Editing Russian Mafia (section)

==History==
===Origins===
The Russian mafia can be traced back to Russia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire imperial period], which began in the 1700s, in the form of banditry and thievery. Most of the population were [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants peasants] in poverty at the time, and criminals who stole from government entities and divided profits among the people earned [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood Robin Hood]-like status, being viewed as protectors of the poor and becoming [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_heroes folk heroes]. In time, the ''Vorovski Mir'' (Thieves' World) emerged as these criminals grouped and started their own code of conduct that was based on strict loyalty with one another and opposition against the government. When the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshevik_Revolution Bolshevik Revolution] came around in 1917, the Thieves' World was alive and active. [[Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Lenin attempted]]  to wipe them out after being robbed by a gang of highwaymen, but the criminals survived onto [[Joseph Stalin]]'s reign.

===1917–1991: Soviet era===
When Stalin seized power after the death of Lenin, he sought to crush the Thieves' World, ordering the execution of thousands of not only criminals, but also political opponents.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed citation needed]'']</sup> Millions of others were sent to ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag gulags]'' (Soviet labor camps), where powerful criminals worked their way up to become ''vory v zakone'' ("thieves-in-law"). These criminal elite often conveyed their status through complicated tattoos, an act that is still used today by Russian mobsters.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-history_channel_6-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-history_channel-6 [6]]</sup>

After [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa invasion of the Soviet Union] during [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II World War II], Stalin was desperate for more men to fight for the nation, offering prisoners freedom if they joined the army. Many flocked to help out in the war, but this act betrayed codes of the Thieves' World that one must not ally with the government. When the war was over, however, Stalin sent them back to prison.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed citation needed]'']</sup> Those who refused to fight in the war referred to the traitors as ''suki'' ("bitch"), and the latter landed at the bottom of the "hierarchy". Outcast, the ''suki'' separated from the others and formed their own groups and power bases by collaborating with prison officials, eventually gaining the luxury of comfortable positions. Bitterness between the groups erupted into a series of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitch_Wars Bitch Wars] from 1945 to 1953 with many killed every day. The prison officials encouraged the violence, seeing it as a way to rid the prisons of criminals.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mallory_3-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Mallory-3 [3]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-history_channel_6-2">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-history_channel-6 [6]]</sup>

After the death of Stalin, around eight million inmates were released from ''gulags''. Those that survived the imprisonment and Bitch Wars became a new breed of criminal, no longer bound to the laws of the old Thieves' World. They adopted an "every-man-for-himself" attitude that meant cooperating with the government if necessary. As corruption spread throughout the Soviet government, the criminal underworld began to flourish.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed citation needed]'']</sup> This corruption was common during the [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev era]], and the ''nomenklatura'' (the power elite of the country, usually corrupt officials) ran the country along with criminal bosses.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed citation needed]'']</sup> In the 1970s, small illegal businesses sprang up throughout the country, with the government ignoring them, and the black market thrived.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed citation needed]'']</sup> Then, in the 1980s, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev Mikhail Gorbachev] loosened up restrictions on private businesses, allowing them to grow legally, but by then, the Soviet Union was already beginning to collapse.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mallory_3-2">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Mallory-3 [3]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-history_channel_6-3">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-history_channel-6 [6]]</sup>

Also during the 1970s and 1980s, America expanded its immigration policies, allowing Soviet Jews and criminals to enter the country, with most settling in a southern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn Brooklyn] area known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_Beach Brighton Beach] (sometimes nicknamed as "Little [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa Odessa]"). Here is where Russian organized crime began in America.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mallory_3-3">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Mallory-3 [3]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CBS_worldwide_7-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-CBS_worldwide-7 [7]]</sup> The earliest known case of Russian crime in the area was in the mid-1970s by the "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_Bag_Gang Potato Bag Gang]," a group of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Con_artists con artists] disguised as merchants that told customers that they were selling antique gold [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubles rubles] for cheap, but in fact, gave them bags of potatoes when bought in thousands. By 1983, the head of Russian organized crime in Brighton Beach was [[Evsei Agron]].

He was a prime target among other mobsters, including rival Boris Goldberg and his organization,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RICO_Act_9-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-RICO_Act-9 [9]]</sup> and in May 1985, Agron was assassinated. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Nayfeld Boris "Biba" Nayfeld], his bodyguard, moved on to employ under [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marat_Balagula Marat Balagula], who was believed to have succeeded Agron's authority. In the following year, Balagula fled the country after he was convicted in a fraud scheme of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill_Lynch Merrill Lynch] customers, and was found in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt Frankfurt], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany West Germany] in 1989, where he was extradited back to the US and sentenced to eight years in prison.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-early_US_crime_8-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-early_US_crime-8 [8]]</sup>

