The 16 Most Richest Criminals In The World (Update: November 2022)

Do you know who is the richest criminals in the world?

Committing crimes is something we all should avoid but have this question ever struck your head ‘ how much can a criminal even earn?’.

It’s not impossible to wonder at what cost a person can be willing to even risk their lives, the answer is thousands and even millions of dollars.

But as we all know that greed never pays off well so every listed criminal had to succumb to the police.

Now let’s know about all the richest criminals in the world, and their net worth.

A-List of Top 16 Richest Criminals In The World

Not every criminal is broke and some can even take part among the richest criminals in the world.

16. Hector “Junior” Pagan ($1 million)

At number 16 we have Hector “Junior” Pagan, who is a former associate of the Bonnano Crime Family, and later become an informant.

He became involved with small-time crime and went to jail for a few years.

He is mainly for being the ex-husband of Renee Graziano who is the star of ‘Mob Wives. His net worth is around 1 million dollars, making him one of the richest criminals in the world.

15. Freeway Rick Ross ($1 million)

Freeway Rick Ross is an American convicted drug trafficker and author born in 1960 in Tyler, Texas. He is best known for his drug empire established in California in the year the 1980s.

Rick was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, though the sentence was shortened on appeal and he was released in 2009. Freeway Rick Ross’ net worth is around 1 million dollars.

14. Sammy Gravano ($2 million)

Sammy Gravano is an American former mobster born in 1945 in New York City, the U.S. he is popularly known for being the man who helped to bring down John Gotti and became the underboss of the Gambino crime family.

Sammy Gravano confessed to being involved in 19 murders when being testified against Gotti and other mobsters in a deal. Sammy Gravano’s net worth is around 2 million dollars, making him 13^th on our list of richest criminals in the world.

13. John Gotti Jr ($10 million)

John Gotti Jr. is also popularly known as “Junior” Gotti born in 1964 in the Queens borough of New York City. He is an American mobster and was the main head of the Gambino crime family from 1992 to 1999.

And in the year between 2004 and 2009 Gotti was a defendant in four racketeering trials which all ended in mistrials.

John Gotti Jr’s net worth is estimated to be 10 million dollars, making him one of the richest criminals in the world.

12. Frank Abagnale ($10 million)

Frank Abagnale is an American security consultant born in 1948 in Bronxville, New York.

He is most famous for being a former check forgery, later he became one of the most famous imposters, claiming to have more than 8 different identities in the process.

He is currently working as a consultant and lecturer for the FBI academy. And with a net worth of 10 million dollars, making him the 12^th richest criminal in the world.

11. Ephren Taylor ($16 million)

Ephren Taylor is an American businessman born in 1982 in Blackwater, Mississippi. He is popularly known for being the inventor of a video game that helps him be a millionaire in his 20s.

He uses to give speeches and lectures on investment and invited people to invest large amounts in his real estate by doing this he collected over $16 million by tricking more than 400 people and then disappeared.

Taylor later was caught and was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in federal prison, before that he had a net worth of 10 million dollars making him the 11^th richest criminal in the world.

10. John Gotti ($30 million)

John Gotti was an Italian-American mobster and crime boss born in 1940 in New York City. He became the boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City.

He ordered and participated to conduct the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in December 1985, and took over it shortly, thus becoming the most powerful crime boss in America.

John Gotti also became one of the biggest earners in the history of a crime family, with a net worth of over 30 million dollars making him the 10^th richest criminal in the world.

9. Rayful Edmond ($50 million)

Rayful Edmond is an American drug trafficker born in 1964 in Washington, D.C., the U.S. he was a drug lord in the year 1980 also he is popularly believed to be responsible for the introduction of crack cocaine to Washington, D.C.

Because of the crime rates in Washington, D.C. was sky rocketing and was known as the “murder” capital of the U.S.

He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989 he continued to deal drugs while in prison later became a government informant.

He had a net worth is 50 million dollars making him one of the richest criminals in the world.

8. Big Meech ($100 million)

Big Meech is an American convicted drug dealer, with “Black Mafia Family” is a drug trafficking organization formed in Detroit.

Big Meech was born in 1968 in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in the year 1980s by the brother Terry Flenory and Demetrius, the organization provides thousands of kilograms of cocaine, in several US cities.

The organization earned about $270 million in profits and employed more than 500 people.

And Big Meech’s net worth is estimated to be 100 million dollars, making him one of the richest criminals in the world.

7. Al Capone ($100 million)

Al Capone was an American gangster born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. He is also popularly known by his nickname “Scarface”.

