From behind bars to beyond borders, these crime bosses proved prison walls couldn't contain their influence. Join us as we examine notorious kingpins who continued to rule their criminal empires while incarcerated! Our countdown includes Pablo Escobar's luxury "prison," El Chapo's escapes, and Lucky Luciano's wartime deals with the government.
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00:00Despite his business acumen, Guzmán is not always successful at staying ahead of the law.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at crime syndicate leaders who were confirmed
00:10to be active in their organizations even while behind bars.
00:19Salvatore Rina, the Sicilian Mafia. In 1986, the maxi trial in Palermo handed Salvatore
00:25Toto Rina a life sentence in absentia. Salvatore Toto Rina, one of the most violent and feared
00:31godfathers in the history of the Sicilian Mafia. The farmer's son from the town of Corleone took
00:37control of the Cosa Nostra in the 1970s and ruled with an iron fist for almost two decades.
00:43It would be nearly seven more years before the Sicilian Mafia chief was captured, but this would
00:48not be the end of his notoriously cruel rampage. The detained Rina and other bosses ordered a series
00:53of terrorist attacks to assassinate or intimidate witnesses.
01:16He also ordered more strategic hits, including the kidnapping and eventual murder of an informant's
01:2212-year-old son. Rina's criminal career finally came to an end when he was moved to solitary
01:27confinement for the remainder of his life. Until then, the brutality that could only be contained
01:31by extreme measures earned him the nickname La Belva, the Beast.
01:35Caught on wiretap in early 2017, Rina made clear his reflections on a life of crime, saying he regretted
01:43nothing.
01:44Raffel Edmund, Independent
01:45Drug kingpin Raffel Edmund III was key to the expansion of the crack epidemic into Washington,
01:51D.C.
01:52When crack was the hustle here in the nation's capital back in the 1980s, nobody, absolutely
01:57nobody worked harder than Raffel Edmund III.
02:01The resulting violence earned the city the reputation as the murder capital of the U.S.
02:05Edmund's conviction in 1990 merely provided business opportunities. He collaborated with fellow
02:10high-profile inmates at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary to continue trafficking.
02:14When he was caught in 96, 30 years were added to his life sentence.
02:18When it was over, the punishment for the convicted 24-year-old Raffel Edmund included two life
02:24sentences with no chance of burrow.
02:26Though the oversight and this gesture were scandalous, Edmund became a government informant
02:30to protect his mother. After multiple arrests and years in witness protection, he died shortly
02:35after being released in 2024. Despite some good coming out of Edmund's second downfall,
02:40there's no accounting for the damage he caused even locked away.
02:44Raffel Edmund was, for a long time, a government informant, and his information helped to put
02:49other drug dealers here in D.C. behind bars. And yet, guys, when he left prison, he did not
02:55do so under an assumed name or in the witness protection program.
02:59Lawrence Bishnoi.
03:00Bishnoi Gang.
03:01Much of the story of the Bishnoi Gang takes place behind bars. The namesake was a petty criminal
03:06who cultivated connections in jail in the early 2010s. By the time he was finally sent to prison
03:11in 2014, Lawrence Bishnoi had built an empire well beyond Punjab. He then continued to lead
03:17some 700 associates in international smuggling, murder, and political corruption. He became
03:22something of a celebrity in 2018 when he made a press statement threatening actor Salman Khan
03:26outside of a courthouse. Continued operations even after multiple transfers have not curbed
03:31that hubris. Once an ambitious student from an affluent family, Bishnoi is an alarming testament
03:36to what a great mind is capable of in prison. Vincent the Chin Giganti. The Genovese crime
03:41family. This low-level enforcer was in and out of jail before his 1959 conviction only
03:47strengthened bonds with cellmate Vito Genovese, the mentor he aided in his takeover of the
03:52Luciano family two years prior.
03:53Convicted mobsters are expected to do their time and remain silent. If Giganti served his time and
04:00kept his mouth shut, he would be rewarded after his release. It was up to Giganti to figure out how
04:06to avoid future arrests. Vincent the Chin Giganti went on to become a powerful New York boss who
04:12evaded trial with public displays of mental unfitness. He's said to be one of the most powerful mobsters in
04:17America. His lawyers say he's insane, but tonight it appears Giganti will finally be brought to justice.
04:23After the ruse fell apart in 1997, he continued to run the Genovese crime family from prison.
04:29Andrew Giganti acted as his father's attache until they were both indicted on racketeering and
04:34obstruction charges in 2002. The Chin's shocking guilty plea formally put an end to a criminal
04:39career that spanned decades and sometimes thrived in prison. Finally admitting in court that he had
04:45been faking insanity the entire time. Carmine Persico, the Colombo crime family. Nicknamed immortal,
04:52Carmine Persico was practically unstoppable as boss of the Colombo crime family.
04:57Instead of creating a dynasty, he unleashed a debacle. He virtually destroyed the family. He
05:03was believed to still be in charge after he began his tenure in prison in 1973 before receiving a
05:09permanent sentence in 86. Persico collaborated with John de Ross then and after the latter's release
05:15in the wake of the third Colombo war. What followed was years of power struggles and restructuring under
05:20Persico's supervision. The verdicts ensured that Carmine Persico would never again be a free man.
05:28But being behind bars didn't mean giving up control of the family. A government informant even
05:34testified that he took contracts out on the FBI agents and prosecutors responsible for his imprisonment.
05:39Though the open secret of his influence reportedly declined through the years,
05:43Persico was the official boss of the Colombo family from 1973 to his death in 2019.
