They say “crime doesn’t pay” but some of the people living the best and most luxurious lives around the world are criminals. This is not to glorify crime but mostly, “it does pay some good money”.
Look at our country, Kenya for instance, the corrupt, thieves, drug lords, and murderers occupy high places and control the whole economy.
Around the world, there are human beings who have been classified as “drug lords”, placed on the watchlist of every country but living large and happily through a life of crime.
Here are the 10 richest drug lords in the world:
Pablo Escobar: He was also known as the “King of Cocaine”. He is the richest drug lord to have ever lived. By the time of his death, he was worth 33 billion dollars, an equivalent of 120 billion dollars in 2021.
Amado Carrillo Fuentes: He was worth 28.26 billion dollars. He became the leader of the Juarez cartel after eliminating his boss Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. He died after a plastic surgery operation in 1997, trying to change his appearance.
Semion Mogilevich: He was worth 10 billion dollars. The 74-year-old is believed to be free living in Moscow with his three kids. He is the boss of the bosses of Russian mafia syndicates. He derived most of his wealth from “weapons trafficking, contract murders, extortion.
Dawood Ibrahim: He was worth 7.57 billion dollars. He is an Indian drug lord who has been wanted since 1993. He is in the top 5 world’s most wanted fugitives list now.
The Ochoa Brothers: These three were worth 6.78 billion dollars. Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez, Juan David Ochoa Vásquez, and Fabio Ochoa Vásquez are among the founders of the Medellin Cartel. Jorge Luis Ochoa paid a small price for his wealth. He surrendered in 1991.
Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha: He was worth 5.65 billion dollars. Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was one of the leaders of the Medellin Cartel and was included in Forbes’ billionaires’ list in 1988. He was killed in 1989.
Khun Sa: was believed to be worth 5.65 billion dollars. Khun Sa was born to a Chinese father and a Shan mother. The “Opium King” is the most successful drug lord as he retired in 1996 and enjoyed his wealth for a good 11 years until his death.
The Orejuela Bros: He was believed to be worth 3.39 billion dollars. Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela was the leader of the Colombian Cali Cartel and is currently serving a 30-year sentence in the United States. His brother Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela is also serving a prison sentence at a fed prison in Pennsylvania.
Carlos Lehder: He was believed to be worth 3.05 billion dollars. Co-founder of the Medellin Cartel, one of Pablo Escobar’s partners in crime, Known for creating a base for drug smuggling on a private island in the Bahamas.
El Chapo: He is worth 3 billion dollars.
Guzmán, the infamous former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, is serving a life sentence in a US prison. He was one of the biggest traffickers of drugs to the US and, in 2009, entered Forbes’ of the world’s richest men.
Related Content: Top 10 Brutal Mexican Drug Lords
Similar stories might have appeared in other publications, perhaps more detailed than this. Avoid crime.