Balagula would later be convicted on a separate $360,000 credit card fraud in 1992.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-influx_of_gangsters_10-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-influx_of_gangsters-10 [10]]</sup> Nayfield took Balagula's place, partnering with the "Polish Al Capone", Ricardo Fanchiniin, in an import-export business and setting up a [[heroin]] business.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ricardo_Fanchini_11-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Ricardo_Fanchini-11 [11]]</sup> In 1990, his former friend, Monya Elson, back from a six-year prison sentence in Israel, returned to America and set up a rival heroin business, culminating in a Mafia turf war.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Elson_and_Nayfield_12-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Elson_and_Nayfield-12 [12]]</sup>

===1992–2000: Growth and internationalization===
When the USSR collapsed and a free market economy emerged, organized criminal groups began to take over Russia's economy, with many ex-[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB KGB] soldiers and veterans of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan Afghan war] offering their skills to the crime bosses.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Freeh_2-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Freeh-2 [2]]</sup> Gangster [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_%28meeting%29 summit meetings] had taken place in hotels and restaurants shortly before the Soviet's dissolution, so that top ''vory v zakone'' could agree on who would rule what, and set plans on how to take over the post-Communist state. It was agreed upon that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Ivankov Vyacheslav "Yaponchik" Ivankov] would be sent to Brighton Beach in 1992, allegedly because he was killing too many people in Russia and also to take control of Russian organized crime in North America.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CBS_worldwide_7-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-CBS_worldwide-7 [7]]</sup> Within a year, he built an international operation that included, but not limited to, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotics narcotics], [[Money laundering|money laundering]], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution prostitution] and made ties with the [[American Mafia]] and Colombian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_cartels drug cartels], eventually extending to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami Miami], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles Los Angeles], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston Boston].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-history_channel_6-4">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-history_channel-6 [6]]</sup> Those who went against him were usually killed.

Prior to Ivankov's arrival, Balagula's downfall left an empty void for America's next ''vory v zakone''. Monya Elson, leader of Monya's ''Brigada'' (a gang that similarly operated from Russia to Los Angeles to New York), was in a feud with Boris Nayfeld, with bodies dropping on both sides.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Elson_and_Nayfield_12-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Elson_and_Nayfield-12 [12]]</sup> Ivankov's arrival virtually ended the feud, although Elson would later challenge his power as well, and a number of attempts were made to end the former's life.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ivankov_pdf_13-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Ivankov_pdf-13 [13]]</sup> Nayfield and Elson would eventually be arrested in January 1994 (released in 1998)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Sierra_Leone_14-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Sierra_Leone-14 [14]]</sup> and in Italy in 1995, respectively.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ny_daily_news_15-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-ny_daily_news-15 [15]]</sup>

Ivankov's reign, too, ended in June 1995 when a $3.5 million extortion attempt from two Russian businessmen, Alexander Volkov and Vladimir Voloshin, ended in an FBI arrest that resulted in a ten-year maximum security prison sentence.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mallory_3-4">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Mallory-3 [3]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-history_channel_6-5">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-history_channel-6 [6]]</sup> Before his arrest and besides his operations in America, Ivankov regularly flew around Europe and Asia to maintain ties with his fellow mobsters (like members of the ''Solntsevskaya Bratva''), as well as reinforce ties with others. This did not stop other people from denying him growing power. In one instance, Ivankov attempted to buy out Georgian boss Valeri "Globus" Glugech's drug importation business. When the latter refused the offer, he and his top associates were shot dead. A summit held in May 1994 in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna Vienna] rewarded him with what was left of Glugech's business. Two months later, Ivankov got into another altercation with drug kingpin and head of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orekhovskaya_gang ''Orekhovskaya'' gang], Segei "Sylvester" Timofeyev, ending with the latter murdered a month later.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Friedman_16-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Friedman-16 [16]]</sup>

Back in Eastern Europe in May 1995, crime boss [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semion_Mogilevich Semion Mogilevich] held a different summit meeting of Russian mafia bosses in his U Holubu restaurant in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And%C4%9Bl_%28neighborhood%29 Anděl], a neighborhood of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague Prague]. The excuse to bring them together was that it was a birthday party for Victor Averin, the second-in-command of the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solntsevskaya_Bratva Solntsevskaya Bratva]''. However, Major Tomas Machacek of the Czech police got wind of an anonymous tip-off that claimed that the ''Solntsevskaya'' were planning to assassinate Mogilevich at the location (it was rumored that Mogilevich and ''Solntsevskaya'' leader [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Mikhailov_%28businessman%29 Sergei Mikhailov] had a dispute over $5 million), and the police successfully raided the meeting. 200 guests were arrested, but no charges were put against them; only key Russian mafia members were banned from the country, most of whom moved to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary Hungary].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-prague_daily_17-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-prague_daily-17 [17]]</sup>

One person that wasn't there, though, was Mogilevich himself. He claimed that "[b]y the time I arrived at U Holubu, everything was already in full swing, so I went into a neighboring hotel and sat in the bar there until about five or six in the morning."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Glenny_18-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Glenny-18 [18]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-BBC_transcript_19-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-BBC_transcript-19 [19]]</sup> Mikhailov would later be arrested in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Switzerland] in October 1996 on numerous charges,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ivankov_pdf_13-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Ivankov_pdf-13 [13]]</sup> including that he was the head of a powerful Russian mafia group, but was exonerated and released two years later after evidence was not enough to prove much.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ny_times_20-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-ny_times-20 [20]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-la_times_21-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-la_times-21 [21]]</sup>

