Number 7 Slobodanka Tosic In 2015, Slobodanka Tosic, a former Miss Bosnia,
was arrested in Croatia and extradited to her home country to face charges in connection to the
attempted assassination of a local gangster. Tosic was a central figure and one of 32 people targeted
in an undercover investigation codenamed “Operation Doll”. It was aimed at a series
of gangland killings and robberies that Interpol estimated at close to $6 million. The most severe
of the charges levied against Tosic was the attempted murder of gangland figure Djordje
Zdrale. While serving 20 years for an unrelated murder, Zdrale testified of the hit that nearly
ended his life and how Tosic had lured him into an ambush in 2006. At the time, Tosic was dating
Darko Elez, a rival of Zdrale’s and a man alleged by investigators to have run "one of the largest
groups in organized crime in Bosnia”. The model, knowing that Zdrale was infatuated with her,
sent him a text asking for a ride to the village of Pavlovac, Croatia. Once they were there, Tosic
reportedly gave a hand signal and Zdrale’s rivals opened fire on him. He survived the assassination
attempt and, in the aftermath, Tosic fled to Serbia. In spite of her criminal affiliations,
the model’s career blossomed as she appeared on the cover of Serbian Playboy and on an equivalent
of the Survivor TV show. As investigations into Elez’s criminal activity progressed and Operation
Doll was set in motion, the former Playboy model was arrested. In 2016, she was sentenced to two
and a half years in prison. Number 6 Renato Seabra
In December of 2012, male model Renato Seabra was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison,
after he was found guilty of killing a man with whom he’d been involved and mutilating his body.
Seabra and 65-year-old Carlos Castro, both from Portugal, had arrived in New York City in late
December of 2011. They reportedly attended some Broadway shows and spent New Year’s
Eve in Times Square. A year prior, Seabra was a contestant on "Pursuit of a Dream",
in his home country, which hunted for modelling talent. He wasn’t the winner but did emerge with
a modeling contract. He’d met Castro, a celebrity television journalist, through Facebook and, while
multiple sources described the two as a couple, some referred to the latter as
Seabra’s sugar daddy. Friends whom they’d visited in New York speculated that there was
friction between the two men towards the end of the trip, allegedly stemming from jealousy. Then,
Castro’s brutalized body was found in a room at the InterContinental in Times Square.
Investigators determined that he’d been struck with his laptop and a wine bottle prior to being
castrated with a corkscrew. He later succumbed to his injuries and, shortly after the attack,
law enforcement apprehended Seabra at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where he’d sought care
under his real name. The model was charged with second degree murder to which,
during his trial, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Seabra’s defense maintained that he’d
suffered a psychotic break and believed to be on a mission from God to kill Castro whom he
saw as possessed by a demon. After bludgeoning the victim to death, Seabra claimed he’d worn
his testicles as a bracelet and drank his blood. Prosecutors argued that the model had committed
the grisly murder because Castro was trying to end their relationship. In the aftermath,
he’d disconnected the hotel phone and dismantled the victim’s cellphone before stealing $1,600 from
his wallet and their flight itinerary, apparently intending to flee. Mental health experts diagnosed
Seabra with bipolar disorder but the notion that he’d been in control of his actions prevailed and
a jury found him guilty of murder. Number 5 Simone Farrow
Australian model Simone Farrow’s foray into the crime began in the 1990s when,
reportedly encouraged by her mother, she began working as a high-end escort. Farrow,
who was also a bikini model, then started dating bodybuilder and part-time model Brett Boyd, when
she was in her early 20s. Farrow would later liken the relationship to that of gangsters Bonnie and
Clyde. She and Boyd were in the process of setting up an erotica website but, in doing so, reportedly
racked up significant debt to figures of Sidney’s criminal underworld. On June the 14th 1998,
Boyd was left disfigured by a mail bomb, addressed to Farrow, sent to his North Shore home. The
bodybuilder lost an eye and a thumb as the package exploded in his face. Farrow, fearing for her
safety, fled to California where, in the years that followed, she continued to build upon her
modeling career and unsuccessfully tried becoming a pop star under the name Simone Starr. The former
Penthouse Pet, who’d also been voted as one of the world’s most attractive women by readers of FHM,
then allegedly masterminded an international drug trafficking ring. She ran it from her West
Hollywood apartment and mailed methamphetamine to Australian buyers in packages disguised as
“bath products” or “small fountain kits”. Farrow, who’d conducted transactions using a multitude of
aliases, reportedly used her modeling career as a front and enlisted employees as accomplices
in the operation. The Drug Enforcement Agency, in the US, caught on to her criminal activity and,
in October of 2009, she was arrested by Australian Federal Police upon returning to her home country
from Hawaii. Farrow, then in her mid-30s, claimed that her employees had taken control of her bank
accounts, email addresses and mobile phones, without her knowledge, to run the drug network.
She then told the court that her accounts manager, Xander Rian, had admitted to have been funding her
career and lavish lifestyle in the US by sending drug packages to Australia, which she’d allowed
to continue. In October of 2009, Rian took his own life in a Hollywood apartment only days after law
enforcement had contacted him for questioning. Prosecutors would accuse Farrow of being the
kingpin, with evidence indicating that, aside from becoming addicted to meth herself, she’d
personally contacted buyers and threatened those in her debt to send biker enforcers after them.
