RUSSIAN MAFIA

The 'Russian Mob' or 'Mafia', 'Russkaya Mafiya', 'Red Mafia', 'Krasnaya Mafiya' or 'Bratva' (brotherhood), is a name given to a broad group of organized criminals of various ethnicity which appeared in the former Soviet Union territories after its disintegration in 1991. The Russian Mob's own members have been known to call their crime group, "Organizatsiya", "The Organization."

Background

Amid the political uncertainty that has engulfed the former Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War in 1991, rampant, unchecked organized crime has laid waste to noteworthy democratic reforms and contributed to an economic and moral meltdown within the 15 newly independent republics. Intelligence reports emanating out of Russia peg the numerical size of the Russian Mafia ("mafiya") at 100,000.
Many of the bosses and main members of the Russian mafia are believed to be ex-Soviet Army and ex-KGB officers who lost their posts in the reduction of forces that began in 1993 after the end of the Cold War. It is also believed that some of the groups' enforcers are former Russian military. Russian mobsters also recruit athletes, including boxers, martial artists, and weightlifters.
The Russian Mafia appears to be organized in similar ways to the Italian mafia. It is believed, however, to be a very loose organization with internal feuds and murders being commonplace. A particularly brutal practice rumored to be utilized by the Russian Mafia is the killing of not only the individual who has "snitched" or turned against the ''Organizatsiya'', but also the individual's family. The Russian mafia is notorious for underground operations and clean transactions, and, unlike certain vestiges of the Italian mafia, it is known for its secrecy and unflamboyant manner.

History

Despite seeming to arise during the Fall of the Soviet Union, organized crime had existed throughout the imperial and communist eras as a form of open rebellion against the systems in the form of the "Thief's World". During this time organized crime was fiercely honor-based and often attacked and killed traitors among their ranks. Nevertheless, during World War II, many enlisted in the Russian Army resulting in the Suka Wars, which killed many of the thieves who were branded as government allies as well as the original thief underworld during Stalin's reign. The criminals, seeking a new survival strategy, began to ally with the elite in the Soviet Union as a means of survival, creating a powerful Russian black market.
The real breakthrough for criminal organizations occurred during the economic disaster and mass immigration of the 1990s that followed the fall of the Soviet Union. Desperate for money, many former government workers turned to crime, others joined the large numbers of Soviet citizens who moved overseas primarily to the United States and the Mafia became a natural extension of this trend. According to official estimates, some 100,000 Russians are committed mobsters, with a large but unknown number engaging in these criminal practices on and off.
Backed by its extensive connection to the apparatchick power network of the Soviet Union, between 1992 and 1994 the Russian Mafia targeted the commercial centers of power, seizing control of the nation’s fragile banking system. At first the criminal gangs were content to merely “park” their large cash holdings in legitimate institutions, but soon they realized that the next step was the easiest of all: direct ownership of the bank itself.
Banking executives, reform-minded business leaders, even investigative journalists, were systematically assassinated or kidnapped. In 1993 alone, members of the eight criminal gangs that control the Moscow underworld murdered 10 local bankers. Calling themselves “Thieves in Law” (vori v zakone), Russian gangsters have murdered ninety-five bankers in the last five years.
Beginning in the late 1970s systematically, the Communist bloc began encouraging large numbers of its people to emigrate to the United States and Europe. Encouraged by diplomatic feelers put out by the Soviet government, both the Carter and Reagan Administration in association with the government of Israel, began pushing for the emigration of the Soviets large Jewish population. That was soon joined by other non-Jewish ethnicities. By the late 1980s large colonies of former Soviet and Communist bloc subjects had been established throughout the United States. Most of these ethnic colonies became dominated by the Soviet crime groups who answered to their associates and superiors in the USSR. After the fall of the Soviet Union that emigration increased.
Via their large communities throughout the West and in particular the United States, since the mid-90s the crime groups have been trying to expand their criminal empire into America, most often via the trafficking of drugs and illegal weapons. This has led to some brutal wars with the organizations already present, including the Italian Mafia, Chinese Triads, Irish Mob the Latino Narcos, Mexican Gangs and the Japanese Yakuza all of whom also had their own communities to operate inside of with protection.
This has led to a number of alliances between the gangs of the former USSR and others. The group is believed to have links to Colombian drug smugglers and many smaller gangs as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union. Some also believe they are at the heart of gangs smuggling illegal workers west to the European Union and often Britain, though no proof has been offered for this at this time. The home of the Russian Mafia in America is in the Brighton Beach (dubbed by Russians "Little Odessa") neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City.
Over the last few years, the FBI and Russian security services have tried to crack down on the Mafia, though the impact of this has yet to be measured.

