- 1 year ago
From diamond heists to prison escapes, these masterminds left their mark on criminal history! Join us as we count down our picks for the smartest criminals whose cunning schemes and strategic brilliance changed the game. Our list includes notorious figures who built empires, pulled off impossible heists, and some who eluded capture for decades!
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00:00Ciampo was the number one bad guy in the world, but what set him apart was, he was one hell of a CEO.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the 10 criminals who were the most exceptionally cunning,
00:13and whose crimes left a long-term impact.
00:16Escobar was a hundred times worse than I thought. He was a maniac.
00:22Number 10. Leonardo Notar Bartolo.
00:26Notar Bartolo has said that he was born to be a thief.
00:28You take a walk past the Antwerp Diamond District, and all you can see is a well-guarded fortress.
00:34Well, not for Leonardo Notar Bartolo and his crew.
00:38He saw an opportunity for a big payday, and began planning.
00:41Using a video camera to record through a tiny hole in a bag that he carries on his person.
00:48And he's using it to record all sorts of information about the security.
00:52The crew took a few years of careful groundwork to bypass the Diamond Center's secure vault.
00:57In February 2003, they struck, and carted away over $100 million worth of jewelry without detection.
01:05In what was nicknamed the Heist of the Century, DNA evidence found on a sandwich and discarded trash led to Leonardo's arrest.
01:14The genius is linked to the crime because his business card was found amongst the trash.
01:18The stolen diamonds were never recovered, and Leonardo, despite being caught, denied most of it.
01:24To this day, much of the heist remains a mystery.
01:28Number 9. Al Capone.
01:30Al Capone is the prototypical celebrity gangster.
01:34He's bigger than Chicago.
01:35A crime boss respected for his charisma and disguise as a charitable figure, Al Capone ruled the underworld.
01:43Nicknamed Scarface from his early start in New York, he later moved to Chicago, where he rose to lead an Italian criminal empire.
01:51Capone grew this empire with precision, strategy, and also with violence.
01:56Always careful, Capone avoided direct involvement, often relying on bribery and his political influence to protect his empire.
02:03Though the St. Valentine's Day massacre was linked to him, no strong evidence tied him to the crime.
02:09He wasn't in Chicago, he wasn't in the garage, and he hired outsiders to do it.
02:15With no solid case of violence, federal authorities went after him for tax evasion.
02:20He was convicted, jailed, released, and eventually died of cardiac arrest.
02:25Capone's larger-than-life mythology grew into a pop culture obsession after his death.
02:31Number 8. Frank Abagnale.
02:33You're one of the greatest con men of all time.
02:35You're the daddy of them all.
02:37What does it take to be a good con man?
02:39What were you doing in your teens?
02:41For Frank Abagnale, he was beginning his journey into becoming one of the world's biggest con men.
02:47Before turning 21, he had already impersonated a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, and a college professor without having any experience in those fields.
02:56His major crimes were forgery, check fraud, and using social engineering to manipulate his victims and institutions.
03:03He was arrested a few times and released.
03:06Nothing stopped him from his next exploit.
03:08I truly believe, looking back on it now, that I truly believe I was able to accomplish all those things because I was just a teenage boy.
03:17Frank went on to become a security consultant and an author.
03:20Although most of the claims have been disputed, his autobiography, Catch Me If You Can, inspired a film.
03:26Are you a real life pilot?
03:28I sure am, little lady.
03:30What's your name?
03:30Celine.
03:31Celine, it's a pleasure to meet you.
03:33We're left to wonder, did Frank actually turn his life around?
03:37Number 7.
03:38Adam Worth
03:39Without any acts of violence, Adam Worth, the criminal mastermind, grew a global network of crime.
03:46What started off as a gang of pickpockets grew into organized robberies.
03:50After drawing the attention of U.S. law enforcement, he fled to Europe with his crime partner, Charlie Bullard.
03:57There, they both continued their criminal enterprise under assumed identities.
04:01He was called the Napoleon of Crime because he was elusive and far-reaching.
04:07He was mostly known for his part in the theft of the Duchess of Devonshire painting.
04:11Worth liked the painting, kept it hidden, and didn't try to sell it.
04:15He was later arrested and convicted in 1893.
04:18His legacy inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes series.
04:25Number 6.
04:26D.B. Cooper
04:27He either got away, or else he sure made a big hole in the ground up there.
04:30Who really is D.B. Cooper?
04:33That's a question we all keep asking, and may never get an answer to.
04:37In 1971, Dan Cooper hijacked a commercial flight, claiming he had a bomb,
04:43and demanded $200,000 and four parachutes in ransom.
04:46After releasing the passengers, he took the money and parachuted into the night without a trace.
04:52Despite decades of FBI investigations and multiple suspects,
04:57Cooper was never identified, and the case was eventually closed.
05:00No violence, no casualties.
05:03Just with sheer brilliance and planning,
05:06Cooper pulled off one of the most remarkable crimes in modern history.
05:09Even as his story has inspired books, films, and songs, we're still left to wonder.
05:15Over the years, more than 1,000 suspects have been scrutinized.
05:18When this case happened in the 1970s, the era of DNA was not upon us.
05:23Number 5.
05:24El Chapo
05:25El Chapo Guzman is a brand.
05:28He's a mystique.
05:30Joaquin Guzman, popularly known as El Chapo, is no stranger in the world of crime.
