Inside the rise and fall of history’s worst mob bosses from Al Capone to Pablo Escobar and their sick secrets of success
THE new Netflix documentary, How to Become a Mob Boss, has shed light on some of the world's richest and most violent criminals.
American cities were home to some of the most notorious criminals of the 20th century.
"On the street, everybody wants to take from you what you have, and you always gotta protect that. And violence is the best way to do it," stated a man in the .
The new Netflix documentary will explore the history of the mob, highlighting key dons and their tactics.
The U.S. Sun has compiled four of the most gruesome bosses.
PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE
Al Capone was born to an Italian family in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899.
Capone dropped out of school at 14 after hitting a teacher and went on to join two "kids gangs" that were known for vandalism and petty crime, per Encyclopedia .
He dominated organized crime in Chicago from 1925 to 1931 and was thought to be the most notorious gangster in the United States, according to .
According to the , gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery, “protection” rackets, and murder. And it seemed that law enforcement couldn’t touch him.
To get away with his crimes, the police and politicians were on his payroll.
Most read in The US Sun
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was one of Capone's most well-known acts of violence.
Capone’s long-time rival “Bugs” Moran had tried to assassinate Capone and racketeer Johnny Torrio in the past and now he was after Capone's top hit man, "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, according to .
With this knowledge, Capone and Torrio decided to kill Moran.
On February 14, 1929, posing as police, McGurn’s gunmen assassinated seven of Moran’s men in cold blood in a North Side garage.
Bugs Moran managed to escape the slaughter.
Although Capone was staying at his Miami home, the public and media immediately blamed him for the massacre.
The government did everything it could to put him away, taking him to court for income tax evasion where the jury found him guilty and Capone was sent to prison for 11 years.
He was transferred to Alcatraz in 1934 after being caught bribing guards in a federal prison in Atlanta.
His health soon took a turn — the syphilis he had as a young man turned into neurosyphilis, causing dementia.
He served six-and-a-half years in prison and died of cardiac arrest at his Miami home on January 25, 1947, at the age of 48.
'THE KING OF COCAINE'
Pablo Escobar was born in Rionegro, Columbia, in 1949, a humble Colombian criminal who eventually became the head of the Medellín cartel.
He was arguably the world's most powerful drug trafficker in the 1980s and early 90's, states .
Similar to Capone, Escobar started crime at an early age.
As a teenager, he sold fake diplomas, smuggled stereo equipment, and stole and resold tombstones, per Britannica.
In the mid-1970s, he helped form a criminal organization that would later become the Medellín cartel.
The cartel focused on the production, transportation, and sale of cocaine.
He was known to be a ruthless man and handled his problems "planta o plomo": "silver", bribes, or "lead", bullets.
Escobar was responsible for killing thousands of people, including politicians, civil servants, journalists, and ordinary citizens, stated .
A day after Escobar's 44th birthday, the cartel was stormed by Columbian forces.
Escobar was fatally shot and the Medellín cartel collapsed soon after.
'THE BEAST'
Sicilian mafia boss, Salvatore "Totò" Riina, joined the Mafia at 19 after he was asked by his father to murder a man.
He went to prison for manslaughter and returned home ready to take action.
He rose quickly through the ranks and took over the Corleonesi faction in the 1970s.
His faction took the top spot in the Sicilian Mafia after winning a bloody campaign.
The Coleonesi faction was known for their mass-scale attacks leaving innocent people dead.
Riina ordered the bombing of a train from Naples to Milan on Christmas Eve, 1984, killing at least 16 people.
The attack was ordered for his benefit; it was meant to distract Italian forces from probing the Cosa Nostra after a tractor testified against the mafia.
He was known for killing anyone in his path or anyone who wronged him.
Riina died at a Parma hospital in 2017.
He was serving 26 life sentences for the countless murders and massacres he ordered and committed.
These victims included mafia rivals, journalists, businessmen, politicians, police officers, investigators, and judges.
'DAPPER DON'
American organized crime boss, John Gotti, was known for his extravagant lifestyle and frequent public trials in the 1980s and '90s.
Gotti was born in New York and soon got involved with the Gambino crime family, one of New York City's Five Families.
He was arrested nine times between the ages of 18 and 26 for petty crimes, according to .
He was also known for his pricy suits, handpainted ties, and coordinating pocket squares from the Italian designer Brioni.
Gotti climbed the ranks of the Gambino crime family very quickly, willing to do anything to get to the top.
He arranged the very public murder of the Gambino family's boss, Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano.
Four men in trenchcoats and Russian hats gunned down Castellano and his close associate Thomas Bilotti on Gotti's order.
Gotti took over as the boss of the Gambino family after the assassination.
Often in court, Gotti was acquitted in three different, consecutive criminal trials between 1986 and 1990.
He was even able to get a murder charge knocked down.
These acquittals were thanks to his power, bribery, and witness intimidation.
In 1990, Gotti and fellow Gambino members Gravano and Frank Locascio were arrested.
Gravano made a deal with prosecutors and testified against Gotti claiming he orchestrated the killing of Castellano and Bilotti to assert power within the mob.
Read More on The Sun
In 1992, Gotti was found guilty of all 13 charges and sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole.
Gotti died in jail in 2002.
