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Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America
by Robert I. Friedman
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2000-05)
ISBN: 0316294748
EAN: 9780316294744
Dewy Decimal #: 364.1060973
Hardcover: 296 pages
Edition: 1st
SKU: 08090198
Condition: Very Good Very Good
Comments: First Edition First Printing. Hardback in very good condition with no markings except remainder mark on bottom edge. Dust jacket in very good condition with minor shelf wear. Tight binding and clear crisp text. Beautiful book.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
"In North America alone there are now thirty Russian crime syndicates operating in at least seventeen U.S. cities, most notably New York, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Denver. The Russians have already pulled off the largest jewelry heist and insurance Medicare frauds in American history, with a net haul exceeding $1 billion. They have invaded North America's financial markets, orchestrating complex stock scams, allegedly laundering billions of dollars through the Bank of New York, and coolly infiltrating the business and real estate worlds. "The Russians didn't come here to enjoy the American dream," New York state tax agent Roger Berger says glumly. "They came here to steal it." -From the Introduction From an award-winning investigative journalist comes an astonishing exposi of Russian organized crime, its growing power in the United States, and its terrifying implications for the rest of the world. In the past decade, from Brighton Beach to Moscow, Toronto to Hong Kong, the Russian mob has become the world's fastest-growing criminal superpower. Trafficking in prostitutes, heroin, and missiles, the mafiya poses an enormous threat to global stability and safety. The black-market corruption of the Brezhnev era proved the perfect breeding ground for organized crime. Beginning in the 1970s, Soviet ?migr?s--including a large number of felons and murderers the USSR was happy to get rid of--began arriving in the United States and quickly established themselves as a major criminal force in New York, Las Vegas, and elsewhere. But it was the breakup of the Soviet Union that made the Russian mob what it is today. In a weakened, impoverished Russia, it quickly became the dominant power. And it has now spread to every corner of the United States, infiltrating its banks and brokerage firms--and American law enforcement is just waking up to this enormous problem. No journalist in the world knows more about the Russian mob in America than Robert Friedman. At great risk to himself, he has made connections with a number of top criminals who have gone on record about their activities for the first time. The result of his discoveries is a revelation: the Red Mafiya is everywhere. The implications--for law enforcement, the economy, foreign policy, for the American people themselves--are staggering."
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Amazon.com Review
Amid his efforts to expose the Russian mob, Robert I. Friedman learned from the FBI that "the most brilliant and savage Russian mob organization in the world" had put a $100,000 price on his head. Reading Red Mafiya, it's not hard to see why: this is a brave book about a troubling subject. Friedman, a freelance journalist, describes the research behind it: "I ventured into the Russians' gaudy strip clubs in Miami Beach; paid surprise visits to their well-kept suburban homes in Denver; interviewed hit men and godfathers in an array of federal lockups; and traveled halfway around the world trying to make sense of their tangled criminal webs, which have ensnared everyone from titans of finance and the heads of government to entire state security services." Their racket involves heroin smuggling, weapons trafficking, mass extortion, and casino operation, among other activities. "Blending financial sophistication with bone-crunching violence, the Russian mob has become the FBI's most formidable criminal adversary, creating an international criminal colossus that has surpassed the Colombian cartels, the Japanese Yakuzas, the Chinese triads, and the Italian Mafia in wealth and weaponry," writes Friedman. They've even penetrated professional hockey, as Friedman shows in an eye-opening chapter ("Federal authorities have come to fear that the NHL is now so compromised by Russian gangsters that the integrity of the game itself may be in jeopardy"). Red Mafiya benefits from a breezy narrative in detailing a master criminal operation whose influence on the United States is growing rapidly. Russian mobsters already have siphoned off millions of dollars in foreign aid meant to prop up their country's economy--and they may have a more direct impact on American national security concerns in the years ahead: "The Russian mob virtually controls their nuclear-tipped former superpower," writes Friedman. Now, there's a scary thought. Lifting the Iron Curtain seems to have been a mixed blessing: it let freedom in, and organized crime out. --John J. Miller
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Customer Reviews
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Friedman's POV is from criminology, with a stretch ethnic studies
Rating  (4)
Date: 2009-01-02
This reviewer was surprised that America's Red Mafiya are Russian Jews, but after reading another book on Perestroika, Jews were given preference in immigration into the US. Also Gulag prisoners who just claimed to be Jewish, had their records sealed, were allowed to immigrate too.