The worldwide extent of Russian organized crime wasn't realized until [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Fainberg Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg] was arrested in January 1997, primarily because of global arms dealing. In 1990, Fainberg moved from Brighton Beach to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami Miami] and opened up a strip club called Porky's, which soon became a popular hangout for underworld criminals. Fainberg himself gained a reputation as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador ambassador] among international crime groups, becoming especially close to Juan Almeida, a Colombian cocaine dealer. Planning to expand his cocaine business, Fainberg acted as an intermediary between Almeida and the corrupt [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_military Russian military]. He helped him get six Russian military helicopters in 1993, and in the following year, helped arrange to buy a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine submarine] for cocaine smuggling. Unfortunately for the two of them, federal agents had been keeping a close eye on Fainberg for months. Alexander Yasevich, an associate of the Russian military contact and an undercover [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEA DEA] agent, was sent to verify the illegal dealing, and in 1997, Fainberg was finally arrested in Miami. Facing the possibility of life imprisonment, the latter agreed for his testimony against Almeida in exchange for a shorter sentence, which ended up being 33 months.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-history_channel_6-6">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-history_channel-6 [6]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CBS_worldwide_7-2">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-CBS_worldwide-7 [7]]</sup>
===2001–present===
As the 21st century dawned, the Russian mafia remained live and well. New Mafia bosses sprung up, while imprisoned ones were released. Among the released were Pachovich Sloat,Marat Balagula and Vyacheslav Ivankov, both in 2004.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Balagula_release_22-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Balagula_release-22 [22]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ivankov_dead_23-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Ivankov_dead-23 [23]]</sup> The latter was extradited to Russia, but was jailed once more for his alleged murders of two Turks in a Moscow restaurant in 1992; he was cleared of all charges and released in 2005. Four years later, he was assassinated by a shot in the stomach from a sniper.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ivankov_dead_23-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Ivankov_dead-23 [23]]</sup> Meanwhile, [[Monya Elson]], along with [[Leonid Roytman]], were arrested in March 2006 for an unsuccessful murder plot against two [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev Kiev]-based businessmen.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Elson_2nd_arrest_24-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Elson_2nd_arrest-24 [24]]</sup>

In 2009, FBI agents in Moscow targeted two suspected Mafia leaders and two other corrupt businessmen. One of the leaders is Yevgeny Dvoskin, a criminal who had been in prison with Ivankov in 1995 and was deported in 2001 for breaking immigration regulations; the other is Konstantin "Gizya" Ginzburg, who is reportedly the current "big boss" of Russian organized crime in America after it was suspected that Ivankov handed over his control to him.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4_criminals_25-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-4_criminals-25 [25]]</sup>

In the same year, Semion Mogilevich was placed on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_Ten_Most_Wanted_Fugitives FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives] list for his involvement in a complex multi-million dollar scheme that defrauded investors in the stock of his company YBM Magnex International, swindling them out of $150 million.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FBI_26-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-FBI-26 [26]]</sup> He was indicted in 2003 and arrested in 2008 in Russia on account of tax fraud charges, but because the US does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, he was released on bail.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CNN_27-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-CNN-27 [27]]</sup> Monya Elson stated that "[h]e's the most powerful mobster in the world" in 1998.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Semion_powerful_28-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Semion_powerful-28 [28]]</sup>

Around the world, Russian mafia groups have popped up as dominating particular areas: Alec Simchuk and his group ripped-off and robbed unsuspecting tourists and businessmen in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Florida South Florida], leading to Rick Brodsky of the FBI to say that "Eurasian organised crime is our no. 1 priority";<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-South_Florida_29-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-South_Florida-29 [29]]</sup> Russian organized crime has a small hold in the city of Atlanta where members are distinguished by a spade with a 3 under it tattooed on their body. Russian organized crime was reported to have a stronger grip in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera French Riviera] region and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain Spain] in 2010;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Bauer_5-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-Bauer-5 [5]]</sup> and Russia was branded as a virtual "mafia state" according to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak WikiLeaks cables].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-WikiLeaks_30-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-WikiLeaks-30 [30]]</sup> The Jewish branch of the Russian mafia has created tremendous problems for the Israeli government. There has been a large increase in criminal activity in Israel due to the large influx of Russian-Jews. The Israeli police and intelligence services have focused their resources on the Palestinians and have not paid adequate attention to this growing problem. The Russian Jewish mafia has cooperated with Israeli mafiosi [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/03/98/russian_mafia/70095.stm [1]][http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/03/98/russian_mafia/69521.stm [2]][http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/virtual-mafia-states-russian-mafia-an-international-concern-for-us-diplomats-a-732345.html [3]]

As of 2009, Russian mafia groups have been said to reach over 50 countries and, as of 2010, have up to 300,000 members.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CBS_worldwide_7-3">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-CBS_worldwide-7 [7]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-moscow_times_31-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#cite_note-moscow_times-31 [31]]</sup>