Composition

Aside from the ethnic Russian crime groups, there are large multi ethnic organizations as well as other very large and influential single ethnic groups such as Chechens, Ukrainians, Azeris, Georgians and so on. Chechens make up a disproportionate amount of Russian mafia members inside Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, but only play a small role in the Russian Mafia's overseas membership.
The majority of organized crime groups and their members within Russia are ethnically Russian. Furthermore, the majority of violent organized crime groups and their members are also ethnically Russian within Russia’s borders. Ethnic Russian crime groups operate within every major Russian city and consist of small time gangs involved in burglaries to high crime such as drug and weapons smuggling. Ethnic Russian crime groups consist of ex KGB officers, ex Spetznaz members, businessmen, Afghan war vets and many other former government employed individuals as well as common thugs and criminals.
Even though many of the Russian mobsters covered in western media have Jewish ancestry, Russian Jews within Russia represent a small fraction of the criminals involved in organized crime. However, many have managed to reach high rankings inside the different organized crime groups within Russia.
'NOTE': The amount of Russian Jews involved in organized crime outside of Russia is much higher than within Russia. A high percentage of Russian emigres are Jewish and as a result Russian organized crime groups within the United States, Israel and Europe have a high number of Jewish members.
The Russian Mafia also has a multitude of other nationalities such as Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians (tied to the Armenian Power gang), Moldovans, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Georgians, Dagestanis, Azeris, and others. Additionally, countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Moldova have their own mafia organizations which have extensive links to the Russian mafia.

Organizations

★ The Solntsevskaya bratva, or Solntsevskaya brotherhood (Russian:Солнцевская братва), is one of if not the most powerful organized crime group operating in Moscow today.

★ ''Dolgoprudnenskaya'' is a Russian mafia organization and is considered one of the largest groups of organized crime operating in Moscow. It is named after Dolgoprudniy, which is a Moscow suburb. It was founded in 1988 and is allegedly very influential.^[1]

★ The Izmailovskaya gang (Russian: Измайловская) is considered one of the country's most important and oldest Russian Mafia groups in Moscow and also has a presence in Tel Aviv, Paris, Toronto, Miami and New York City.^[2] It was founded during the 1980s under the leadership of Oleg Ivanov and was recently estimated to consist of about 200 active members (according to other data of 300-500 people). In principle, the organization is divided into two separate bodies - Izmailovskaya and Gol'yanovskaya,^[3] which utilize quasi-military ranks and strict internal discipline. It is involved extensively in murder-for-hire, extortions, and infiltration of legitimate businesses.^[4]

★ The Tambov Gang of Saint Petersburg

★ The Obshina, or Chechen mafia, is a formidable organized crime group in the Russian underworld. According to experts, ethnic Chechen criminal gangs form the most dominant minority criminal group in Russia. It is believed some gangs may have ties to Chechen militant factions.

Threats to International Business

Foreign companies pay up to 20% of their profits to the Mafia as the on-going price of doing business in Russia. Ignoring shakedown threats merely invites tragedy. Most American and other western firms find it necessary to hire private security guards to protect their executives from extortion threats and roving assassins.
Ineffective law enforcement has spurred the rapid growth and expansion of the private security industry. In the past seven years, 25,000 Russian security firms were established, employing between 600,000 and 800,000 workers. The Mafia controls at least one-sixth of them.

"Mafia Is Immortal". A Title Of One Of Perestroika-Period Soviet Movies

Mafia Personalities

★ 'Evsei Agron' (Brooklyn-based crime boss; murdered, 1985.)

★ 'Marat Balagula' (Brooklyn-based crime boss and originator of billion-dollar gasoline bootlegging scam; released from American prison, 2004.)

★ 'Arbi Barayev' (Chechen warlord/crime boss; killed by Russian armed forces, 2001.)

★ 'Viktor Bout' (Arms merchant; international fugitive.)

★ 'Yuri Brokhin' (Famed expatriate Russian dissident/international drug dealer and jewel thief; murdered, 1982.)

★ 'Michael Cherney' (Israeli-based Russian crime boss.)

★ 'Konstantin Dimitrov-Samokovetsa' (Bulgarian drug kingpin; murdered, 2003.)

★ 'Vitali Dyomochka' (Russian mobster who produced a TV series chronicling his own activities.)

★ 'Monya Elson' (Prolific professional killer; convicted of three murders and imprisoned.)

