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