These Are 10 Most Powerful Gangsters Ever

they were the ultimate villains they lived life king-size and ruled kingdoms with iron fisted methods they made more money than is imaginable and spent it on decadent luxuries and glittering parties their cruelty is legendary everyone from judges policemen to senators and presidents were in their pockets they knew that real power lay with them and were not afraid to use it their lives are the stuff movies are made of in this video we've listed ten of the most powerful gangsters of all time here we go number ten Frank Lucas Frank Lucas capitalized off the heroin trade in the 1960's and 1970's by using an East Asian Connection during the Vietnam War cutting off the Italian mafia who controlled the trade in his Harlem at the time Lucas originally from North Carolina employed members of his family to take over the heroin trade in New York and New Jersey Lucas would claim to have sold 1 million dollars worth of heroin a day in his prime and claimed to have a net worth of over 52 million dollars on top of a large supply of liquid assets namely heroin number 9 Griselda Blanco Rosella Blanco also known as the Black Widow or the cocaine queen of Miami was a drug lord for the Colombian medellín cartel she controlled the cocaine trade through violence and intimidation making 80 million dollars a month during the 1970s and 80s reports claimed that at her peak Rahzel de Blanco had more than half a billion dollars after serving 10 years in jail on drug charges Blanco would return to her native Colombia number 8 Anthony Salerno Italian mobster Fat Tony Salerno made his millions running the numbers and drugs racket in East Harlem and after most other Italian monsters left the area as it became more black and Latino in the 1960s making tens of millions of dollars as the frontman for the Genovese crime family Salerno was named the America's top gangster by Fortune magazine in 1986 due to his wealth of more than 1 billion dollars and influence in 1988 Salerno was convicted of racketeering charges and was sentenced to 70 years in prison number 7 carlos lehder later was one of the founders of the Colombian medellín cartel while in prison later met Boston born drug trafficker George Jung who helped him import and distribute cocaine from his native Colombia into the United States accumulating 2.7 billion dollars cocaine made later so rich that he owned his own Island of the Bahamas and offered to pay off Colombia's debt later would eventually be extradited to the United States and sentenced to life in prison which was reduced after he agreed to testify against former Panamanian president Manuel Noriega in 1992 number 6 Meyer Lansky Lansky was a Jewish immigrant from Poland would make a fortune of gambling both legal and illegal Lansky would join notorious gangsters Charles Lucky Luciano and Ben Bugsy Siegel to run a gang that will be known as Murder Inc Lansky would have later turned to focus on gambling setting up operations in Florida Las Vegas and Cuba before the Cuban Revolution in 1982 Forbes would name him as one of the 400 richest people in America Lansky would be indicted for tax evasion and fled to Israel he would later return to the u.s. to face charges and was acquitted in 1974 Lansky would die a free man in Miami at age 83 number five Joseph Kennedy Joseph Kennedy is the patriarch of one of America's most powerful and prestigious families one of his sons became president another district attorney and presidential candidates and another a senator at his peak Kennedy was one of the richest men in America but as the saying goes behind every great fortune there is a great crime Kennedy was already in the liquor business before prohibition but according to several books and gangsters became a bootlegger with ties to the New York and Chicago underworld after liquor was made illegal after prohibition ended Kennedy made a fortune off selling legitimate liquor as well as through Hollywood in the stock market Kennedy was named one of the 20 richest people in America in 1954 by Fortune magazine and had a net worth of more than 300 million dollars which would be in the high billions today it has been reported that Kennedy contacted mobster Frankie Costello who was known to brag that he was a bootlegger with Kennedy to use another mobster Chicago's Sam Giancana tell his son John get elected through his ties to Chicago and the union's number four a motto Carrillo Fuentes a motto Carrillo Fuentes was the head of the Mexican Juarez cartel he was known as Lord of the skies due to his private fleet of planes including 22 private 727 jet airliners which were used to import cocaine from Colombia to Mexico where it was later smuggled into the United States wednesdays had an estimated net value of 25 billion dollars almost twice as much as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the DEA called him the most powerful drug trafficker of his era he would die while undergoing plastic surgery to alter his appearance in 1997 number 3 Joaquin Guzman Laura El Chapo is one of Mexico's most powerful drug lords he is the head of the Sinaloa cartel which smuggles and billions of dollars from Colombia through Mexico and into the United States Guzman became rich enough to make Forbes list of 1,000 wealthiest people in the world as well as their top 60 most powerful people with a net worth of over five billion dollars Guzman was jailed in 1993 but escaped from prison in 2001 and is currently number one on the FBI's most wanted list with a 5 million dollar reward for his capture number 2 Al Capone Al Capone is perhaps the most powerful gangster of all time and also one of the richest during Prohibition : controlled the illegal alcohol prostitution and gambling rackets in Chicago which brought in one hundred million dollars a year at its prime Capone's money allowed him to bribe police officials judges and even the mayor of Chicago unfortunately he could not bribe the IRS who convicted him of tax evasion in 1932 and says his 10 to 11 years in prison number one Pablo Escobar Escobar is perhaps the most powerful drug lord of the modern era he ran the medellín cartel which imported billions of dollars of cocaine into the United States Pablo's money brought him great power as he was able to bribe officials or have them killed if they wouldn't take his bribes Forbes magazine named Escobar the seventh richest man in the world with a net worth of twenty five billion dollars in 1993 Escobar was killed by Colombian forces with US assistance after he escaped from a Colombian prison that concludes our video of the 10 most powerful gangsters of all time let us know another one that should have been on this list and if you liked this video then subscribe and turn on notifications so you'll be the first to know when a new video comes out thanks for watching and we'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: URBAN SIDE

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Keywords: urban side, facts, top ten videos, Powerful Gangsters, Most Powerful, extreme, Caught On Camera, giant people, interesting facts, interesting people, dog breeds, viralbe, Biggest, biggest Things, top 10, most dangerous, dangerous, best, Real Life Gangsters, Notorious, Criminals

Id: UZfYajm-aag

Length: 7min 26sec (446 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 28 2019