★ 'Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg' (Southern Florida crime boss; deported to Israel.)

★ 'Georgi Iliev' (Second boss of Bulgarian VIS crime group; murdered, 2005.)

★ 'Vasil Iliev' (First boss of Bulgarian VIS crime group; murdered, 1995.)

★ 'Vyacheslav "Yaponchik" Ivankov' (America's most powerful ''vor v zakone''; deported to Russia.)

★ 'Zakhar "Shakro" Kalashov' (International ''vor v zakone'' boss; jailed in Spain.)

★ 'Ivo Karamanski' (Bulgarian crime boss; murdered, 1998.)

★ 'Vladimir Kumarin' (Saint Petersburg-based boss of Tambov Gang crime group.)

★ 'Otar "Otarik" Kvantrishvili' (Moscow extortionist; murdered, 1994)

★ 'Ruslan Labazanov' (Chechen crime boss; murdered, 1996.)

★ 'Sergey "Mikhas" Mikhaylov' (Moscow-based head of ''Solntsevskaya bratva'' crime group.)

★ 'Semion Mogilevich' (Billionaire Budapest-based crime lord.)

★ 'Boris Nayfeld' (International drug kingpin.)

★ 'Khozh-Ahmed Noukhaev' (Chechen crime boss.)

★ 'Nik Radev' (Australia-based Bulgarian gangster; murdered, 2003)

★ 'Alexander Solonik' (Professional killer; murdered, 1997.)

★ 'Nikolay "Hoza" Suleimanov' (Chechen head of ''Obshina'' crime group; murdered, 1994.)

★ 'Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov' (Arms dealer and accused Olympic fixer.)

★ 'Alex and Vladimir Zilber' (Fraternal team of gasoline bootleggers; Vladimir crippled by assassination attempt; Alex living in Russia.)

Foreign businessmen and the Russian Mafia

An unknown number of foreign businessmen, believed to be in the low thousands, arrived in Russia from all over the world during the early and mid 1990s to seek their fortune and to cash in on the transition from a communist to a free market/capitalist society. This period was referred to by many of the businessmen as the "''second great gold rush''".
Generally, 1990 to 1998 was a wild and unstable time for most foreign businessmen operating in Russia. Dangerous battles with the Russian Mob occurred, with many being killed or wounded. The Mafia welcomed the foreign businessmen and their expertise in facilitating business and making things happen in a stagnant and new economy. The Mafia considered them as a good source of hard currency, to be extorted under the usual guise of "protection money". Many different Mafia groups would fiercely compete to be able to "protect" a certain businessman; in exchange, the businessman would not have to worry about having more than one group showing up demanding tribute from him. Many foreign businessmen left Russia after these incidents, and after almost a decade since the wild 1990s, the Mafia still holds its grip on the majority of legitimate and illegal business occurring in Russia.

Foreign businessmen associated with the Russian mafia

★ 'Paul Tatum': American joint owner of Radisson-Slavanskaya Hotel in Moscow; shot 11 times in the head and neck (his attacker knew he was wearing a bulletproof vest) and killed in a sensational shooting in a Moscow Metro station in November 1996 for refusing to pay "krysha" and to be squeezed out by a silent partner. Tatum was surrounded by his own bodyguards when attacked; however, they made no attempt to save him and allowed his attacker to escape unharmed. Tatum had, only weeks before this, taken out a full-page ad in a local newspaper denouncing his Chechen partner Umar Dzhabrailov for trying to squeeze him out of their hotel joint venture. Tatum, a multi-millionaire, had connections to the then U.S. President Bill Clinton and many high ranking Moscow politicians. His murder has not been solved.

★ 'Ken Rowe': Canadian businessman and joint owner of Moscow Aerostar Hotel; threatened by the Russian mafia in an attempt to force him out of a joint hotel-airline venture. Mafia at one point entered the hotel with armed men and forced all employees out. Rowe later fought back and seized an Aeroflot aircraft in Montreal to recover his award in a Russian court.

