The Richest Criminals From Around The World

By Molly 12 months ago

1. Hector Pagan - $1 Million

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Also known as 'junior', Hector Pagan is known to most people as Renee Graziano's ex husband on TV show 'Mob Wives'. He grew up in Brooklyn raised as a street thug. Later, he became an informant to the Bonnano Crime Family (an Italian mafia family). In March 2023, Pagan’s net worth reached $1 million.

2. "Freeway" Rick Ross - $1 Million

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Freeway Rick is an American author who released an autobiography about his life of crime. Ross is a convicted dr*g trafficker who built a large dr*g empire in the 1980s in California. It did catch up with him and he was sentenced to life in prison. However, he won an appeal shortening his sentence. His net worth is now $1 Million.

3. Frank Abagnale - $10 Million

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Coming in at a net worth of $10 Million, Abagnale is known for his former criminal activity as a check forger, confidence man and impostor. It's said that he assumed at least eight different identities throughout his criminal career. Now, he uses his skills for good, working as a consultant and lecturer for the FBI academy.

4. Nicky Barnes - $500,000

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Barnes is best known for his former position as a crime boss within New York City in the 1970s. Barnes then went onto create an American organized crime cartel, controlling a huge part of the heroin trade in Harlem. As of last year, Nicky Barnes' net worth is around $500 thousand.

5. Charles Manson - $400,000

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Charles Mason was an American singer-songwriter. He formed and lead the cult known as the Mason Family in California. This cult committed nine m*rders during 1969 over the course of two months. Manson died in 2017, but his net worth is now at $400 Thousand dollars.

6. Al Capone - £100 Million

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Best known as "Scarface", Al Capone is a famous American gangster and businessman. He co-founded and ran the organized crime syndicate Chicago Outfit. He ended up in Alcatraz prison, later dying at the age of 48, and his alleged last words were "You can get more with a kind word and a g*n than you can get with a kind word alone". His net worth is $100 million.

7. Lee D’Avanzo - $500,000

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Lee D'Avanzo is husband of 'Mob Wives' star Drita D’Avanzo and a member of the Colombo crime family. Despite the tough family he was brought up in, his uncontrollable anger still troubled his family. His net worth is approximately $500 Thousand dollars.

8. Ephren Taylor - $10 Million

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Ephren Taylor was a self proclaimed social capitalist. The reality was that he was a conman. Taylor conned more than 400 churchgoers out of their life savings, totalling around $16 million. He was sentenced to 19 years and 7 months in a federal prison. However, his net worth remains high, at approximately $10 million.

9. El Chapo Guzman - $1 Billion

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El Chapo is one of the most notorious Mexican dr*g lords, arguably the most powerful trafficker in the world. He formed the Sinaloa Cartel, which remains as Mexico's most dominant dr*g cartel in 2023. El Chapo Guzman's net worth is estimated to come in at an astonishing $1 billion.

10. George Norman - $500,000

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Norman is the chairman and CEO of the Greg Norman Company. He is also a registered s*xual predator and p**dophile. Norman received the repulsively short sentence of 2.5 years in prison after abusing a 5 year old child in their own home. His net worth remains at $500 Thousand dollars.

11. John Gotti - $30 Million

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John Gotti was the biggest leader of all time of the Gambino crime family, earning more than any other family member in history. He assumed his position as mob boss by assassinating his predecessor. Gotti’s net worth is estimated to be around $30 million.

12. John Gotti Jr. - $10 Million

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Also known as "Junior", Gotti stepped up as the mob boss of the Gambino crime family once his father, John Gotti, was sentenced to prison in 1991. He acted as an American mobster until 1999, when he too was sentenced to prison. Now, his net worth is estimated to be around $10 million.

13. Sammy Gravano - $2 Million

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Sammy Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family, is well known as the man who contributed to John Gotti's downfall. Gravano testified against a number of mobsters, including Gotti, for a crime relating to in 19 murders. Sammy Gravano’s net worth is $2 million.

14. Big Meech - $100 Million

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Demetrius Flenory, aka Big Meech, alongside his brother founded a huge dr*g trafficking organization in Detroit called “Black Mafia Family”. They continued to run one of the largest money laundering and dr*g trafficking rings until he was sentenced to prison in 2008. Big Meech’s net worth is said to be around $100 million.

15. Griselda Blanco - $2 Billion

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Griselda Blanco was a drug lord of the Colombian Medellin Cartel. She went by the nicknames of “The Black Widow” or “La Madrina”. In her lifetime, she was responsible for more than 200 m*rders. She was shot dead at age 69 in 2012. Blanco’s net worth is $2 billion.

16. Michael Franzese - $1 Million

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Michael Franzese was underboss of the Colombo crime family in New York. Franzese chose to leave his mobster days behind when he found God and became a devoted Christian. Now, a Christian author and speaker, his net worth is estimated to be around $1 million.

