|THE DEN|
Frank William Abagnale Jr.
Inmate Number - 25367
Born - April 27, 1948 in the Bronx, New York, U.S.
Current Age - 73 years old
Currently, Frank William Abagnale Jr. is working as an security consultant in America. Earlier, He used to be a check forger, impostor, and escape artist. He passed $2.5 million worth of carefully forged checks across 26 countries for five years in the 1960s, beginning when he was 16 years old. He became one of the world’s most wanted criminals by the age of 21.
He left home at the age of 16, then opened multiple bank accounts under different identities, then printed his own checks, deposited them and made banks advance the cash. Since it didn’t work for long, Frank had to come up with a better plan. So now he writes his account number on blank deposit slips and mixes them with the real ones. Careless customers would fill them and give their money to Frank ultimately. To look more reliable he had created at least eight separate identities, pretending to be an airline pilot, a doctor, a prison agent, and a lawyer.
He escaped from police custody twice. In 1971 he was finally caught again and sentenced for 12 years in jail. Interestingly, while in prison too he pulled a con by posing himself as an undercover inspector to receive special treatment. Although he served less than five years in prison before starting to work for the American federal (national) government. Presently, he also runs Abagnale & Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company.
Dawood Ibrahim
Born - December 26, 1955 in Dongri, Maharashtra, India
Current Age - 67 years old
Dawood Ibrahim runs a whole trade of drugs and counterfeit money in India and Pakistan. He heads the Indian organized crime syndicate D-Company which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. He is wanted on the charges of murder, extortion, targeted killing, drug trafficking, terrorism and various other such cases. He was designated as a global terrorist in 2003.
In 2011, he was named number three on world’s 10 most wanted criminals. While His dad was a head constable in Mumbai Police he is still on the run. Dawood is believed to control much of the hawala system i.e, unofficial system for transferring money. He is also suspected to have connections with terrorist organisations and in 2002 was linked to financing of increasing attacks in Gujarat by Lashkar-e-Toiba. It is reported that he provided the logistics for the 2008 Mumbai attack and masterminded the march 1993 bombing in Bombay.
Presently, Ibrahim's criminal activities are terror funding, drug trafficking, gunrunning, extortion and money laundering. He has also heavily invested in real estate in Karachi, Dubai and India. Most probably he is currently residing in Karachi but the Pakistan government denies it. In November 2017, Dawood's three properties including the famous Rounaq Afroz Restaurant, also known as Delhi Zaika was auctioned off by the government and in 2020, the government sold off his six properties in his ancestral village in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra. Ironically, he has never been arrested so far and is still on the run.
Pablo Escobar AKA ‘The king of cocaine’
Inmate Number - 128482
Born - December 1, 1949 in Rionegro, Antioquia, Colombia
Died - December 2, 1993 at the age of 44
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian criminal who was the head of the Medellin cartel which was the world’s most successful drug trafficker in the 1980s and in early 1990s. He owned over 80 % of the cocaine exported to the US, winning him a spot among Forbes magazine top 10 richest people on the planet with a net worth of $30 Billion.
Earlier he gained fame by supporting charities and soccer clubs but later, terror campaigns wich led the deaths of thousands of innocents. Escobar is said to have started his life of crime by stealing tombstones and selling foraged diplomas then he began stealing cars and then moved into the smuggling industry in the 1970s. Pablo surrendered to president Gravaria’s Colombian government in June 1991. He was given permission to build his own luxurious jail.
Later in June 1992 he escaped. On December 2, 1993, Escobar celebrated his 44th birthday, allegedly enjoying cake, wine, and marijuana. The next day his hideout in Medellín was discovered. While Colombian forces stormed the building, Escobar and a bodyguard managed to get to the roof. A chase and gunfight ensued, and Escobar was fatally shot. Though few claims that he died by attempting suicide.
Al Capone AKA ‘Scarface’
Prisoner Number - 85
Born - January 17, 1899 in New York City, U.S
Died - January 25, 1947 at the age of 48
Alphonse Gabriel Capone was one of the most notorious criminals in U.S. history. He was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit. He was charged with 22 counts of tax evasion, as well as over 5,000 violations of Volstead act.
He was expelled from school at the age of 14 after he hit a teacher in the face. After leaving school, he had a number of odd jobs from working at a candy store to serving as a small- time boxing promoter. In his early 20s he moved to Chicago and became involved in the world of organized crime. At the age of 26 , Al Capone found himself as the head of one of the most extensive networks of illegal breweries and bootleggers in Chicago. On February 14, 1949, Capone’s men disguised themselves as police officers and entered the headquarters of a rival gang to kill seven men. This incident became known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
To crack down on Al Capone’s illegal dealings the department of treasury appointed a special task force ‘The Untouchables’ to bring down his operation. Capone was sentenced to eleven years in prison in 1932 at the age of 33. After being released from prison, he lived out the remainder of his life in Florida. He died in January 1947, after suffering from a stroke, cardiac arrest and contracting Pneumonia.
John Dillinger AKA The Jackrabbit
Inmate Number - 13225
Born - June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died - July 22, 1934 at the age of 31
John Herbert Dillinger was an American criminal who was perhaps the most famous of all U.S. bank robbers, known for a series of robberies and escapes. From June 1933 to July 1934, he and his violent gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men, wounding 7 others, robbing banks and police arsenals, and staging 3 jail breaks - killing a sheriff during one and wounding 2 guards in another. In his lifetime, Dillinger racked up more than $300,000 throughout his bank robbing.
He had a difficult childhood. He joined the navy in 1923, then soon he was dishonorably discharged and he returned home. In September 1924 he was caught in the foiled holdup of a Mooresville grocer, and he served much of the next decade in Indiana State Prison. While incarcerated, he learned the craft of bank robbery from fellow inmates. He was released a year earlier for good behaviour on Parole on May 10, 1933. On June 21, 1933 he robbed his first bank taking ten thousand dollars in Ohio that marked his onset of his vocation in robbery.
A special FBI squad was appointed to track down Dillinger. He eventually made his way to Chicago, where he reportedly had plastic surgery to alter his appearance. His end came through a trap set up by the FBI; he attempted to escape but was shot to death in the alley on July 22, 1934. Some researchers suggested that it was not Dillinger; rather some other man was killed and Dillinger actually disappeared. However, fingerprints from the body matched those taken from Dillinger in previous arrests.
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