The Most Dangerous Criminals Still at Large
1. Name: Felicien Kabuga
Born: Muniga, Rwanda
Crime: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity
Reward: $5 million
Suspected Location: Kenya
Born in 1935 in Muniga, Rwanda, Felicien Kabuga was the power behind the massacre of over 800,000 Rwandan civilians in 1994. Kubuga was an important businessman in Rwanda who used his wealth and influence to create the Interahamwe, a group of Hutu militia who killed thousands of innocent Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a matter of days.
Today, he is being charged for violations against the 1949 Geneva Conventions, where he made serious offenses and crimes against humanity and genocide. He is believed to be the main financier and backer of the political and militia groups that committed the Rwandan genocide. He also provided weapons including machetes and hoes, uniforms, and transportation for the militias.
He fled from Rwanda and first went to Switzerland, then to the Democratic Republic of Congo where he was deported, and he is now most likely in Kenya. The U.S has placed a $5 million bounty on his head. Through all of this, Kabuga maintains that, "There's no amount of intimidation that can make me stop telling the world the truth. I serve no man and I am sure the God I serve will do something restore justice in the situation."
2. Name: Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar
Born: India
Crime: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity
Net Worth: $6-7 Billion
Suspected Location: Pakistan
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, India's most wanted man, is the mastermind behind D's Company, a crime unit based in Mumbai. He is being charged with drug trafficking, counterfeiting, weapons smuggling, and murder. It is believed that he headed the 1993 Bombay Bombings and is associated with al Qaeda.
He comes from a family of 11 and his father was a respected policeman. He has a distinct mole on his left eyebrow, but has gotten plastic surgery to make himself unrecognizable. His net worth has climbed to a staggering $6-7 billion, which helps him fund his international escapes. He is suspected to be residing in Pakistan.
3. Name: Joaquin Guzman Loera
Born: La Tuna Badiraguato
Crime: Drug trafficking, murder
Reward: $5 million
Networth: $1 billion
Suspected Location: Mexico
Joaquin Guzman Loera, nicknamed "El Chapo" (or Spanish for "Shorty"), was born in 1957. He was kicked out of his house when he was a child by his abusive father and reportedly has very little education. He started working for the "El Padrino" Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and founded his own cartel in 1980 by quickly establishing posts in 17 Mexican states. When Gallardo was arrested in 1989, Guzman inherited most of his territory as well.
Guzman created groups of "henchmen," which go by many different names and are suspected of committing more than 1,000 murders across Mexico. In 1993 he was arrested and put in jail for seven years for conspiracy, bribery, and "health crimes," but managed to maintain the running of his cartel from behind bars and escaped in 2001.
Guzman is perhaps the most well-known drug lord of all time. He is the subject of many pop songs and has the notoriety of figures such as Elvis Presley, Osama Bin Laden, and TuPac Sakur. In 2009, Guzman made the Forbes' list of the "The World's Billionaires." One commenter said of the selection, "Since you have started glorifying drug lords and letting younger people see them as 'Billionaires,' this will be my last article."
Want to help? Don't buy cocaine. Duh.
4. Name: Joseph Kony
Born: Atyak, Uganda
Crime: Kidnapping, rape, murder, child abuse
Reward: $11,000
Suspected Location: Uganda
Over the past 20 years, over 30,000 children have been abducted from Uganda, giving it the highest child abduction rate in the world. Every night there is a frenzy to find a safe place to sleep, and hundreds of children travel to a nearby city and group together to escape the grasp of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Joseph Kony is the head of the LRA.
Kony has brought fear and violence to the nation on Uganda for over 20 years now. He believes that children have clean minds and that it's easier to get them to think like him than it is with adults. He uses children to fight in his campaign of murder, rape, kidnapping, mutilation, and sexual slavery. He often makes the children kill their own parents as a part of their "initiation."
The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for arrest, charging him with 33 counts, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. The U.S and Uganda are aware of his whereabouts, which are in the jungles of Uganda, but still have not been able to capture him. In 2002, the Ugandan government offered an $11,000 reward for any information leading to his capture.
Want to help? The nonprofit Invisible Children works directly to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's war. Check out the website and see what you can do.