It appears that most information that is in this book comes from working closely with the local police, local multicultural media, court records, state and federal agencies, such as FBI, DEA, IRS, CIA interviews. There are only a few footnotes and there are no reference cites. Because of this informal structure, the book is an easily read narrative.
The TOC has 11 Chapters organized into two parts: 1) "The Invasion" and 2) "Colonization and Conquest." The book has 8-pg B&W pixs or maps, 8-pg index. Again, there are no references and only a few footnotes.
Chap1 "The Hit Man," p3-21 was about Monya Elson, born in a poor Jewish family emigrated in 1978 p15 from the Dniester River banks in the Ukraine to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NYC, aka "Little Odessa" where NYC's finest vodka, caviar, lox, borscht, knishes, and blintzes are served. He establishes a street thievery and extortion ring which lasted until his execution by a rival Vor gang in the 90s p41.
Chap2 "The Little Don," p23-39 was about Evsei Agron, a real Russian Vor who immigrated in 1975 and set up a prostitution and extortion ring. He also tried emulating with the Italian mafia, the Genovese crime family, including bilking Las Vegas casinos. A rival Vor gang, Boris Goldberg, cut down Agron in 1985 after a couple botch assassination attempts.
Chap3 "Brighton Beach Goodfellas," p41-67 was about Marat Balagula (non-practicing Jew), was college edu in Russia, starting as a small food coop and rose rapidly within the party to supply luxury black-market goods to the Soviet apparatchik. To get these supplies he had KGB issued passports and visas. His entire family immigrated to NYC in 1977 and quickly becomes an Elson protoge. After Elson's execution, Balagula rapidly converts the gang into a "Organizatsiya" with structure and plans. He creates a vertically integrated gasoline distributorship and gas stations syndicate. His org embezzled the Fed and State excise and road taxes collected at the pump, amounting to $8billion in 1985 p48. Finally the Feds got him for credit card fraud in 1989 and 18 years prison for tax evasion.
Chap4 "Operation Red Daisy," p69-95 was about the development of NYC Russian mafiya with strong ties back to Eastern Europe and former USSR.
Chap5 "Red Tide," p97-117 was about Monya Elson and other RU characters in his gang, success during 1990-3. DEA involvement p101; FBI involvement p107. Then new "Vor" came Vyascheslav Ivankov p108-117 with extortion and armed robberies and its expansion with Gulags in Siberia.
Chap6 "Invasion of America," p119-39 was about extends the Ivankov story into films. FBI involvement p131-2.
Chap7 "Tarzan," p141-169 was about expansion into the Miami area. Drug cocaine smuggling with Columbian Pablo Excobar.
Chap8 "Power Play," p173-201 where the mafiya are controlling professional hockey in North America, as well as controlling the import of East European hockey talent. Control and rigging of games in the NHL.
Chap9 "The Money Plane," p203-35 was about how Alexander Konanikhine evaded a KGB extortion to sign over his fortune while in Budapest, Hungary. Additional stories on how a daily Delta flight from JFK to Moscow carried up to a billion in US$100s per trip. Over 80 billion was transported to RU to prop-up RU Central Bank p207. The RU corruption was so pervasive with the RU Mafiya that no one dare hijack these shipments. Furthermore, "the federal Comptroller of the Currency office...stands to gain $99.96 from any $100 bill that leaves the country (US) and never returns p221" Republic National Bank NYC was infamous for laundering Russian money. In 1999, Republic was acquired by HSBC, London just when the Feds were closing on Republic on massive fraud p230.
Chap10 "The World's Most Dangerous Gangster," p237-261 was about Semion Mogilevich, a Economics educated Ukrainian-born Jew. The FBI, MI-5, and Israeli intelligence have books about him, masterminding the Bank of NY money laundering scheme p240. He even broadened his biz scope by coordinating with the JP Yakuza and IT Camorra crime syndicates. He controlled flow of heroin from the Asian Golden Triangle p243, and smuggled weapons from his home-base in Budapest.
