These Are the Wealthiest Criminals in History
I don't want to state the obvious, but who says crime doesn't pay? Of course, it shouldn't be that way, but somehow it always seems to be.
I was actually kind of shocked at the money made by these famous criminals that MSN researched. Pretty disturbing, but here are ten of the top twenty.
- Pablo Escobar - the head of the Colombian Medellin drug cartel was the 7th richest person in the world until his death in 1993. Worth $30 billion
- Al Capone - this 20's and 30's American gangster made his dough from bootleg liquor and contraband. Worth $100 million
- Frank Lucas - famously portrayed by Denzel Washington in the film 'American Gangster', he reportedly earned a million dollars a day dealing heroin. Worth $52 million
- Amado Carillo Fuentes - the head of the Juarez drug cartel in the 90's, he died during a cosmetic surgery procedure trying to change his looks. Worth $52 billion
- Bernard Madoff - the hated Ponzi Scheme financier was sentenced to 150 years in jail for stealing $60 billion from his clients. Worth $820 million
- Leona Helmsley - known as 'the Queen of Mean', her real estate empire crashed when she went to jail in 1992. Worth $2 billion
- Dennis Kozlowski - the crooked former head of TYCO, who is in jail for embezzlement, was famous for his $6,000 shower curtains and $2 million dollar birthday parties for family members. Worth $600 million
- El Chapo - Joaquín Guzmán Loera, former head of the Sinaloa cartel, and one of the biggest drug traffickers of all time. Worth $1 billion
- Lucky Luciano - made his fortune through bootleg alcohol, prostitution, and heroin trafficking. Also a notorious Mafia boss in the 20's and 30's. Worth $105 million
- Kenneth Lay - former head of Enron Brokerage Firm in Houston, he bilked investors out of millions, and caused the firm to go into bankruptcy. In 2001 alone, he made $90 million. In one year.