Hello Henry. We might go back at least as far as Jonathan Wild (c. 1682-1725), the real-life criminal who organised the thieves of London and ran an office which, for a payment, returned stolen goods to their owners. Wild was immortalised in the semi-fictional account of his exploits by Henry Fielding who later wrote 'Tom Jones' and 'Pamela'. Fielding knew Wild at first hand from his (Fielding's) time as a magistrate at Bow Street. Actually, Wild took inspiration from a predecessor, one Charles Hitchen, who in the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14) was the city marshall of London and who acted as a receiver of stolen goods and blackmailed thieves for male sex. (Source: Colin Wilson's 'A Criminal History of Mankind', 1984.)
The Professor Moriarty of Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), and arch-foe of Sherlock Holmes, is a true criminal genius. He, too, was based on a real-life figure, one Adam Worth (1844-1902), who was born in Prussia and who moved to London after a boyhood and youth spent in the USA. In London, Worth and three criminal associates bought West Lodge at Clapham Common. Worth also leased an apartment in Mayfair and joined high society. He formed his own criminal network and organised major robberies and burglaries through several intermediaries. Those who worked in his schemes never knew his name, though eventually Scotland Yard learned of what was going on. (Source: entry on "Adam Worth" in Wikipedia.)
Another criminal mastermind not so far mentioned by correspondents here is Major Drummond's arch-adversary, Carl Peterson, a master of disguise and with plans to rule the world, in the 'Bulldog Drummond' books from about 1920.
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