05:49That's Carmine's MO. Carmine never relinquished control. Whether he was in prison, whether he was
05:57on the lam, or in the courtroom representing himself, it was all Carmine's way.
06:02Raffaele Coutolo, the NCO. Raffaele Coutolo's run with Neapolitan street gangs ended when he was
06:08incarcerated for murder in 1963. That was really just the beginning of his criminal career. The young
06:14rogue's charisma and business instincts cultivated a huge following among inmates. As they carried
06:19Coutolo's influence beyond prison, the Nuova Camorra Organizzata became one of the most sophisticated
06:25and powerful syndicates in Italy. But after the organization was devastated by gang wars,
06:30Coutolo was effectively removed from his network after being transferred in 93. By then, his defiance
06:36of the penal system was so notorious that it inspired the fictional novel and film The Professor,
06:40titled after Coutolo's nickname. The true story is a chilling enough portrait of a violent mastermind
06:46with nothing to lose. Anthony Gaspipe Casso, the Lucchese crime family. Even for New York
06:52organized crime, Lucchese underboss Anthony Gaspipe Casso was considered sadistic.
06:56Gaspipe Casso had a reputation in organized crime of being crazy.
07:03I wanted to beat him with the gun after it was empty.
07:07And to be considered crazy in organized crime is a major achievement.
07:12That came back to haunt him after his arrest in 1993. While detained at the Metropolitan Correctional
07:18Center, Casso arranged escape plans and hits. His orders became so reckless that the family ultimately
07:23severed ties. Casso thus became an informant for the FBI to protect himself at many colleagues' expense.
07:30He was a persona non grata. Nobody in the family would lift a finger to help him.
07:35What was his recourse? One thing, camarade.
07:38However, the plea deal was nullified by his lack of honesty and cooperation with authorities,
07:43as well as continued criminal activity. Casso was sentenced to 455 years in prison in 98,
07:49having burned all his connections by trying to keep them inside. He died in 2020 after failing to
07:55secure a compassionate release. The key to the kingdom is to tell the truth. And if you decide
08:01to lie, then all bets are off. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the Sinaloa cartel. The legend of Joaquin
08:07Guzman's power was cemented by his stints in prison. To many in Sinaloa, El Chapo is not just a drug
08:13trafficker. He's a hero. They see him as a modern day Robin Hood. His leadership of the Sinaloa cartel
08:20made him one of the world's most powerful criminals before he was sent to prison in Mexico in 1993.
08:25There, El Chapo delegated his organization to greater power and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle by
08:31bribing guards. They eventually let him walk out of prison in 2001. How he escaped remains a little
08:37murky. The official version and the one recounted by most journalists is that he was rolled out in
08:44a laundry cart by a lower ranking prison official. He was arrested again 13 years later, detained under
08:52strict security, and escaped again through a tunnel. His 2016 arrest and subsequent extradition to US
08:58federal custody finally put an end to his influence. El Chapo's story being unlike any in organized crime,
09:04it took a lot to truly lock him away. Nobody's ever broken out of the supermax prison here in Colorado
09:10since opening in 1994 known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies. This airtight penitentiary is housed the
09:16worst of the worst, including billionaire cartel kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. Like the rest here,
09:22segregated and on permanent lockdown 23 hours a day. Charles Lucky Luciano, the Luciano crime family.
09:29In 1936, the boss of the Luciano family seemingly ran out of luck when he was sentenced to up to five
09:35decades in prison. Under Luciano, the mafia grew to be bigger than General Motors. And by the time he'd
09:42finished, the mob was raking in 40 billion dollars a year. In fact, Charles Lucky Luciano's influence went
09:49a long way over the next decade. He made orders through acting bosses and acquired luxurious amenities,
09:54including a personal chef. Although Luciano remained the boss, Frank Costello, a highly regarded and
10:01well-known figure in New York's underworld, took over the day-to-day running of his empire.
10:08And Costello continued to bring in millions of dollars and increase the family's fortunes while
10:13his boss planned his next move. It was only after a failed appeal two years later that he stepped down
10:19from his position. However, with World War II raging, the navy tapped Luciano and his organization
10:24to help secure the New York waterfront and provide contacts in Sicily. In exchange, Luciano received
10:29Deportation II and relative freedom in Italy in 46. Luciano had served just 10 years of his 50 years
10:36sentence when he left American shores on February the 10th, 1946, bound for Sicily. Even in apparent defeat,
10:44the father of the modern mafia was an effective negotiator. Before we continue, be sure to
10:49subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos. You have the
10:53option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go
10:58into your settings and switch on notifications. Pablo Escobar's influence was such that he could
11:07control his own downfall in 1991. He negotiated his surrender to the Colombian government on the
11:31condition that he would only serve five years in a prison he himself designed. Escobar even handpicked
11:37his guards at La Catedral, nicknamed Hotel Escobar for its luxuries.
11:41En ese momento estábamos hablando de una guerra sin cuartel en contra de la sociedad colombiana
11:48y una oferta de negociación que estaba sujeta a que se le dieran algunos prerequisitos para que
11:56el enemigo número uno en ese momento terminara sometido a la justicia.
12:00The cozy deal required the Medellín cartel leader to cease all criminal activities. But of course,
12:05it was business as usual under the security of government corruption. Escobar's official
12:10incarceration was really just to prevent extradition to the U.S. and protect him from
12:14enemies. Following media reports of torture and murder at La Catedral, Escobar escaped to avoid
12:20transfer to a legitimate prison and died in a police pursuit in 1993.
12:32Who are some other criminals whose influence couldn't be locked up with them? Testify in the comments.
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