The Russian Mafia in popular culture

Films

★ ''Eastern Promises'' (2007)

★ ''We Own the Night'' (2007)

★ ''Running Scared'' (2006)

★ ''Be Cool'' (2005)

★ ''Lord of War'' (2005)

★ ''Molotov Samba'' (2005)

★ ''Mail Order Bride'' (2003)

★ ''Bulletproof Monk'' (2003)

★ ''25th Hour '' (2002)

★ ''Big Shots'' (2001)

★ ''Training Day'' (2001)

★ ''Brother''
:
★ ''Brother 2''

★ ''Syostry (Sisters)'' (2001)

★ ''Snatch'' (2000)

★ ''Rancid Aluminium'' (2000)

★ ''Boondock Saints '' (1999)

★ ''Rounders'' (1998)

★ ''Ronin'' (1998)

★ ''Blues Brothers 2000'' (1998)

★ ''The Saint'' (1997)

★ ''The Jackal'' (1997)

★ ''Jungle 2 Jungle'' (1997)

★ ''The Peacemaker'' (1997)

★ ''Brother'' (1997)

★ ''GoldenEye'' (1995)

★ ''Little Odessa'' (1994)

★ ''There's Good Weather in Deribasovskaya, It's Raining Again in Brighton Beach'' (1992)

★ ''Red Heat'' (1988)

Video games

★ The Russian Mafia is one of the main factions in the LucasArts game ''.

★ Max Payne 2, one of main characters, Vladimir Lem, is with the Russian Mafia.

★ The Russian Mafia is a key gang in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV. The main character is from Eastern Europe with an accent that sounds Russian.

★ The Russian Mafia appears in GTA2 as a gang that the main character, Claude, can work with to get jobs from.

★ The Russian Mafia are prominently featured in a mission of , where they occupy the Atrium building in Los Santos.

★ The Russian Mafia plays a part in Gangland.

★ The Russian Mafia play an important role in the plot of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.

★ The Russian Mafia is a main antagonist in The Punisher.

★ The Russian Mafia will play a role in upcoming John Woo's Stranglehold.

★ The Russian Mafia are represented as the Volk in Crackdown.

Comics/Anime

★ In the manga/anime Black Lagoon, the main characters' primary allies are a branch of the Russian Mafia based in Thailand, which is called Hotel Moscow and is made up primarily of veterans having served in Afghanistan.

★ In Marvel Comics' Ultimate Marvel imprint, Colossus of the X-men is a member of the Red Mafia.

Books

★ In the Artemis Fowl series, Artemis Fowl I is held captive by the Russian Mafia.

★ "Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Power Brokers," Gus Russo, Bloomsbury, NY 2006.

★ In Jeffrey Archer's "The Eleventh Commandment", former CIA agent Connor Fitzgerald is indirectly employed by the Russian Mafiya to carry out a hit on the newly-elected Russian president, Victor Zeremski. The Russian mafiya are later seen working alongside, and against, the governments of the United States and Russia.

★ Vodka, 2005, Boris Starling

★ In Chris Ryan's 1998 novel The Kremlin Device the protagonist must train the Russian armed forces in anti-mafia strategies.

Television

★ The Russian mafia appear in several episodes of The Sopranos, most memorably in the episode Pine Barrens.

★ The Russian miniseries The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed and Brigada explore the Russian mafia post-World War II and post-communism respectively.

References

1. Oleg Liakhovich, ''A Mob by Any Other Name'', The Moscow News
2. B. Ohr, ''Effective Methods to Combat Transnational Organized Crime in Criminal Justice Processes'' US Dept. of Justice
3. Домашняя библиотека компромата Сергея Горшкова (''Home library of Sergei Gorshkov'')
4. US, COMM, PERM, p. 201

External links

★ Flak Magazine: Review of Red mafya, 08-20-00 by Ben Welch

★ MSNBC.com - Russian mob trading arms for cocaine with Colombia rebels by Sue Lackey

★ CBS News: Russian Mafia's Worldwide Grip

★ BBC News: So who are the Russian mafia ?

★ BBC News: The rise and rise of the Russian mafia

★ BBC News: How Russia's mafia is taking over Israel's underworld

★ CNN - A Russian mob grows in Brooklyn: Law officials finger alleged 'godfather' by Peg Tyre

★ Russian Mobsters - Roman Abramovich and friends

★ Suspected Georgian Crime Boss Arrested - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

★ The Red Mafia: A Legacy of Communism by Annelise Anderson

★ Oxford Scholarship: The Russian Mafia

★ Russian mafya become more active in Eastern Europe Jane's Intelligence Review May 2005

★ reviews of various books on Russian organized crime
"Midnight in Moscow - Part Two Of The ISIS Project" by M. D. Johnson available September 2008

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RUSSIAN MAFIA

Background

History

Composition

Organizations

Threats to International Business

Mafia Personalities

Foreign businessmen and the Russian Mafia

Foreign businessmen associated with the Russian mafia

The Russian Mafia in popular culture

Films

Video games

Comics/Anime

Books

Television

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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