3 of The Richest Criminals To Have Avoided Fame

 

Everybody knows that some criminals have amassed huge fortunes from their illegal activities, and we all know a few who would make the rich list. However, it is surprising that some of those who are among the elite of the criminal fortune gatherers, are practically unknown to us. Al Capone is a world famous figure, as is Pablo Escobar, but how many people have heard of Joaquin Loera? Below are a few very rich criminals whose names are only recognizable to crime aficionados.

Griseld Blanco

Not many women make it to the top in the criminal world, but “The Godmother” rose to the top in Miami during the ‘70s and ‘80s. She made a $500 million fortune from the drug trade, and was particularly ruthless. She killed her first victim at the tender age of 11, and she carried on in that vein for a long time. Blanco is suspected of having her 3 husbands murdered on top of ordering over 200 more, and seemed to enjoy having the power to randomly have people killed. Her whereabouts are currently unknown, and it is difficult to say if she is alive or if her zealousness was eventually her undoing.

Susumu Ishii

Unless you are from Japan, it is unlikely you will have heard of this mobster. He was the head of the Inagawa-kai gang, one of the many Yakusa gangs in Japan. His $1.5 billion mainly came from loans and real estate scams, which must have seemed quite tame activities,compared to the manned torpedo squad he was part of during world war 2. Though the Yakusa have a reputation for violence, Susumau Ishii favoured a less aggressive approach, and would try to negotiate with people or businesses that were troublesome. He invested a lot of his fortune in realty, and when the Japanese financial bubble finally burst incurred heavy losses. At his funeral in 1991, over 6,000 people came to pay respect him; Sasumu Ishii, was certainly a different type of gangster to his Yakusa counterparts.

Joaquin Loera

Not as famous to most of us as Pablo Escobar and Amado Fuentes, he is none the less the head of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, and probably the most powerful man in drug smuggling today. He came to the notice of cartel head, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, in 1980 after impressing him by moving drugs from the countryside to the cities. He was given the responsibility of trafficking cocaine between Columbia and Mexico, Something he was incredibly successful at. Later he used his power to take over control of the cartel, and expanded its profits even further. Even though he has never been to America, he is still top of the most wanted list there, and there is a $5 million reward for information about his whereabouts. America certainly thinks his $1 billion dollar fortune will continue to increase.

If people were judged by the money they have in the bank, these would be great people. Luckily, most of us don’t judge people like that, and think of these 3 has the underbelly of society they really are.

This post is written by Nancy Baker, a freelance blogger at Dribbin and Brown, leading criminal lawyers in Frankston. Her hobbies include cross-stitching and she loves to play tennis in her spare time. Get in touch with her @Nancy Baker.

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