Random Most Brutal Mob Bosses In Recent History (12 items)

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  (#6) Kenichi Shinoda

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  While organized crime in Japan is internationally known as the Yakuza, this is merely a blanket designation for the individual groups that make up the world's wealthiest criminal entity. The most prominent Japanese organized crime group is known as the Yamaguchi-gumi, a syndicate that once included as many as 23,000 members.

  The head of this group is Kenichi Shinoda, a ruthless individual who has expanded the base and power of the Yamaguchi-gumi, despite serving a six-year jail sentence that concluded in 2011. A 2015 shooting and subsequent bludgeoning death of a high ranking Yamaguchi-gumi boss is believed to be connected to Shinoda, who has apparently stirred up conflict within his own organization.
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  (#1) Carlos Tiberio Ramirez Bit Off A Man's Ears And Boiled Him In Acid

  The fearsome El Salvadoran street gang known as MS-13 originated in the Los Angeles area after a civil war forced many El Salvadorans to emigrate to the US. Many of these gang members were eventually deported back to Central America, allowing the gang to recruit members in its home country. MS-13 is estimated to have at least 30,000 members worldwide and 8,000 members in the United States. Although its members operate autonomous gangs in many major American cities, leadership and direction of MS-13 originates in El Salvador.

  Although the specific hierarchy of the gang is shadowy and deliberately obscured, one undisputed high ranking member of MS-13 is Carlos Tiberio Ramirez, a tattooed individual who personally tortures rivals and malcontents. Ramirez once bit off the ears of a victim and then personally boiled him in acid.
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  (#5) Peter Ojeda Runs The Mexican Mafia From Behind Bars

  The Mexican Mafia, or "La Eme," is a powerful force on both the streets of southern California and in the state's prison system. Its name is the result of its members' ethnic identity; the group did not originate in Mexico. Connected to the original founders of the syndicate, Peter Ojeda has managed to run the Orange County territory for over four decades – despite being behind bars in a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania since 2006.

  Nicknamed "Sana" (Spanish for "Fury"), Ojeda maintains control of Orange County and orchestrates violence, extortion, and narcotics trafficking. Ojeda's influence is considered so dangerous and pervasive that he was given an additional 15-year sentence in 2016, only months before his potential release.
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  (#3) Matteo Messina Denaro

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  Matteo Messina Denaro is a fugitive La Cosa Nostra murderer who is considered Italy's most wanted gangster. A member of the Sicilian Mafia syndicate that dominates western Sicily, Denaro went into hiding after orchestrating a vicious bombing campaign that killed government law enforcement officials. He even detonated a bomb near Florence's Uffizi gallery which destroyed paintings by Italian masters. Suspected in over 50 murders, Denaro was also part of a plot to kidnap the 11-year-old son of an informer in an attempt to halt testimony. The child was eventually murdered by strangulation.

  Many of Denaro's associates, including his sister, have been arrested, and much of his property and cash has been confiscated. Denaro, however, remains on the run, most likely holed up somewhere in his native town of Castelvetrano, Sicily. He is probably protected by an armed group of loyal soldiers, insuring that any attempt to arrest him will be violently resisted.
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  (#10) Ernesto Fazzalari Was The Head Of Italy's Most Powerful Syndicate

  The most powerful of all of the Italian criminal syndicates is the 'Ndrangheta, which originated in the Calabria region. Its power emanates from the group's control of European narcotics trafficking, and an ability to migrate globally to countries as diverse as Australia and Germany.

  This explains why the 2016 arrest of the syndicate's boss, Ernesto Fazzalari, was both stunning and unprecedented. Fazzalari, a fugitive for 20 years and Italy's second most wanted man, was arrested in remote Taurionova, Italy. He was found on his own home turf, with only his girlfriend and no bodyguard. Although this and other arrests have removed some of the organization's top leaders, 'Ndrangheta continues to use its cocaine profits to finance both legitimate and illegitimate interests.
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  (#9) Javier Calle Serna Ran A Group Of Hitmen-Turned-Drug Traffickers

  With the apprehension and breakup of Colombia's fearsome Cali cartel in the 1990s, new criminal gangs emerged to fill the South American cocaine trafficking void. The two most prominent Colombian criminal entities to emerge were Los Rastrojos and Norte del Valle, and these two groups were believed to work closely together under the supervision of two brothers, Javier and Luis Calle Serna.

  Los Rastrojos was made up of former paramilitary hitmen, and it achieved its greatest influence in 2008, when Javier Calle Serna orchestrated the assassination of Wilber Varela, a prominent leader of the Norte del Valle cartel. Unfortunately for the leadership of Los Rastrojos, this put the them on the radar of international law enforcement, especially in the US. The eventual arrest of Los Rastrojos leadership, including both Calle Serna brothers, initially decimated the organization. But the subsequent light prison sentences negotiated by members of this group underlines the difficulty in prosecuting Colombian drug cartels. 

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