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{{POV|date=October 2008}}
{{POV|date=October 2008}}I am Georgian and how can you call a Georgian a "Russian Mafia" ?
We hate Russians and we are not Russian, but we are still listed as "Russian Mafia". This page has errors all over it. And Mafia is Italian.


{{Refimprove|date=September 2008}}
{{Refimprove|date=September 2008}}

Revision as of 14:18, 16 December 2008

I am Georgian and how can you call a Georgian a "Russian Mafia" ?

We hate Russians and we are not Russian, but we are still listed as "Russian Mafia". This page has errors all over it. And Mafia is Italian.

Russian Mafia
TerritoryRussia, Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic States, Kavkaz, Europe, Central Asia, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, United States, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Fresno, Las Vegas, Reno, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Denver, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York City
EthnicityRussian
Membership70,000
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, Murder, Drive-By Shooting, Theft, Identity Theft, Assault, Extortion, Arms Trafficking Money Laundering, Fraud, Prostitution, Human Trafficking
AlliesOrekhovskaya gang, Israeli mafia, Semion mogilevich, Solntsevskaya bratva, Chechen gangs
RivalsUnknown

Russian Mafia (Русская мафия, Russkaya Mafiya), Red Mob (Красная мафия, Krasnaya Mafiya) or Bratva (Братва; slang for 'brotherhood') or Mafya or Mafiya, is a name given to a broad group of organized crime groups from the former Soviet Union (FSU) territories after its fall in 1991.

History

Organized crime existed in Russia since the days of the Tsars and Imperial Russia in the form of banditry and thievery, known as Vory v zakone or "thieves in law". This class of criminal had to abide by certain rules in the prison system. One such rule was cooperation with the authorities of any kind was forbidden. During World War II some prisoners made a deal with the government to enlist in the armed forces in return for a reduced sentence, but upon their return to prison they were attacked and killed by inmates who remained loyal to the rules of the thieves.[1][2]

During the Leonid Brezhnev era when the Soviet economy took a downhill turn, the Vory would take control of the black market with the help of corrupt officials, supplying products such as electronics which were hard to reach for the ordinary Soviet citizen.

The real breakthrough for criminal organizations occurred during the economic disaster and mass emigration of the 1990s that followed the fall of the Soviet Union. Desperate for money, many former government workers turned to crime, others joined the Soviet citizens who moved overseas, and the Mafia became a natural extension of this trend. Former KGB agents, sportsmen and veterans of the Afghan and Chechen Wars, now finding themselves out-of-work but with experience in areas which could prove useful in crime, joined the increasing crime wave.[3] Widespread corruption, poverty and distrust of authorities only contributed to the rise of organized crime. Contract killings reached an all-time high with many gangland murders taking place, a substantial number remaining unsolved. The new criminal class of Russia took on a more Westernized and businesslike approach to organized crime as the more code-of-honor based Vory faded into extinction.[4]

The former Soviet Bloc's opening up to the world and the internationalization of its economy also gave the Russian mafia connections to other criminal organizations around the world such as the Chinese Triads or the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. Connections with Latin American drug cartels allowed the Russian mafia to import cocaine into the country.[5]

Widespread immigration in the 1990s allowed Russian criminal organizations to spread themselves further around the world. Prior to the collapse of communism Russian Jews were allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union, and many criminals took advantage of this if they were themselves Jewish, or if not, acquiring a Jewish passport to be granted permission to leave. In the United States a key location for Russian organized crime was the Russian-Jewish community of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, New York. Vyacheslav "Yaponchik" Ivankov was the first major Russian organized crime figure prosecuted by the U.S. government, running his extortion operations out of Brighton Beach.[6] Russian organized crime has spread to many other countries as well including Israel, Hungary, Canada, South Africa and Spain.[7]

Organizations

  • The Solntsevskaya bratva, or Solntsevskaya brotherhood (Russian:Солнцевская братва), was one of—if not the—most powerful organized crime group operating in Moscow[citation needed].
  • Dolgoprudnenskaya (Долгопруденская) was a Russian mafia organization and was considered one of the largest groups of organized crime operating in Moscow. It was really named after Dolgoprudniy, which is a Moscow suburb. It was founded in 1988 and was allegedly very influential.[8]
  • The Izmailovskaya gang (Russian: Измайловская мафия) was considered one of the country's most important and oldest Russian Mafia groups in Moscow and also had a presence in Tel Aviv, Paris, Toronto, Miami and New York City.[9] It was founded during the 1980s under the leadership of Oleg Ivanov (Олег Иванов) and was estimated to consist of about 200 active members (according to other data of 300–500 people). In principle, the organization was divided into two separate bodies—Izmailovskaya and Gol'yanovskaya (Гольяновская),[10] which utilized quasi-military ranks and strict internal discipline. It was involved extensively in murder-for-hire, extortions, and infiltration of legitimate businesses.[11]
  • The Obshina (Община, "community" in Russian), or Chechen mafia, was a formidable organized crime group in the Russian underworld. According to experts, ethnic Chechen criminal gangs formed the most dominant minority criminal group in Russia. It is believed some gangs may have ties to Chechen militant factions.
  • The Potato Bag gang was a gang of con artists operating in New York's Brighton Beach in the mid-1970s.
  • The Orekhovskaya gang (Ореховская банда) was a powerful criminal group in between the late 1980s and early 1990s.
  • In California Armenian-American organized crime groups have also appeared in Los Angeles County, and are involved in many white-collar frauds as well as drug trafficking and extortion.[12]

Notable members

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.

