Mobster Hall of Fame
Top 10 Most Successful Gangsters
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone
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Charles "Lucky" Luciano
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Pablo Escobar
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John Gotti "The Teflon Don"
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Momo Salvatore “Sam” Guingano
(June 15, 1908- June 19, 1975)
Sam Giancana used his violent ways to rise to the highest ranks of the Chicago Mob. Knowing the government really had the power, he began to dabble in politics. Many historians think his stuffing of ballot boxes led to John F. Kennedy’s election in 1960, and he was even subpoenaed to testify about a possible CIA/Mafia plan to assassinate Fidel Castro. However before he could take the stand, he was shot in his home. Whether it was the CIA, a rival Mob boss, or one of his many ex-girlfriends who killed him, know one will probably ever know.
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Whitey Bulger
Sep. 3, 1929
Now captured, Whitey Bulger was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List since 1999, under Osama Bin Laden. He was a major player in the Boston crime scene, but was also an FBI informant. He worked close with the FBI, giving them information about the dangerous Patriarca crime family, while also organizing his own crime network. In 1994, he fled the area to escape an upcoming indictment after being tipped off by a former FBI contact. He remained at large for 16 years, until he was hunted down by a special FBI task force in 2011. He remains in custody awaiting trial for 48 charges, including 19 counts of murder.
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Sammy Gravano "Sammy the Bull"
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Louis “Lepke” Buchalte
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John Herbert Dillinger, Jr
(June 22, 1903- July 22, 1934) Dillinger tried not to hurt anyone. All he wanted was to steal the government’s money. He once shouted in a crowded bank, “Stay calm, ladies and gentlemen! We’re here for the government’s money, not yours! The government steals from you, so we steal from them.”
During the Great Depression, this is exactly how a lot of the American public felt, and he was smart for a criminal. He played the part of Robin Hood to be that much harder to catch, and it worked. .
But Dillinger stole for himself. He had a $10,000 bounty put on his capture and also escaped from prison twice. The most interesting of his break-outs was in Crown Point, Indiana, where his attorney sneaked a wooden pistol to his cell. Dillinger painted it black with shoe polish, and tricked a guard into thinking it was real.
During his spree, from June 1933 to July 1934, his gang killed 13 lawmen, including police and FBI agents. From here on, J. Edgar Hoover wanted him dead, not alive.
His death is well-known. He was leaving the Biograph Theater on July 22nd, 1934, with prostitute Ana Cumpanas, the so-called “woman in red”. She was dressed in an orange dress, but the lights cast a red hue over her as she walked out with him. FBI agent Melvin Purvis lit a cigar. Dillinger saw him, noted several other agents closing in and attempted to draw a pistol while running into an alley. He was then shot three times.