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Murder, drugs and narcotics trafficking, homicide, fraud – you name it, they’ve done it. This article lists the most notorious names in the history of organized crime, giving Don Vito Corleone a run for his dirty money.
Semion Mogilevich
One of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, Semion Mogilevich cuts a frightening figure. Called the "Brainy Don" (he has an economics degree), the Ukrainian-born mobster's gang has a multinational reach, with his hands allegedly in everything from a Pennsylvania-based company that defrauded investors of $150 million to the East European gas trade. His other reputed crimes include murders, arms dealing and drug trafficking. Mogilevich was arrested in Moscow in 2008 for tax evasion, but, brainy and crafty as he is, was released the following year.
Al Capone
You can't have a list of mobsters without mentioning the man who sticks in the minds of most people: Al Capone. It seemed for years as if law enforcement couldn't touch him. As head of the Chicago-based Italian-American empire known as the Outfit, Capone was guilty of any number of sins, from gambling and prostitution to bootlegging and narcotics trafficking to robbery, bribery and murder. Though his record is long, Capone gained the most notoriety for the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in which seven high-ranking members of a rival gang were shot dead. Though Capone himself had arranged to conveniently be vacationing at the time, there was little doubt the job didn't have the boss's approval. But what finally brought the mobster down was one of his most minor offenses: tax evasion. The lesser crime — and lighter sentence it carried — meant one of the most notorious crooks of all time served just seven years, six months and 15 days behind bars.
Charles 'Lucky' Luciano
Charles "Lucky" Luciano organized organized crime. The New York City boss built the now legendary Mafia model, turning petty criminal activity into a smoothly operating enterprise that turned serious profits. Along with his associate Meyer Lansky, Luciano even instituted a board of directors. The Genovese family crime boss set up shop in the Lower East Side and palled around with the likes of Frank Sinatra until U.S. special prosecutor Thomas Dewey charged Luciano with 62 counts of compulsory prosecution. He was deported to Italy in 1946 and then appeared in Cuba a year later. But he never regained the status and cachet his former life of crime had afforded him and died in 1962.
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Thomas Anthony Zampetti is a veteran of the US Marine Corps who later served as a narcotics and organized crime investigator with the New Jersey State Police. Follow this Twitter account for updates on crime scene investigation, private investigation, and other topics of interest to Mr. Zampetti.
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