Foreign businessmen associated with the Russian mafia

There have been incidents where members of the Russian mafia have been doing work in such places as New York, Los Angelas, Los Vegas, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver. The Russian mafia has supporters all over the world, who claim to be members, but these are the only non-Russian cities that are known for sure to have Russian mafia presence[citation needed].

  • Paul Tatum: American joint owner of Radisson-Slavanskaya Hotel (Гостиница Рэдиссон-Славянская) in Moscow; was 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" (крыша, "roof" in Russian, in slang meaning "racket money") 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 (Умар Джабраилов) 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.

Films

Notable films making use of the so-called Russian mafia include:

Video games

The Russian mafia are present in many video games, mostly as enemies to the player, including Max Payne, Stranglehold and the Grand Theft Auto series. They appear as an ally in Mercenaries: Playground Of Destruction.

Comics/anime

Books

  • "Chizda masii", former Central Intelligence Agency agent Connor Fitzgerald is indirectly employed by the Russian Mafia to carry out a hit on the newly-elected Russian president, Victor Zeremskiy. The Russian mafia 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.
  • In James Patterson's novels "The Big Bad Wolf" and "London Bridges", the main antagonist was a Russian gangster called "the Wolf".
  • The short story collection The Odessa Tales by writer Isaac Babel covers the Jewish underworld in Moldavanka, a Ukrainian ghetto. His most popular character is a Jewish gangster named Benya Krik.

Television

See also

References

  1. ^ Varlam Shalamov, Essays on Criminal World, "Bitch War" (Shalamov's essay online Template:Ru icon) in: Varlam Shalamov (1998) "Complete Works" (Варлам Шаламов. Собрание сочинений в четырех томах), vol. 2, printed by publishers Vagrius and Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, ISBN 5-280-03163-1, ISBN 5-280-03162-3
  2. ^ A. V. Kuchinsky Prison Encyclopedia, (Кучинский А.В. - Тюремная энциклопедия, a fragment online Template:Ru icon)
  3. ^ BBC News - The Rise and rise of the Russian mafia
  4. ^ Vory v Zakone has hallowed place in Russian criminal lore
  5. ^ MSNBC- Russian mob trading arms for cocaine with Colombia rebels
  6. ^ FBI Official Website - Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov
  7. ^ BBC News - Spain raids 'major Russian gang'
  8. ^ Oleg Liakhovich, "A Mob by Any Other Name", The Moscow News.
  9. ^ B. Ohr, Effective Methods to Combat Transnational Organized Crime in Criminal Justice Processes, U.S. Dept. of Justice.
  10. ^ Домашняя библиотека компромата Сергея Горшкова (Home library of Sergei Gorshkov)
  11. ^ US, COMM, PERM, p. 201.
  12. ^ Russian-Armenian organized crime 'like the 1930s New York mob', Los Angeles Daily News.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Friedman, Robert I. Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.
  14. ^ The HUMINT Offensive from Putin's Chekist State Anderson, Julie (2007), International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, 20:2, 258 - 316, page 309.
  15. ^ http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/13/1071125712163.html Wise guys, tough guys, dead guys] John Silvester, The Age December 14, 2003
  16. ^ Why gangland's bloody code is hard to crack John Silvester, The Age April 20, 2003
  17. ^ Kavkaz Center - Georgian Police Seize House of Top Russian Mafiosi
  18. ^ Jürgen Roth, Die Gangster aus dem Osten, Europa Verlag Publishers
  19. ^ Bandits, Gangsters and the Mafia (Martin McCauley)
  20. ^ Hughes, James, Chechnya: The Causes of a Protrated Post-Soviet Conflict, 2001
  21. ^ BBC News- Alleged Russian mafia boss cleared
  22. ^ Semyon Mogilevich, the 'East European mafia boss', captured in Moscow
  23. ^ Aleksandr Zhilin, The Shadow of Chechen Crime Over Moscow, The Jamestown Foundation 1999
  24. ^ BBC article, with information on Alexander Solonik
  25. ^ BBC News, So Who are the Russian Mafia?, BBC Online Network, April 1, 1998
  26. ^ CNN:Russian organized crime implicated in skating scandal

Further reading

  • Yvonne Bornstein and Mark Ribowsky, Eleven Days of Hell: My True Story of Kidnapping, Terror, Torture and Historic FBI & KGB Rescue. AuthorHouse, 2004. ISBN 1-4184-9302-3.
  • Douglass, Joseph D. Red Cocaine: The Drugging of America. Atlanta, Ga: Clarion House, 1990. ISBN 096266460X, ISBN 1899798048. Chronicles Soviet development of South American drug cartels.
  • James O. Finckenauer & Elin J. Waring, Russian Mafia in America: Immigration, Culture and Crime, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1998, ISBN 1-55553-374-4.
  • Robert I. Friedman, Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America, Penguin Group, 2002, ISBN 0-425-18687-3.
  • Mark Galeotti (ed.), Russian and Post-Soviet Organized Crime, Ashgate/Dartmouth, 2002, ISBN 0-7546-2176-6.
  • Claire Sterling, Thieves' World: The Threat of the New Global Network of Organized Crime, Simon & Schuster, 1994, ISBN 0671749978.
  • Teresa Staffer, "Russian mafia leaves Bay Area Jews alone, officials say", j., March 22, 1996.
  • Federico Varese, The Russian Mafia: Private Protection in a New Market Economy, Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 019829736X.
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