Long Arm of the Russian Mafia

LONG ARM OF THE RUSSIAN MAFIA
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The Russian Mafia is a collective term used to refer organized crime groups originating from the former Soviet Union. These groups share similar goals and organizational structure. It operates in sixty countries with more than six hundred groups. The Russian organized criminal groups are made up of networks and not a top - down type of hierarchy like other mafia groups. This can be illustrated by the arrest of Vyacheslav "Yaponchik" Ivankov who was believed to be the leader of the North American group. Ivankov’s arrest had little effect on the activities of the Russian organized criminal groups in North America leading to criminal investigators to believe that the structure of these groups is more complicated than other criminal groups.[Mark Galeotti, Russian Post Soviet Organized Crime. (Boston: Dartmouth Publishing Company Limited, 2002) 167]
The Russian mafia groups are entrepreneurial; they get involved in anything that makes money. Unlike other mafia groups the Russian mafias rely on opportunity rather than tradition and are often involved in legitimate trade but are willing to use lethal force to get what they want. Many of the top Russian organized crime group members have Masters degrees and PhDs in complex fields like mathematics, engineering, computer science and medicine. They are able to penetrate the American society enabling them to make ties with politicians and community leaders without suspicion. An example of how creative the Russian mafia can be is the smuggling operation that involved tens of millions of American made grain alcohol disguised as windshield fluid evading millions of dollars in tariffs and taxes.[Varese, Federico. The Russian Mafia: Private Protection in a New Market Economy. (Oxford University Press, 2005) 89]
The Russian criminal groups accepted ex- KGB soldiers and veterans of the Afghan war who joined the criminal groups after the collapse of USSR bringing with them their military skills. The current KGB and the Russian mafia groups are allies and act as one and the same organization according to Dr. Walter Zarycky a professor in political science in New York. These li...