He was a very successful businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era and enjoyed a seven-year reign as crime boss until he went to prison for tax evasion in 1932.

Al Capone is the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit, before that he was a Five Points Gang member and worked as a bouncer for organized crime premises.

Al Capone’s net worth is 100 million dollars. Al Capone is one of the most popular and the richest criminal in the world.

6. El Chapo Guzman ($1 billion)

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is a Mexican drug kingpin born in 1957 in, Badiraguato, Mexico.

He formed the Sinaloa Cartel, the criminal organization named the Mexican Pacific coast state of Sinaloa where it was formed, he uses to manage drug trafficking between Mexico and the U.S. on an extremely large scale.

He became Mexico’s drug lord in 2003 and was considered the most powerful and largest smuggler of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, and marijuana between Colombia and the United States.

At his peak, he had a net worth of 1 billion dollars making him one of the few richest criminals in the world.

5. Griselda Blanco ($2 billion)

Griselda Blanco is also known as “La Madrina” and “The Black Widow”, born in 1943, in Cartagena, Colombia.

She was a Colombian drug lord of the Medellin Cartel and had a very big role in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade in the year the 1950s.

Moreover, while transporting drugs from Colombia to New York, she is also responsible for all 200 murders.

She died in the year 2012 at the age of 69 after being shot.

Griselda Blanco had a net worth of 2 billion dollars at her peak trafficking period and was considered one of the richest criminals in the world.

4. Adnan Khashoggi ($4 billion)

Adnan Khashoggi was a very big name in Saudi Arabia’s business world, born in 1935 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

He was well known for his extravagant lifestyle and business deals; During the Iran-Contra affair, Adnan Khashoggi was implicated as a medium to exchange arms for hostages.

He had a net worth of 2 billion dollars making him one of the richest criminals in the world, but being an arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi in the early 1980s his net worth peaked at 4 billion dollars, giving him the nickname of “Great Gatsby” of the Middle East.

3. Carlos Lehder ($2.7 billion)

Carlos Lehder is a German-Colombian drug dealer, who is born in 1949 in Armenia, Columbia.

He is the co-founder of the Medellin Cartel and is also popularly known as the former Colombian drug lord, for running an extensive cocaine distribution network around his private island in the Bahamas.

But for now, he is currently imprisoned in the U.S. He was one of the richest drug dealers in history, with a net worth of over 2.7 billion dollars.

2. Leona Helmsley ($8 billion)

Leona Helmsley is an American businesswoman, who was born in 1920 in New York. She got the nickname “Queen of Mean” because of her reputation for bitter behavior toward her employees and as well as her family members.

Leona Helmsley was investigated and found out that she is envisioning the federal income tax and the number of other crimes in the late 80s.

She was received sentenced to a 16-year in prison but later on, it is reduced by only 19 months of prison with two months of house arrest.

Her net worth is 8 billion dollars, making her the 2^nd richest criminal in the world.

1. Pablo Escobar ($30 billion)

When it comes to the world’s wealthiest criminal in history, we can’t miss Pablo Escobar born in Rionegro, Colombia in 1949.

He was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorism who was the founder and the leader of the Medellin Cartel.

Later in the 1980s, the Medellin Cartel was responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine that came to the United States.

He was also responsible for killing about 4,000 people, including an estimated 200 judges and 1,000 police, journalists, and government officials.

His net worth was estimated at around 30 billion dollars by the time of his death in 1993.

Conclusion of Richest Criminals In The World

Here are the top 16 Richest Criminals In The World!

From drug dealers to mobsters the list is filled with criminals that can even afford to keep their army, island, and whatnot.

This list will make you believe that Hollywood movies and many other novels didn’t exaggerate the life of mafias at all. One day they can be in a different country and the next day some other.

No doubt money played a huge role to keep them un arrested for a long time.

But after keeping this glamorous lifestyle of criminals aside we cannot deny how risky their life was and nothing can save a criminal from meeting his fate.

Topic Summary

Here Are A Quick List Of The Top 16 Richest Criminals In The World

1. Pablo Escobar
2. Leona Helmsley
3. Carlos Lehder
4. Adnan Khashoggi
5. Griselda Blanco
6. El Chapo Guzman
7. Al Capone
8. Big Meech
9. Rayful Edmond
10. John Gotti
11. Ephren Taylor
12. Frank Abagnale
13. John Gotti Jr
14. Sammy Gravano
15. Freeway Rick Ross
16. Hector “Junior” Pagan

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