Comrade
Criminal: Russia's New Mafiya
by Stephen Handelman
This riveting book is the first comprehensive investigation into the
organized crime and corruption that plague post-Communist Russia and sabotage
its attempts at revolution and reform. Handelman, Moscow bureau chief for
The Toronto Star from 1987 to 1992, has based his book on interviews with
more than 150 Russians--mobsters, police, political crusaders, former KGB
agents, new millionaires, and ordinary citizens. Amazon.com
Paperback: 408 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.06 x
9.21 x 6.11
Yale Univ Pr; ISBN: 0300063865; (April 1997)
Russian
Mafia in America: Immigration, Culture, and Crime
by James O. Finckenauer, Elin J. Waring
Paperback: 320 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.97 x
8.94 x 5.98
Northeastern University Press; ISBN: 1555535089; (November
2001)
Bandits,
Gangsters and the Mafia: Russia, the Baltic States and the CIS Since 1991
by Martin McCauley
The
Russian Mafia: Private Protection in a New Market Economy
by Federico Varese
Hardcover: 320 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.53 x
9.00 x 5.94
Oxford University Press; ISBN: 019829736X; (September
2001)
Casino
Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier
by Matthew Brzezinski
If Michael Lewis (The New New Thing, Liar's Poker) or P.J. O'Rourke
(Holidays in Hell, Parliament of Whores) had spent the 1990s in Moscow,
they might have produced a book like Casino Moscow--a dizzying first-person
account of the wild east and its shotgun wedding with capitalism. It begins
with Matthew Brzezinski as a rookie reporter getting beaten and nearly
killed by a pair of Ukrainian thugs; the rest of the book is a white-knuckle
tour through a place where the line separating entrepreneurs and criminals
is often impossible to discern. Brzezinski worked in the Moscow bureau
of the Wall Street Journal. If his name sounds familiar, that's because
he's the nephew of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security
advisor. He is an ideal guide: sometimes it takes a fish-out-of-water foreigner
to see the things a jaded native cannot. (Comparing the author to Alexis
de Tocqueville or Gunnar Myrdal is a stretch, but it's the same idea.)
Brzezinski also writes with great humor and amazing panache. Describing
the parking lot of a high-class bank, he writes that it "resembled a well-stocked
Mercedes dealership that specialized only in armored, navy blue 600-series
sedans, or shestotki, as the top-of-the-line models were affectionately
known--as in 'My shestotka's just been blown up, can I borrow yours?'"
Gangsters, prostitutes, and Western investors fill these pages, all of
them coming to life courtesy of Brzezinski's narrative skill. Despite the
title, Casino Moscow isn't just about Moscow--some of the best sections
cover other parts of Russia: "It was heartbreaking that St. Petersburg
had been so mistreated. Yet even in its state of decay, I still preferred
its shabby elegance to Moscow's new-money makeover. In St. Petersburg you
lived for the past; Moscow lived only for the day." At the edge of Siberia,
on the Pacific coast, is Vladivostok--"five time zones ahead of the Russian
capital, but a decade behind." The book is a fast-paced adventure story--and
a must for readers interested in Russia as well as fans of modern-day gonzo
journalism. Brzezinski is a writer to watch. --John Miller - Amazon.com
Godfather
of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism
by Paul Klebnikov
Paul Klebnikov tells the incredible story of Boris Berezovsky, a one-time
Russian car dealer who assembled a huge--and illicit--fortune after the
collapse of Communism. "This individual had risen out of nowhere to become
the richest businessman in Russia and one of the most powerful individuals
in the country," writes Klebnikov, a respected reporter for Forbes. "This
is a story of corruption so profound that many readers might have trouble
believing it." Yet Godfather of the Kremlin is a careful work of journalism
in which Klebnikov documents the business dealings of a man who once bragged
to the Financial Times that he and six other men controlled half of the
Russian economy and rigged Boris Yeltsin's reelection in 1996. Berezovsky
survived both an assassination attempt and a murder investigation, and
paved the way to power for Vladimir Putin. He and the other crony capitalists
of post-Soviet Russia like to rationalize their deeds, writes Klebnikov:
"Whenever I asked Russia's business magnates about the orgy of crime produced
by the market reforms, they invariably excused it by pointing to the robber
barons of American capitalism. Russia's bandit capitalism was no different
from American capitalism in the late nineteenth century, they argued."
Yet nothing could be further from the truth: Carnegie, Rockefeller, and
their peers transformed the United States into an economic superpower.
Berezovsky, on the other hand, has "produced no benefit to Russia's consumers,
industries, or treasury." It's not that he didn't have an opportunity.
To pick one example among many, he took over Aeroflot when it had a monopoly
position in a booming market. But the company barely grew, and instead
experienced myriad problems. Berezovsky controlled many businesses, but
he was a lousy business manager; his only authentic success--as an auto
dealer--depended on collusion. His real skill is shady dealmaking, especially
with corrupt government officials. That's the way to success in modern
Russia, as this well-told but troubling book reveals. --John J. Miller
- Amazon.com
Paperback from Harvest Books
Book Published: September, 2001
Special Order |
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Russian
Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia
by Danzig Baldayev, Sergey Vasiliev, Damon Murray
Hardcover from Steidl
Book Published: December, 2003
Russian
Organized Crime and Corruption: Putin's Challenge
by William H. Webster (Editor), et al
Red
Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America
by Robert I. Friedman
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 - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 288 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.16 x
9.59 x 6.45
Little Brown & Company; ISBN: 0316294748; (May 2000)
Transnational
Criminal Organizations, Cybercrime, and Money Laundering : A Handbook for
Law Enforcement Officers, Auditors, and Financial investigator
by James R. Richards
Hardcover: 344 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.95 x
9.58 x 6.44
CRC Press; ISBN: 0849328063; (October 20, 1998)
Transnational
Crime in the Americas
by Tom Farer (Editor)
Paperback: 320 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.70 x
9.04 x 6.07
Routledge; ISBN: 0415923018; (June 1999)
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