17. Adnan Khashoggi - $2 Billion

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Adnan Khashoggi lived a life of luxury and was known for his flashy lifestyle. Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian businessman, with businesses all around the world. In 1988, Khashoggi was arrested under accusation of concealing funds. His net worth is roughly $2 billion.

18. Carlos Lehder - $2.7 Billion

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Co-founder of the Medellin Cartel, Carlos Lehder is most known for creating a dr*g smuggling base on a private island in the Bahamas. He was captured in 1987, receiving a sentence of life plus 135 years in jail. Carlos Lehder’s net worth is approximately $2.7 billion.

19. Rayful Edmond - $50 Million

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During his reign as a dr*g lord between 1985 and 1989, it's believed Edmond was racking up a total of $2 million a week! He worked in Washington D.C and introduced crack c*caine to the capitol. It's believed that crack c*caine then contributed to the homicides in the city, earning Washington D.C the title of "m*rder" capital. Rayful Edmonds net worth is now $50 million.

20. Kenny Petty - $500,000

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Kenneth Petty is most known as husband of Nicki Minaj, having been married since October 2019. However, Petty was sentenced to home confinement in 2022 for failing to register as a s*x offender. He was convicted of first-degree attempted r*pe of a 16-year-old girl. Minaj has continued to defend her husband, who's net worth is $500 thousand.

21. Lisette Lee - $30,000

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Lisette Lee's nickname is the "pot princess of Beverly Hills" and is known as a gangster. She managed to maintain a luxurious lifestyle until her arrest for dr*g trafficking in 2010. Alongside her partner, they moved 7,000 pounds of marijuana from Los Angeles to Columbus, Ohio. Her net worth is $30 thousand.

22. Tom Petters - $50,000

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Ex-businessman Tom Petters lead a successful career as chairman and CEO of Petters Group Worldwide. This was until it was discovered that over $2 billion was stolen by his company, leading to conviction of business fraud in 2009. Petters is still incarcerated but with a net worth of $50 thousand waiting for him.

23. Scott Tucker - $100,000

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Here we have another ex businessman. Tucker founded AMG Services which was an online service for payday loans. But alongside this, he was also a loan shark and racketeer. Despite many run ins with the law, Tucker's net worth is $100 thousand.

24. Joey Buttafuuoco - $20,000

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Buttafuoco earned his riches as the owner of an American auto body shop. In 1991 he entered into an affair with a 16 year old girl, Amy Fisher, who eventually m*rdered his wife by shooting her in the face with a pistol. Buttafuoco was sentenced to prison for statutory r*pe, sodomy, and endangering the welfare of a child. His net worth remains at $20 thousand dollars.

25. Mary Kay Letourneau - $400,000

Image Source / nytimes.com
Former American school teacher Mary Kay managed to rack up a net worth of $400 thousand. In 1997, she pleaded guilty to 2 counts of second-degree r*pe of a child. She later married the victim, Vili Fualaau, who was 12 when he entered into relationship with a 34 year old Letourneau.

26. Michael Alig - $30,000

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Michael Alig worked as an artist but was most known as a club promoter. In 1996, he pleaded guilty to collaborating in the m*rder of his dr*g dealer. During a dispute over dr*g money, Alig suffocated Andre Melendez with a sweatshirt until he died. At the time of his Alig's death by alleged h*roin overdose, his net worth was $30 thousand dollars.

27. Joe Exotic - $15 Million

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Unless you were living under a rock in 2020, you'll know all about this man. As seen in "Tiger King", Joe Exotic was a former zoo operator. Exotic racked up 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted m*rder for hire for the plot to kill Baskin. His TV and zoo successes meant he was worth $10 million to $15 million in the height of his career.

28. Amado Carrillo Fuentes - $25 Billion

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Also known as Lord of the Skies, Fuentes comes in as one of the richest criminals known. His riches came from owning private jet airlines, but also from leading dr*g cartel 'Mexican Juarez Cartel’. The Mexican dr*g lord has a huge net worth of $25 Billion!

29. Pablo Escobar - $25 Billion

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Again, if you haven't heard of Pablo Escobar, where have you been? This notorious dr*g lord left behind the huge sum of $25 Billion when he was shot by Colombian police in 1993. In case you don't know, he was founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel and a narcoterrorist.

30. Leona Helmsley. -$8 Billion

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Astonishingly, one of the world's richest criminals, coming in at a net worth of $8 billion, is a woman. Leona Helmsley, also known as "Queen of Mean", was an American business woman. She earned her title due to her cruel way of exercising her power and iron-fisted management style as a real estate mogul. She was convicted of federal income tax evasion along with other crimes in 1989.

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