Who was/is the most wealthy gangster of them all?

Hard to know for sure, Rob, as these guys weren't the type to file income tax returns--in fact, tax evasion was the number one reason for convictions before RICO. However, some authors say the wealthiest gangster ever was Louis (Lepke) Bucholter, boss of the garment rackets and Murder Inc. in the '30's, whose income they put at $300 million per year (vs. a reputed $80 million for Al Capone in his peak year, 1927). Lepke completely controlled the furriers and other garment unions, owned several of the biggest clothing manufacturing firms, bossed the bakers' and the pocketbook makers' unions, was a partner in the movie projectionists' union, and had a toehold in the Hollywood studios. He also derived a lot of income from Murder Inc. All his money availed him naught: he was the only gang boss to die in the electric chair.

How would you ever really know...smart mem kept things well hiden. Others who didn't are dead or in jail. How much money is hidden and will never be found? Every wonder how much money is never claimed in the banks across the world?

Turnbull,

I think that 80 million dollars a year as income for AL Capone in the 1930's seems ridiculously high. In the movie The Untouchables, Al Capone is busted for failing to declare $3 million a year in income. I think that 80 million per year at that time is way too high. It would have made him much more powerfull and we all know that Capone's power didn't strech pass Chicago.

I remember reading that Capone made $105 million in one year, and for a very long time it was the highest annual income ever made by an American citizen. (Allowing for inflation, that number would be well over one billion today).

Turnbull,

What did they get Bucholter for. I assume if he got the chair, they nailed him for murder/murders??

You knowledge of real life organized crime amazes me! I'm gonna search for a "trivia question" for you and see if you know it. But I can tell, it won't be easy!!!!! I'd say you are the expert on the board!!!

At the end of 'Mobsters' the tv version of Meyer Lanskey ans Lucky Luciano et al. It gave like the little updates saying what happened to the characters and Lucky died of heart failure at 65 but Meyer Lanskey died peacefully and also either the richest or one of the richest men in America and he never served a day in jail. There is probably many rich ones after him but pound for pound allowing for inflation over the years etc he must be near the top of the list of the richest gangsters!

FH

Machiavelli: The $80 million (or $105 million that SC cites) attributed to Capone was a gross figure, and most biographers (like John Kobler) note that nearly all of it went out for payoffs to the cops, politicians, lawyers, etc. Plus, Capone was a degenerate gambler who thought nothing of betting half a mil on a single horse race. The fact that he didn't pay income tax is a combination of greed and stupidity: Kobler notes that the gov't gave him a chance to settle up and he passed it by.
Annt: Lepke Buchalter formed Murder Inc. as an enforcement arm for his rackets. Conglomerator that he was, he soon got the idea of allowing Murder Inc. to do contracted hits for others, turning it into yet another "profit center." Supposedly they did about 1k hits. As you'd expect, this volume vastly exposed their vulnerability to the cops, who put the squeeze on two top Murder Inc. killers: Abraham (Kid Twist) Reles and Allie (Tick Tock) Tannenbaum (who got his name because if Allie was after you, the clock was ticking on your life). They squealed, particularly Reles. Lepke took it on the lam for two years, during which time he had several witnesses against him killed. He finally surrendered to the Feds, thinking he'd go away for a narcotics rap. The feds turned him over to NY State, which prosecuted him for murder and sent him to the chair.
FH: Though Lansky was reputed to have been worth $300 million, his biographer, Robert Lacey, notes that the figure was erroniously stated by a journalist, Hank Greenspun, who subsequently admitted the mistake. Lacey believes Lansky was worth, at his peak, $5 million--not chopped liver, but not $300M, either. He died more or less broke, after using his last $50k for an operation on his neer-do-well son, Buddy. Lacey says the reason Lansky died peacefully at age 81 was that he was never rich enough or powerful enough to attract jealousy from other Mob bosses: "He was the accountant, not the boss."

okay Turnbull. I was just curious. But it still seems very high.

Thanks for that Turnbull,interesting.

FH

I think it would be safe to say Carlo Gambino.

-Lucky

Better not tell that to Carlo's wife....she is still looking for it all

How the did Michael Corleone became a billionaire in part 3?

MICHAEL to ARCHBISHOP GILDAY :
"We’ve sold the casinos, all businesses having to do with gambling. We have no interests, or investments, in anything illegitimate."

It was an assumption... if not the richest, I really wouldn't doubt that he's up there... I believe at one time he had full or at least partial control of 4 out of the 5 New York families...

-Lucky