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 Americas & Beyond | May 2008 
Bin Laden Tops Rich Wanted List
 Vince Soodin - CNN
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Terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden has topped a list of the world's 10 most wanted criminal masterminds - who are all multi-millionaires.
Bin Laden and other mega-rich criminals use their huge wealth and contacts on every continent to unleash an 'unprecedented crimewave that is borderless', an Interpol spokesman said.
"What they all have in common is that whether their crimes have occurred principally at the national or international level, their crimes have been so significant that they should be pursued globally," Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble said.
The world's law enforcement agencies have spent millions of pounds trying to track them down.
But because of their wealth and underworld contacts they have managed to disappear - and could even be living next door to us.
Bin Laden is the most wanted man in the world - with a price of £12.5million on his head.
He is believed to be hiding somewhere in the Waziristan region of Pakistan.
Read profiles on the most wanted top ten below and click on the slideshow to see their mugshots.
1. Osama bin Laden
Aged 51. Founder of Al Qaeda. He comes from a billionaire Saudi Arabian family worth an estimated £250 million in wealth and with close ties to the Saudi royal family. Wanted for the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 after two hijacked airliners, full of passengers, crashed in to them and left 2,974 dead.
2. Joaquin Guzman
Aged 54. Also known as 'Loera', 'El Chapo' or 'Shorty'. He is the boss of the international drug trafficking gang called the Sinaola Cartel, after the stretch of Mexican coastline where it originated. Guzman is Mexico's drug kingpin and law enforcement agencies put his wealth at £1billion.
3. Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov
Age 59. In 2002 he was accused of bribery at the 2002 Winter Olympics, allegedly in a bid to make millions out of illegal bets on the results of some of the competitions. He is known to have close links to the Russian Mafia and is reputed to be worth £50million.
4. Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar
Age 53. Also known as 'Sheikh Dawood Hassan' and Dawood Ibrahim. The son of a policeman is the boss of feared crime gang 'D' Company in Mumbai, India. He heads a vast crime empire stretching across India, Pakistan and in to the lawless North West Frontier of Pakistan. He is believed to have had plastic surgery in 2006 and is said to be worth £300million.
5. Matteo Messina Denaro
Age 46. A Sicilian. He has been in hiding from law enforcement agencies since 1993 and is the Mafia's 'Boss of Bosses'. Denaro was also instrumental in the bombing and murder of anti-Mafia police investigator Giovanni 'The Falcon' Falcone. Denaro is said to be worth £100million.
6. Felicien Kabuga
Age 73. A businessman in Rwanda he was closely allied with the country's Hutu government and is said to have financed the country's civil war and ethnic cleansing of the rival Tutsi tribe which left 800,00 dead. Kabuga was deported after fleeing to Switzerland but not before he made a huge cash withdrawal at Geneva airport to add to his £50million fortune.
7. Manuel Marulanda also known as Pedro Antonio Marin
Age 77. He is the Colombian leader of the communist FARC guerillas which have been fighting the Colombian government since 1966 and funding their war by dealing and smuggling cocaine. He controls an army of 8,000 armed killers and holds about one fifth of the entire territory of Colombia.
8. Joseph Kony
Age 46. He has been fighting to establish a fundamentalist Christian government in Uganda based on the Ten Commandments. He leads the Lord's Resistance Army terror group. Kony is wanted on 54 terror counts, including crimes against humanity, murder, sexual enslavement and rape, pillaging, abduction of children and inducement of rape. His personal fortune is estimated at £1million.
9. James 'Whitey' Bulger
Age 79. He is wanted for 19 gangland murders, racketeering, extortion, drug dealing and money laundering. He is the former boss of the Boston Irish Mafia in America which is known as The Mob. He has been on the run since Christmas 1994 and is estimated to have a personal fortune of £20million.
10. Omid Tahvili
Age 38. He uses the alias of 'Nino' and is an Armenian born in Iran. He is known as the 'Tony Soprano' of Canada. Tahvili is wanted for kidnap and assault and drugs charges. He is also wanted for masterminding a £1.5million marketing scam in America and is being hunted by the FBI on 39 drugs charges. His fortune is estimated at £10million. |
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