05:35He, in fact, was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel,
05:39one of the world's largest drug trafficking networks based in Mexico.
05:43El Chapo ultimately changed the game,
05:46running drug smuggling operations seamlessly through tunnels and generating billions.
05:50As you can see, the tunnel has lighting, and it runs south, and down into Mexico.
05:56His influence, built on bribery and violence,
05:59made it possible for him to escape prison twice.
06:03At one point, he was even ranked among the most powerful people in the world.
06:07Chapo was the number one bad guy in the world,
06:09but what set him apart was, he was one hell of a CEO.
06:13That alone shows El Chapo wasn't just any drug lord,
06:16he was a highly sophisticated, intelligent, and ruthless criminal.
06:21He was later arrested again in Mexico,
06:23then extradited to the U.S., where he was sentenced to life in prison.
06:28Number four, the Unabomber.
06:30Ted Kaczynski is a very interesting case,
06:34because evidently, he was a pretty well-adapted kid in elementary school,
06:41and actually was considered to be something of a leader.
06:43Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber,
06:46was one of the most intelligent yet dangerous criminals in U.S. history.
06:49He started off a very promising academic career as a mathematician,
06:53and was recognized for his brilliance.
06:55Then he abandoned everything and went into solitude,
06:58which marked the beginning of his deadly path.
07:00In 1969, Kaczynski suddenly and unexpectedly resigned from his position at Berkeley.
07:07He was responsible for 16 bombings, leaving a few dead and a lot more injured.
07:12His bombs were carefully made by hand,
07:15a method that left no traces leading back to him.
07:18For nearly two decades, the Unabomber eluded the FBI.
07:22With threat of further attacks,
07:24he forced the media to publish his 35,000-word manifesto.
07:28This led to his arrest and conviction, all thanks to his brother.
07:31Ted's brother, David, had read the manifesto,
07:34and phrases jumped out at David right away,
07:37and he had to try to push them down that can't be, can't be.
07:40He later died in prison.
07:42Number 3. Charles Ponzi
07:44A brash and confident Charles Ponzi
07:47convinces thousands of excited investors
07:49that he can double their money in just three months.
07:53With a few dollars and a hope to make millions,
07:56Charles Ponzi migrated to the U.S. from Italy.
07:59He became a criminal architect
08:00that went on to create the famous Ponzi scheme.
08:04How did he come about this?
08:05He found a weakness in the system of IRCs which enabled him to make money.
08:10But instead of doing that alone,
08:11he leveraged the greed of humans
08:13by promising to pay them 50% of their investments in 45 days.
08:18He used funds from new investors to pay earlier ones,
08:21a system that later failed as it wasn't feasible.
08:24He was arrested and charged.
08:27His investors lost over $20 million.
08:29Ponzi stands with Newton and with Einstein
08:33and with the great creators of history.
08:36His name is enshrined.
08:39And I'm sure that he would be delighted.
08:41Nothing compared to the loss of $18 billion
08:43in Bernie Madoff's similar fraud decades later.
08:47Madoff was someone who was very much
08:49in the thick of things on Wall Street
08:51and generally respected.
08:52Number 2. Victor Lustig
08:54Criminals don't come any smarter than this.
08:59Victor Lustig was so skilled,
09:00he even had the Ten Commandments for Conmen attributed to him.
09:05Fluent in multiple languages,
09:06he pulled off crimes across countries with ease.
09:10Impersonating a government official
09:11and using forged documents,
09:13he was famously known as
09:15the man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice.
09:18Lustig was behind so many other scams
09:20and evaded law enforcement using his wits.
09:23He also was involved in a counterfeiting operation
09:26and tricked unsuspecting victims
09:28with his infamous Moneybox scam.
09:31Lustig's scams weren't just smart,
09:33they were bold.
09:34He even managed to swindle
09:36the infamous gangster Al Capone.
09:38And he said,
09:39Mr. Capone,
09:40I need to borrow $50,000
09:42to finance a scam
09:44and I'll be happy to pay you back
09:46double that money
09:47two months from today.
09:48Eventually, Lustig was arrested,
09:50charged for counterfeiting,
09:52and died in prison.
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10:06One name that comes to mind
10:17when you think about cocaine smuggling
10:19is Pablo Escobar.
10:20Starting small in the crime world,
10:22he went on to form
10:23and lead the infamous
10:24Marine Cartel.
10:26Escobar expanded the enterprise
10:27through his vast distribution network
10:29of drugs into the U.S.
10:31He bribed as many people as he could
10:33and killed those who rejected.
10:34As the famous phrase went,
10:36you either take silver or you take lead.
10:37You take the bribe or we'll kill you.
10:39At the peak of his criminal career,
10:40he made billions
10:41and helped the poor in his community.
10:44He was loved and feared.
10:46He also infiltrated politics
10:47and was elected to Congress.
10:49He negotiated his own surrender
10:51on the condition of no extradition
10:53to the U.S.
10:55and built himself a luxurious prison,
10:57which he later escaped.
10:59Months afterwards,
11:00Escobar was fatally shot by the police
11:02as he attempted to escape arrest.
11:04Who do you think
11:05is the smartest among these criminals?
11:07Let us know in the comments section.
11:09On April 3rd, 1996,
11:11FBI agents finally arrested Kaczynski
11:14at his Montana cabin.
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