5. Name: Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov
Born: Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Crime: Organized crime, arms dealing, smuggling, drug trafficking, bribing figure skating judges in the 2002 Winter Olympics
Suspected Location: Russia
Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov has been on his own since age 13, when both his parents died and left him in charge of his younger brother. To make money, he frequented gambling rings and eventually became heavily involved in the community. Many of his current cohorts were met during these early years.
Tokhtakhounov, known as Taiwanchik, is now the face of the Russian mob and the major figure in international Eurasian organized crime. He is sought for drug distribution, illegal arms sales, and trafficking in stolen vehicles.
He is known for bribing officials at beauty pageants, sport competitions, and the Olympics. In 2002, the U.S charged him with bribing the figure skating judges to favor the French team instead of the Canadians. He was arrested in Italy as per the United States' request, but the Italian court quickly denounced the extradition bid and freed Takhtakhounov. He is now believed to be in Russia.
6. Name: Omid Tahvili
Born: Tehran, Iran
Crime: Drug smuggling, fraud, kidnapping, sexual assault
Suspected Location: Germany, Iran, Canada, or Spain. So…anywhere.
Omid Tahvili is the kingpin of a Persian organized crime family in Canada. The family deals in drug smuggling, fraud, and aiding and abetting.
Called the "Tony Soprano of Vancouver," Tahvili is famous for running a telemarketing scam for three years that tricked senior citizens out of their money. Apparently, the senior citizens were told that they had either won or were close to winning a lottery. In order to collect their winnings, however, they had to fork over a sum of money. Tahvili reportedly made over three million dollars off of this scheme.
In 2005, Tahvili was arrested on kidnap and assault charges, but he escaped from a maximum security prison in British Columbia, Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police suspect prison guard, Edwin Ticne, of assisting the mafia head. Tahvili reportedly escaped by putting clothes in his bed and dressing up like a jail worker. He has not been seen since.
7. Name: Matteo Messina Denaro
Born: Castelvetrano, Italy
Crime: Head of the Sicilian mafia, responsible for over 50 murders, drug trafficking, collecting pizzo
Suspected Location: Sicily, Italy
Matteo Messina Denaro, or "Diabolik," is one of the most powerful members of the world's famous organized crime network, the Sicilian Mafia. Today, he is rumored to be one of the new leaders of Cosa Nostra who took over after Bernardo Provenzano, the previous leader, was arrested in 2006.
Born into a Mafia family, Matteo apparently learned to use a gun at 14 and committed the first of his many murders at age 18. In 2001, Denaro took over leadership of the Mafia in the province of Trapani. Today, he commands over 900 men. Most of Dinaro's money is gained through forcing businesses to pay a pizzo (protection money) and skimming off public contracts. He is also known for his Colombian drug trafficking.
In 1993, Denaro helped plan and organize several bombings in Florence, Milan, and Rome to warn the Italian authorities to back-off their investigations of the Mafia. This left 10 people dead and 93 injured.
Denaro has a soft spot for fast cars, designer clothes, accessories, and women. He apparently buys his clothing almost exclusively from Giorgio Armani and Versace. While most Mafia bosses adhere to strict, conservative family values, Denaro is known for his womanizing ways and allegedly killed a hotel worker who accused him of taking young girls to bed.
8. Name: Joe Saenz
Born: Los Angeles, California
Crime: Murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping, rape
Reward: $100,000
Suspected Location: Mexico and the United States
Joe Luis Saenz is being charged for unlawful flights to avoid persecution, kidnapping, parole violation, rape, and murder. This ruthless fugitive lived with his grandmother and even brought some of his victims into her home. According to police reports, he raped and killed his former girlfriend (and mother of his two-year old baby girl) and left her sprawled across his grandmother's bedroom. He also made headlines recently when a surveillance camera caught him executing another gangster.
He was born in Los Angeles, California and still lives there. He is a major drug trafficker and heads a powerful gang. His birth date is unknown. He is about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. His identifying marks include his tattoos, which say "Natalie," "Flats," "Flats4," and "Cuatro." However, officials say there is a possibility that he has gotten them removed. He continuously travels from the U.S to Mexico and has indicated plans of killing police officers upon his arrest. The FBI offers a $100,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest.