millonaires

Oh yeah it was the porn scam i remember now. However was there a soldier under LoCascio who was into stock stuff? LoCascio seems a real smart guy, I bet he's done some real shady business deals!

The soldier was named Richie under loc

Richie was the master mind of the porn scam.

Yeah Richie Martino I think?

What's interesting is Locascio started a computer program business way back in 1983. And in the late 1980's, Martino got involved in the 900 number business. Both were making millions even before they pulled the internet porn and phone cramming scams.

Check out this article -

http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-02-10/news/cyber-age-goodfellas/

Yeah interesting stuff, I wonder if he really has quit the mob, sources still list him I think as Capo of a Bronx crew?

yep, on a wiretap when sal and richie went to pay their respects to gotti when he was boss after they left gotti remarked to frankie loc i think it was that 10 years from now they are going to look at the family and be very proud of these two, something to that effect

He's the last official captain of that crew as far as we know. Andy Campos was acting captain while Tore was in prison. Supposedly Locascio spends a lot of his time down at his place in Florida.

From what I understand, Tore lives in Naples, Florida pretty much full time now. That's not to say that he can't be operating a crew down there, but in my opinion it's unlikely. If the guy is smart, and by all accounts he IS smart, he's enjoying his money and living clean. God knows he does have money.

In terms of dollars PER WEEK how much do u think these guys made or are currently making in their prime?

Casso

Gotti

Gravano

Demeo

Castellano

Vinny Gorgeous

Merlino

Ligambi

Bellermo(Now)

Crea (Now)

Danny Marino

Cefalu ( now)

RG I could not have made a better list. Does anyone know or think Gotti was getting as much as Big Paul was from his Capo's

I think that he's still active. White collar...but active.

yeah...I'd say all three generations of the Todaro family are definitely living pretty well. La Nova was the No. 1 independent pizza place in the U.S. for a while . But you got to remember that a dollar in Buffalo is like a dime downstate in the NYC region. It's like Mexico up there.

I'd guess that Basciano was the biggest money maker of the most recent modern era. thats just my guess though

^^^ditto def vinny gorgeous is in the top moneymakers of recent memory

How about Tommy Gambino. His trucks and the Garmet district

Anthony(T.G.)Graziano and his strip clubs.

Graziano had some huge stock scams as well.

And Basciano? I didn't know this. How did he earn?

I guess a better question would be how didn't he earn. I think drugs were his number 1 (I forget who, but some Bonanno rat said he always knew Basciano as "Vinny Pills", not Vinny Gorgeous). He was big into dope when dope was big, then big into pot and ecstacy too. He also allegedly ran numbers in Morris Park/East Tremont, video poker, and gambling. and with gambling you can only assume he had money on the street too.

I remember reading something where Vitale said him and Massino didn't care for Basciano - thought he made money too fast and too flashy - and even would avoid him when he came down to CasaBlanca on sundays for dinner. Which makes me Massino purposely let him "play boss" so he could set him up. But that's just me.

vitale said that thing about vinny pills, and your right on point about vinny, he had tons of hispanics/dominicans dealing for him in the bx and none of them ratted him out

Inside the Bonanno crime family, gangster Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano was viewed with disdain by some of his peers as a John Gotti wanna-be and a dangerous "Mad Hatter" capable of anything, a mob turncoat testified yesterday.

Former underboss Salvatore Vitale recalled that two capos from the Bonannos' crew in Montreal had serious reservations about Basciano, 47.

"Vinny's another John Gotti, he has illusions of grandeur," Gerlando (George from Canada) Sciascia complained, according to Vitale. Vito Rizzuto, another north-of-the-border wiseguy, went as far as to say, "Tell Vinny to stay out of Canada," Vitale recalled, although he never learned the reason for the ban.

Vitale said former boss Joseph Massino wanted to keep a close eye on Basciano after learning that he had fatally shotgunned a man in the Bronx without permission from superiors.

Basciano is on trial for murdering Frank Santoro in February 2001 outside his Throgs Neck, Bronx, home because he allegedly threatened to kidnap Basciano's son.

On cross-examination, Vitale acknowledged that he had no "personal knowledge" that Basciano had killed Santoro.

The two gangsters were not close, but Vitale said he presided over Basciano's mob induction ceremony around 1990, and several years earlier they split $120,000 in winnings from an Atlantic City casino.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime...l#ixzz1XgLKRegX

Dapper,

You're right about Vinny. He did make a ton of money, but he couldn't declare most of it. Which raises an even better question than "who are the wealthiest mobsters?"

The better question is, which mobsters can show the most money?

Using Vinny as an example, he and his family lived right around the corner from me on Revere Avenue, in a nice, modest house, with a beautiful view of the Long Island Sound. But it wasn't anything that a moderately successful "working guy" couldn't have afforded. It makes you appreciate the genius of guys like Tommy Gambino all the more. He raised his kids in a Park Avenue apartment worthy of the Astors or the Vanderbilts.