Farrow eventually pleaded guilty to importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled
drug. She was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and was paroled in 2019.
Number 4 Bruna Cristine Menezes de Castro In February of 2021, Brazilian model Bruna
Cristine Menezes de Castro turned herself in to the authorities in the Goiania state for
failing to attend prior hearings and court-ordered community service appointments. The 31-year-old
model, whom local media outlets dubbed the “Barbie of Crime”, had been convicted of purchase fraud in
September of 2015. She’d accepted payment for two mobile phones which were never delivered. While
the incident spearheaded her conviction, local authorities reported that over one hundred people
had complained of being scammed by de Castro, who hadn’t sent them their ordered products,
citing family or health issues. The model had also allegedly posed as her own father to scam
her ex-boyfriend by falsely claiming she had cancer and needed money for treatment, conning
the man out of over $2,600. She’d handled her illicit gains through at least ten different bank
accounts. A Goiânia judge took into consideration that she was the mother of two underage children
during sentencing and opted for house arrest, community service and a fine equivalent to 10
minimum wages. De Castro paid the fine but did no community service and missed all of
the six hearings she was supposed to attend. The authorities faced difficulty in locating her as
she’d changed her address, without notifying the court, prompting a judge to conclude de
Castro was “perhaps thinking she was above the law”. The model surrendered to the authorities
after a warrant had been put out for her arrest on February the 18th of 2021.
Number 3 Yeimi and Claudia Rey Colombian model Yeimi Rey was arrested
at an airport in the capital city of Bogota, in 2016, while trying to flee the country to Miami.
21-year-old Yeimi and her sister, Claudia, had warrants out for their arrest after they’d
allegedly kidnapped and tortured fellow model Carolina Muñoz, aged 23. The incident followed
a social media dispute between the sisters and Muñoz, who’d later admit to the police that
she’d created fake Twitter accounts and shared unflattering photos of the sisters, reportedly
showing them before they’d gotten plastic surgery. Yeimi and Claudia found out that
Muñoz was responsible and, on January the 31st of 2015, they abducted her from a Bogota restaurant
and drove to a remote spot in the countryside. It was there that the Reys submitted her to prolonged
torture throughout the night. Muñoz would subsequently claim that her torment included being
hit, bitten, electrocuted, and having her hair shaved off. The sisters also cut her clothes and
left her completely naked. They then forced Muñoz to surrender her social networking passwords and
subsequently uploaded naked photos of her on the Internet. Yeimi and Claudia threatened Muñoz that,
should the feud continue, they’d throw acid on her face without ever facing legal consequences
because they knew “powerful people”. The victim was abandoned in the street and she
later contacted the authorities. Updates indicated that Claudia was still at large
at the time of Yeimi’s arrest. Number 2 Liliana Vanegas
In late March of 2016, Canadian businessman Alvin Malhi was in Miami, Florida, celebrating
his brother-in-law’s bachelor party. In the early hours of the morning, on March the 28th,
the 40-year-old was approached by Liliana Vanegas, aged 25, outside of Nikki Beach nightclub. After
the model, originally from Bogota, Colombia, reportedly told him “I don’t like young boys,
I like men” the pair went back to Malhi’s room at Loew’s Hotel. He’d hoped that they would become
intimate but the model told him she’d had too much to drink. They fell asleep next to each other,
after downing a few more shots, but later Malhi awoke to Vanegas rushing out of the room. He then
noticed that his $28,000 Rolex was missing and chased after her but she was able to escape after
a friend picked her up in a Mercedes-Benz. Miami police caught up with Vanegas and her accomplice
shortly thereafter and arrested them both. It was subsequently revealed that, on February the 19th,
she’d run a similar scam on a man named Robert Moccia, whom she’d drugged before
making off with $30,000 worth of valuables, including a Versace chain and a luxury watch.
On February the 15th, the career criminal had gone home with a couple that she’d met at a club
called Rockwell Miami. After they’d fallen asleep, Vanegas stole various valuables,
estimated at around $14,000. The couple recognized her from a mugshot subsequently shown to them by
the authorities. Vanegas was charged with grand theft in the Malhi case as police continued their
investigation into her criminal activity, suspecting that others had been victimized.
Number 1 Paulina Karina Diaz Colombian model and TV presenter
Paulina Karina Diaz was arrested, in 2017, as part of an investigation into an unsolved case
of blackmail and kidnapping from December of 2011. Local authorities reported that Diaz had “taken
advantage of her looks” to lure businessman Hugo Lopez Moncayo and lawyer Milton Caro
Villamil into a room at a Cali club. Accomplices then locked them inside and subsequently asked
for an estimated $1 million in ransom but Moncayo and Villamil were never seen again. By the time
that a kidnapping task force identified Diaz as having played a role in the incident,
two other people had been convicted and sentenced to 23 years in jail. Prior to her arrest,
the 27-year-old model had been presenting a sports section on a show called Guia Magazine, on Channel
2. According to her employers, Diaz worked without a fixed salary in a bid to increase her fame and
social media reach. A man only identified by his nickname as “La Bruja” or “The Witch” was arrested
alongside Diaz and he’d been allegedly tasked with the monitoring and guarding the kidnapping
victims. A capture photo of Diaz and La Bruja, in front of an official billboard, was released
but no further updates on their legal situation have been made available by Colombian authorities.
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