There is a long list of criminals who have become famous in history. Some crimes, such as counterfeiting and murder, are so serious that the perpetrator may be sent to prison for life. Others may be put on trial but then set free by an acquittal or after serving less time than the law has prescribed. Many criminals become famous due to their activities in popular culture and media such as television and film. Celebrities can also be imprisoned for criminal activity such as drug offenses and tax evasion which would not usually result in much jail time if convicted, but do when it is a celebrity defendant.
Top 10 Most famous and brutal Career Criminals in History
Today we’re listing our top picks for the top 10 real-life career criminals.
For the purpose of this article, we’ll look at the most attractive violent, disturbed, and brutal individuals ever to earn an income by doing things that are against the law and here we recommend you visit the website attorneyatlawkenya.com to read about legal articles to better understand and protect your legal rights. You can find a lot of law information on this site. So, check them out.
#10: Leonid Minin
1947 –
Born within Ukraine, Leonid Minin made his name within the criminal underworld in the arms trade selling dangerous weapons to dangerous individuals. Some of his most famous clients were Charles Taylor, the controversial former president of Liberia as well as a variety of revolutionary groups from West Africa. Minin’s business was fueling the flames of war and terrorism, he was also fueling himself with alcohol, drugs, and the ladies at night. Mini was found in the group of all three things, along with about half one million dollars worth of blood diamonds, after Minin was taken into custody in Italy in the year 2000.
#9: Charles Ponzi
1882 – 1949
It’s not always necessary to have guns to steal people blind. In a disguise of a businessman, Charles Ponzi swindled millions of dollars from his “investors” with a plan that consisted of redeeming postal response coupons issued by other nations to postal stamps from the United States, which could then be sold off to earn profits. If it sounds too appealing for it to be real, it’s because it was. In fact, the only one who made money from the business plan was Ponzi himself, who ended with the majority of the proceeds. Ponzi was an early pioneer among white-collar criminals and his legacy lives in the present day, as it is currently referred to as a “Ponzi scheme.”
#8: Jesse James
1847 – 1882
The most famous character of the American Old West, Jesse James was also known as a notorious train robber and he, along with other members of the James-Younger gang was not afraid of killing anyone who tried to stop them. Through their entire career, James and his gang were believed to have taken around $200,000 but were nonetheless admired in the state they were from, Missouri in large part due to their loyalty to their support for the Confederacy in their time in the American Civil War. James his status as an iconic folk hero was confirmed when fellow group members Robert Ford shot him in the back. The town was probably not big enough to accommodate both of them.
#7: Amado Carrillo Fuentes
1956 – 1997
There was no way to bring down the “Lord of the Skies.” Amado Carrillo Fuentes was the Mexican leader of the Juarez Cartel, a position which he gained by killing the previous boss of the group Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. Fuentes was often referred to for his role as “El Senor de Los Cielos” due to the massive fleet of aircraft he employed to transport cocaine throughout the globe. Fuentes was also among the richest criminals of all time with an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion U.S. dollars. Fuentes passed away in 1997 of complications from the cosmetic surgery he had to conceal himself from authorities.
#6: James “Whitey” Bulger
1929 –
You’ll need to be extremely clever to avoid authorities for the duration of this Southie. In Boston, James Bulger quickly became famous as a young ne’er do well who was known for taking money and getting involved in fights. The nickname was “Whitey” by the local police due to his light blonde hair. Bulger later made his way up to the top of the criminal underworld, becoming the head of Boston’s “Winter Hill Gang,” in charge of criminal acts ranging from extortion and arms trafficking. When 1994 came around, Bulger was able to hide and was not found until 2011, when he was at the ripe age of at least 81.
#5: Jean-Bernard Lasnaud
1942 –
Sometimes, the most dangerous criminals could be hidden in plain sight. Originating from France, Jean-Bernard Lasnaud was wanted in various European countries in the 1990s and 1980s due to his involvement in arms trafficking that broke export embargos. Lasnaud fled to avoid arrest but later resurfaced in Florida in 2002, where he shrewdly continued to run his illegal business from his luxurious apartment. Land even had his own website that was accessible to the public, and where anyone could purchase a fighter aircraft or machine gun as that they had cash and “proper documents.” After his disappearance in 2002, Lasnaud was later arrested in Switzerland in the same year.
#4: Meyer Harris ‘Mickey’ Cohen
1913 – 1976
You don’t need to be in a film to be a Hollywood celebrity. Ask Mickey Cohen, one of the most famous mob bosses Los Angeles has ever seen. A rough-edged gangster who was a muscle of mafia bosses in Prohibition, Cohen worked his climb up the ladder of the mafia until his place was at the highest level. Always a sharp-dressed, Cohen was as good publicist as a gangster. He knew how to manipulate the media and put the most sinister actions positive spin. So it’s not surprising, then it was that Cohen was only detained for tax evasion while he was accused of much more serious crime.
#3: John Dillinger
1903 – 1934
Another bad guy who enjoyed excellent publicity. John Dillinger was a Depression-era bank robber whose love of violating the law was amplified by his love for the spotlight. Dillinger was a fan of performing the role of Robin Hood, stealing from the wealthy banks and distributing his riches back to people. While these claims remain being debated, Dillinger was painted as the kind of folk hero, a picture that was only enhanced by his many courageous escapes from prison. When Dillinger was shot and killed at a movie theatre in 1934, a surprising number of people seemed to be mourning for the man who was dubbed “Public Enemy No. 1.”
#2: Pablo Escobar
1949 – 1993
Previously, the primary supplier of Colombia’s other addiction drug, Pablo Escobar wore many roles during his time within the country-based Medellin Cartel, which included the role of a drug lord as well as a terrorist. Escobar’s huge drug empire enabled him to be not just an elite individual in his home country and also one of the richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine. Escobar was able to hold his wealth due to his ingenuity and pragmatism and he was never afraid to take advantage of, bribe, or even bomb anyone who was within his path. The violent man came to the end of his life in 1993 when he was shot in a rooftop chase.
1. Al Capone
1899 – 1947
He was the one who introduced the term “organized” in organized crime. In the Prohibition period, Al Capone seized the opportunity to generate a plethora of money from the illicit liquor industry. Capone’s brutal methods to expand his bootlegging business throughout his entire United States – including the bloody “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre” were generally irresistible because of the unsurprising fact that people love drinking alcohol. Capone was also something of a star and was also famous for donating his illicit profits to charitable causes. It’s a shame he didn’t give a portion of his wealth towards the Federal government, however when he was taken behind bars for tax evasion in 1932.
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