Or to use a more modern example, look at Steve Crea or any of the Di Napoli brothers. These guys live large in palatial homes in Westchester (Pelham and Scarsdale respectively). They can live that way because they were prudent enough to show their money through their construction rackets. I guess Vinny could only declare so much money though "Hello Gorgeous."

But in all fairness to Vinny, it's a lot easier to funnel sizeable amounts of cash through large construction companies than through an independent beauty parlor in Throggs Neck.

that house of vinny is that the same house next to the water that he was constructing? the one where cicale was saying that vinny wanted to whack the contractor cause he messed up the house or soemthing like that, here it is:

"A young gangster was marked for death after botching work on former Bonanno boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano's waterfront mansion, a mob rat testified Tuesday.
Government witness Dominick Cicale told jurors victim Randolph Pizzolo did a good job excavating the Schurz Ave. site in the Bronx, but then bit off more than he could chew with the rest of the project: He forgot to hook up French drains in the foundation.
"Vinny was very angry, especially because one of the houses was his," Cicale said on the stand in Brooklyn Federal Court. Then bricklayers made a mess of the white brick. "It was horrible; Vinny had a fit," Cicale recalled.
There were imperfections in the foundation - a barrel sticking out of one footing and a piece of plywood in another. Finally the carpenters were ready to walk because Pizzolo wasn't paying them.
"'That's it! This kid's going!'" Basciano decreed in Nov. 2004.
"We were going to kill Randy," Cicale said, translating Basciano's order.
Cicale tried to buy Pizzolo time but said that after he disrespected the entire Bonanno crime family during a drunken tirade, there was no saving him.
Soon after, Basciano was arrested for racketeering and murder but his order remained in place with successor Michael Mancuso. Cicale put together the hit team that shot up Pizzolo in Brooklyn. He then attended a Nets game in courtside seats to give himself a televised alibi.
"I had to live with it because my first loyalty was to Vinny," Cicale said.
And this is the coded message Basciano received to let him know the job was done: "'[Mancuso] had me take care of the footings and foundations.' I knew Vinny would relate that to Randy Pizzolo," Cicale said"

http://fivefamiliesnyc.blogspot.com/2011/05/gangster-was-rubbed-out-after-botching.html

I never read that, but yeah, that's the house. If you're ever in the area, it's the last house on Revere Avenue, on the left side as you head toward Marina del Ray.

As far as whacking the contractor, God only knows. I do recall that he wanted to take down some trees for a better view of the water. The problem was, they weren't on his property, and his neighbors were opposed to the idea. I know a few people were threatened. I also know that the trees came down while the people who owned the property were on vacation, and "no one knew nuttin."

And let's be honest, that was a bully move that affected people who had absolutely nothing to do with "business." A perfect example of why these guys can't be viewed as Robin Hood.

your right it was i guess on the corner of revere and Schurz Ave according to the article and your info. I live not too far will see if i check it out one day, i wonder if the basciano's still occupy the place?

paul castellano carlo gambino or one of the wealthy bootleggers like zwillman or rothstein

This chart may shed some (outdated) light on the topic:

http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/literature/Franzese%20M-Article%20(Fortune%20-%2050%20Biggest%20Mafia%20Bosses).pdf

Hey guys, I'm trying to post a link to the 'Fortune Wealthiest Mafia Bosses' list from 1988. However, I am not able to figure out how to do it except to copy and paste the address above. But it doesnt work when I plug it in to the search/address field. Anyway, it is a cool chart. If anyone wants to read/download it, tell me how to tranfer the link. Thanks.

Take that list with a dump truck of salt. It wasn't exactly based on anything concrete. And notice how they seemed to be more concerned with including somebody from just about every family around the country.

Do you really think the person who is the wealthiest is going to let this become public knowledge, or act like Mr. G did by spending lots of money, going out to eat all the time buying expensive meals and drinks, gambling away a lot of cash, buying expensive cars, living in mansions, buying custom tailor made designer clothing only to wear it just once, etc.?

Cuckold and Content AKA The ARM

Richie Martino has to be the wealthiest active mobster.

I agree tommy the scam he had goin with tore locascio brought in billions , one scam alone brought in 700 million dollars , that's some serious Money , I read also that alphonse trucchio's crew is the most active crew in the gambino's and they bring in mega money , obviously before he was imprisoned

True, but don't forget that a lot of that money was spread around to the administration, and a shitload of it was confiscated by the government.

That being said, Richie is rich beyond his wildest dreams. He'll be home in July, and I'll be shocked if he doesn't head to Florida and sit in the sun with his compare .

Yeah you couldn't blame him , john gotti apparently had reservations about giving martino his button , how big of a mistake would that have been

Where'd you get that from, Dom?

In one of the Gotti tapes you hear him say "I like the Richies, I want guys that done more than killing," or something to that effect. And the Richie he was referring to was Richie Martino .

If anything, recognizing the smarts in Richie was one of Gotti's better moves. That's my two cents, anyway .

Im sure I read it in one of capeci's columns . It was on gangland a few years ago , I remember wot was said on the tapes also so I'm not sure how much truth was in the story