The last Chap11 "Global Conquest," p263-88 concludes that the CIA knew how bad it was in Perestroika during the 1990s. They know that the oligarchs and billions of money needed conversion to US$ and was fleeing Russia and the establishment of a RU Mafiya in the States that would become more powerful than the Italian mafia. With more weapons, depots and networks all around the world. The Vor secret society was propagated by Yeltsin and both the Bush I and Clinton administrations unwittingly perpetuated the capital flight out of RU via US$2billion IMF p265 and US$7billion via Mogilevich and the Bank of NY p266. The Miami mafiya via Sergei Mikhailov rise and fall p272-276 who was based in Switzerland. Also in the Middle East, Israel took in 800,000 Russian Jews since the 70s. Israeli banking rules made it easy to launder large cash amounts with no reporting requirements p278.
If you want an entertaining, yet factual and visual introduction, watch movies such as "The Dark Knight (08)," "Eastern Promises (07)," "Babylon A.D. (08)," on the Russian mafiya and the HBO TV series, "The Sopranos (99-07)," on DVD as a modern look at the NYC Italian mafia. If you want to see about surviving a Gulag, RU language movies with EN subtitles, find a large rental place with a large foreign language film selection or a large RU grocery store for "Brat 2 (2K)" by director Balabanov, "Lost in Siberia (UK 92)" by director Mitta, "UK Title: Freedom is Paradise (90)" by director Bodrov, and "Little Odessa (1995)" by Amer director Gray.
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True story of Russian Mafia
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-07-13
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Robert Friedman the author Of "Red Mafiya" reveals who the Russian Mafia are , and how they operate. This is true story of how Russian Mafia has invaded America.Russian Mafia must be stopped just like any other ethnic mafia. Russian Mafia is mostly Jewish, but they betray even Israel for money. The Russian Mafia only works for itself, and no country. They have no loyalty to Russia, USA, or Israel, but only for their mafia organization.Russia , USA, and Israel have been victims of their crimes. Now is the time for all three countries to work together to limit the Russian Mafia.
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A very good overview!
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-11-10
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I like this book for what it is which is an overview of a very complex and intriguing issue of Russian mobsters operating in the US. It is under 300 pages so it is not an all-encompassing work on the subject. If you want to get an idea of the subject without having to trudge through an exhaustive study, this is an excellent book that you can pull through in a day or two and get something out of. If you want a complete and thorough history read something else. I am kind of puzzled over anti-Semitic accusations though. The fact that many Russian mafia figures are of Jewish decent is only brought up in the context of Russian Jews being able to leave the Soviet Union because of their heritage. It is not really touched on in any other way. Oh well.
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Thrilling
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-11-08
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
The first thing I did after opening this book was to go online and see if Robert I. Friedman was still alive because I found it hard to believe he could write a book like this and not get whacked. I was relieved to discover that, while he is deceased, death came from a blood disease as opposed to the hands of Mr. Ivankov or any of the other criminals he exposes in these pages. Simultaneous to reading this work I have open a recently released book on the Mexican Mafia which greatly pales in comparison to the artfulness of this account. I had no problem with Mr. Friedman's organization. The chapters, for the most part, tell differing tales of different characters which together provide a stunning and horrifying description of the Russian mob in America. The personalities depicted are every bit as interesting as those in la costa nostra. Indeed, that Italian gangsters played bocce ball while the Russian ones played chess goes a long way in explaining why they have been as successful as they are. The best writing rolls forth like a movie and that's true in the case of Red Mafiya. This was a magnificent book.
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Good information, poorly organized
Rating  (3)
Date: 2007-10-03
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
An account of the Russian Mafiya is an daunting task that requires a great deal of research. While I have no doubt that many of the statements in this book are true, the book suffers from a terrible lack of organization. It seems as though Friedman decided to write this book in a stream-of-conscious format. The format problem is damaging to the credibility of the book because it can confuse readers.
The evolution of the Russian Mafiya, which is located at the conclusion of chapter 5, should really open the book. Instead, Friedman jumps right into a prison interview with little primer before the important text. The main thesis alleges that the KGB stashed much of the money after the fall in the Soviet Union in as many places as possible. Among these places was organized crime, which has been diversifying since the 1970's. The problem was exacerbated when the Soviet Union fell. And because many of these Russian are Jewish, they seek asylum in Israel.
One of the move informative chapters discusses the extortion practices that mafiya associates exhibited with Russian NHL player. The media seems woefully unaware of any problem. This chapter is toward the middle of the book, sandwiched between prison interviews, illegal schemes, and biographies of members. The format left me with little frame of reference or time line regarding this developing problem. The book could benefit from a return to an editor.
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