10 Richest Criminals of All Time

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6. Joaquín Loera ($1 billion)

6. Joaquín Loera ($1 billion)

Mexican criminal Joaquín Loera is a dark horse compared to more flamboyant drug dealers like Pablo Escobar, but that doesn’t make him any less influential.

On the contrary. Loera, who made most of his money selling drugs from Mexico — and goes by a number of nicknames, including El Chapo and Crystal King.

He is currently a fugitive in his own country but is believed to be the most powerful drug dealer on Earth — meaning that the reported figure for his wealth could be a big under-estimate (he might be worth closer to $5 billion).

The man who was listed as the 937th richest man in the world by Forbes in 2010 was last heard from leaving a taunting message for the police near the bullet-riddled corpses of two military officers: “You’ll never get ‘El Chapo’, not the priests, not the government.” He has lived up to that promise so far.

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6. Joaquín Loera ($1 billion)