http://www.worldfinancialblog.com/entertainment/the-5-richest-criminals-of-all-the-time/


1. Pablo Emilio Escobar 1949 – 1993 9 Billion USD

Pablo Escobar was definitely the greatest and richest criminal the world hasA wanted poster of Pablo Escobar ever seen. In 1989 Forbes listed him as the seventh richest man in the world with an estimated net value of 9 Billion USD.Escobar was born in Colombia where from he estimated a drug cartel of incredible proportions. He had submarines, planes, and employed nearly every inhabitant of his hometown Medellin. On top of his career he even tried to become the president of Colombia, raged a court with tanks and build his own personal jail. All the same Palbo Escobar was shot in 1993 by an American special force.

2. Carlos Lehder 1950 – ? 2.7 Billion USD

According to my investigations the second place goes to Carlos Lehder. He worked together with Pablo Escobar and was one of the co-founders of the Medellin Cartel. His estimated net value was taxed on 2.7 Billion USD.

3. Susumu Ishii 1924 – 1991 1.5 Billion USD

Susumu Ishii was born in Tokyo in 1924. one of the heads of the Ingawa-Kai , Japan´s second largest “yakuza” underworld syndicate. Also he was the 5th soho of the Yokosusa-ikka. His estimated net value amounted to 1.5 Billion USD, which he earned through various loans, banking deals, and real estate scams. But as the Japanese economic bubble burst, Ishii was no longer “the world’s richest gangster”. His assets a his health declined rapidly, and diet one year later.

4.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.

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

Chapo Guzman of the Sinaloa cartel is estimated to be worth about $1 billion. So it's unlikely that Escobar alone was worth so much more.

Excuse me , I am new to the forum so I wouldn't know of the previous discussions that covered this topic. I am still curious as to what would be a good estimate of the richest of the American mafia Dons $1billion ,$500 million,$200?Which family during in which era , immersed themselves in stylish opulence and spread the wealth amongst crews?
If they have they have discussed this please merge or posts the links.

Why do you say thata, Ivy? Wasn't it easier making drug money before? Less surveillance, less snitches I'd assume. As with the mafia, it was easier doing things in the past. I agree that Salerno's figures are inflated though. I'd say his worth would be in the region of $25 million-40 million.

My personal opinion, unless I'm overlooking something, I don't think any American mafioso ever topped $100 million.

The Genovese family, besides being the wealthiest, have been said to allow it's members to keep a relatively larger share of their money. However, they also are said to be the least likely to flash their money around.



The Cali cartel - which existed at the same time - was just as big as Escobar's Medellin organization, not to mention more sophisticated and better run, and they didn't have anyone worth $9 billion.

Is the reason some of the Colombian and Mexican drug lords are richer than other Italian or Italian-American Mafia bosses because they take a bigger cut of the profits? Or is it because the money is more spread out fairly among mafiosi? Or do the Cartels just make more money than the Mafia? As far as I know, Italian organized crime was reportedly making over 100 billion a year as a whole, much larger than say the reported income of the Mexican cartels, however like Ivy and others mentioned, estimating is hard and almost non accurate.

There are plenty of mob guys from smaller families who have a boatload of money...less competition from other families and demand a bigger share of the profits because they are the only game in town. John Scalish from Cleveland was said to be worth upwards of $200 million when he died. Scalish had the Vegas skim money coming in every month. Russell Bufalino had it all to himself up in Scranton, no kids, didn't live an extravagant lifestyle. Gabriel Mannarino and John LaRocca from Pittsburgh were both said to be worth over $150 million when they died, most of the money coming from the Sans Souci Cuban Casino back in the 1950's and a lot of gun running to Cuban Nationals during the late 1950's and early 1960's. I personally think it is hard to determine the net worth of a mob figure, unless they had a legitimate business portfolio. Paul Castellano was extremely wealthy, had many legitimate corporations, and came from money back in the old country.

I would imagine Capone. He had a spell there when he was the exclusive liquor supplier to Chicago and by proxy had a hand, likely, in the entire Midwest. I don't have the numbers at hand but he was at the time overseeing a veritable army.