Pablo Emilio Escobar: $30 billion
In the ‘80s, the head of the Medellín cartel was the 7th richest man in the world. Drug trafficking certainly paid off for this Colombian until he was shot in 1993.
Al Capone: $100 million
This notorious American gangster made his fortune in bootleg alcohol and contraband goods during the prohibition era of the 1920s. Arrested in 1932, Capone served 11 years in Alcatraz.
Frank Lucas: $52 million
From the end of the ‘60s until the middle of the ‘70s, this New York gangster earned up to $1 million per day dealing heroin. During the Vietnam War, Lucas colluded with contacts in the US army to smuggle drugs inside the coffins of soldiers killed in combat.
Amado Carillo Fuentes: $25 billion
In the ‘90s, “el Señor de los cielos” (“The Lord of the Skies”) trafficked tons of drugs from Colombia and Mexico to the USA. The head of the Juárez cartel came, however, to a sticky end, dying during a cosmetic surgery procedure in an attempt to change his appearance.
Bernard Madoff: $820 million
This American swindler is notorious for cheating thousands of investors through a Ponzi scheme. He’ll have plenty of time to reflect on the consequences of his actions, however. In 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison for extorting $60 billion from his clients.
Viktor Bout: around $6 billion
Nicknamed “The Merchant of Death”, the world’s biggest arms dealer is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in the USA. This ex-officer in the Soviet Air Forces sold arms in all four corners of the world after the fall of the Berlin wall.
Allen Stanford: almost $2 billion
In 2012, this American billionaire was found guilty of a $7-billion fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
Leona Helmsley: $2 billion
Leona Helmsley, a.k.a. “The Queen of Mean”, built a property empire with her husband, the real-estate magnate Harry Helmsley. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison for tax evasion in 1992.
Dennis Kozlowski: $600 million
The ex-CEO of the industrial conglomerate Tyco received a 25-year prison sentence for embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars out of the company between 1999 and 2001. He used the money to finance his lavish lifestyle, buying things like luxury apartments in New York and yachts.
Dawood Ibrahim: fortune estimated to be 10 times greater than Osama bin Laden’s
Currently wanted by Interpol, this notorious Indian criminal may well be laying low in a luxury bunker in Karachi, Pakistan according to media sources. He controls 75% of the world’s heroin trafficking, but has various other business interests including diamonds, gold and real estate.
Nicky Barnes: $105 million
This former New York drug baron, known as “Mr. Untouchable”, controlled the heroin trade in Harlem for many years through corrupting the police. His nickname offended US president Jimmy Carter so much that he personally intervened to ensure that Barnes was prosecuted and imprisoned. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but had his sentence reduced in 1998.
