Moscow - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T07:50:03Z
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The Dark Knight of Mother Russia: How The Russian Government Works Together With The Mafia
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-dark-knight-of-mother
2010-12-03T17:30:00.000Z
2010-12-03T17:30:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> The recent WikiLeaks publication of secret diplomatic cables between U.S. officials and contacts in other nations around the globe has painted a grim picture of the Russian government. The cables feature reports about how the Kremlin and organized crime are closely working together and participate in bribery, extortion, arms and drug trafficking, money laundering, and even contract killings. The publications also allege that Vladimir Putin is still the man in charge of Russia and that Medvedev is viewed as “Robin to Putin’s Batman”. <br /> <br /> This is nothing new. These kind of allegations have been made ever since Boris Yeltsin was in charge of Russia, but they never went beyond a sporadic newspaper article or segment on the nightly news. The only one who kept reporting about these stories was <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/8023316">Anna Politkovskaya</a>, a journalist who was very critical of the Kremlin and its actions. In her book <span style="font-style:italic;">Putin’s Russia</span>, she condemns the way the government, led by Vladimir Putin, mistreats its citizens. She writes about how, under Putin’s rule, bribery has become the norm. She explains how it had gotten to the point that one can only hope to replace the person he bribes, so he in turn can receive said bribe. In the end every person continues to bribe and pay his way to the top of the chain. Yet despite all these bribes and all these riches exchanging hands the government has no interest in giving back and its people are left in the cold. <br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236996478,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Politkovskaya (right) worked for the Novaya Gazeta, which was one of the few national Russian newspapers that continued to be critical of the Kremlin. Politkovskaya’s reporting gave Western journalists an insight into a world that had been shut off from the West for decades and was now slipping into a new form of dictatorship. Her criticism meant a normal life was out of the question. “She had been locked in a hole in the ground by Russian troops and threatened with rape, kidnapped, and poisoned by the FSB on the first flight to Rostov after the Beslan school siege in 2004. Her husband left her. Her son pleaded with her to stop. Her neighbors, cowed by the attentions of the FSB in an upmarket street in central Moscow, shunned her”, reported The Guardian. But despite this she never stopped her quest to show the world the true face of Russian politics. She never quit out of free will, so her opponents silenced her in a manner that is common in the world of organized crime: they killed her. On October 7, 2006, which happens to be Putin’s birthday, a gunman shot Politkovskaya in the body and head and left the gun next to her dead corpse. She was the thirteenth Russian journalist that had been murdered since Putin came to power. <br /> <br /> After her death there was outrage, but in the years that followed things settled down. Putin participated in numerous photo ops and the international media and politicians never applied a steady pressure on the Kremlin. Now, however, the combination of the hype surrounding WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange (who is currently wanted by Interpol) and FIFA (the governing body of international football) naming Russia the host nation for the World Cup Football in 2018, while accusations about <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/12/02/football.cup.corruption.llona/">corruption</a> within the organization emerged just weeks before, sees to it that every news agency is devoting a lot more time and space to these documents.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Russia: The New Mafia State</span><br /> <br /> Politkovskaya had described in her book how the line between the Russian government and organized crime had slowly blurred until it disappeared altogether. In several documents published by WikiLeaks we find pieces that corroborate that description and paint an explosive picture of Russian organized crime. Spanish National Court Prosecutor Jose "Pepe" Grinda Gonzalez told American diplomats how Moscow was using organized crime groups to carry out operations that could not be undertaken by an official government. According to a "thesis" by Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence official who worked on organized crime issues before he died in late 2006 in London from poisoning under mysterious circumstances, Russian intelligence and security services control organized crime in Russia. Gonzalez specifically named each service; Federal Security Service (FSB); the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR); and military intelligence (GRU), before stating “that he believes this thesis is accurate”. <br /> <br /> Furthermore, Gonzalez said that “according to information he has received from intelligence services, witnesses and phone taps, certain political parties in Russia operate "hand in hand" with Organized Crime. For example, he argued that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was created by the KGB and its successor, the SVR, and is home to many serious criminals. [Gonzalez] further alleged that there are proven ties between the Russian political parties, organized crime and arms trafficking. Without elaborating, he cited the strange case of the "Arctic Sea" ship in mid-2009 as "a clear example" of arms trafficking.”<br /> <br /> The prosecutor went on to discuss how Spanish authorities had managed to arrest several top Russian Mafia bosses in the past few years. “He said that since 2004 Spanish prosecutors have created a formal strategy to "behead" the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian mafia</a> in Spain. He explained that this has been a top-down strategy done through extensive investigations of criminal actions by these vory v zakone living in Spain. These individuals have no known jobs and unknown sources of income, yet they live in large mansions. Spanish prosecutors have concluded that money-laundering is likely involved and the challenge has been how to prove this. [Gonzalez] says that Spain's longtime experience in fighting drug traffickers' use of money laundering has proven valuable in this regard.”<br /> <br /> The money-laundering investigations have a two-fold objective, the report continues, “to prevent the targets from profiting from the original crime and to prevent the targets from gaining enough clout to enjoy economic influence, which [Gonzalez] suggested sooner or later always reaches political power. This is why Spain's Attorney General has grouped together the prosecutors' office for anti-corruption and organized crime. As part of this strategy to prevent [Mafiosi] from enjoying economic influence, Spain's strategy includes the seizure of businesses, companies, furniture and other assets.”<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236988282,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236988282?profile=original" />The political influence is notable with bosses like Gennadios Petrov and Tariel Oniani. “Gennadios Petrov (right), the chief target of Spain's <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-russian-mafia-in-spain">Operation Troika</a> was engaged in a "dangerously close" level of contact with senior Russian officials,” according to the report. Adding: “COMMENT: In a surprise move, Spanish judges granted bail to Petrov, who is out on house arrest as of January 31, 2010.” Whether or not Petrov managed to call in a favor is simple guesswork, but with all that has been said it does seem very suspicious.<br /> <br /> This is even more clear when Gonzalez discusses the lack of cooperation Spain has received from Russia. “In June 2005, Georgian-born <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-tariel-oniani">Tariel Oniani</a> fled to Russia hours before he was to be arrested in Spain and Russia gave him citizenship in April 2006, despite the fact that he had fled Spanish justice. [Gonzalez] alleged that the granting of citizenship was neither "innocent" nor "something done for free," and was an example of Russia putting crimelords to work on behalf of its interests. [Gonzalez] alleged that the Russian Ministry of Interior and the FSB are closely protecting Oniani in Russia (even in prison). Following Oniani's arrest in Moscow in June 2009, Spain requested his extradition for charges stemming from Operation Avispa, to which Russia replied that Oniani's Russian citizenship prevented him from being extradited. [Gonzalez] said that Russia "always tells Spain that it will take away Oniani's citizenship, but it never does." [Gonzalez] said that, from his experience, "A virture of the Russian government is that it will always say and do the same thing: nothing."<br /> <br /> Where Spanish Justice sees a noticeable lack of cooperation on the side of the Kremlin, it is clear the Russian Mafia has no such problem. Though the political bosses in Moscow can only do so much, as is illustrated in the case of Russian arms trafficker <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-viktor-bout">Viktor Bout</a>. Bout had been caught in Thailand during a sting operation in which he made a weapons deal with an undercover agent. The US wanted Thailand to extradite him so they could put him on trial, but Thailand was stalling and things did not look good for US prosecutors.<br /> <br /> In the cables leaked by WikiLeaks the process surrounding Bout’s extradition becomes a bit more clear. Russian officials were not only backing Bout publicly during media appearances but were also involved in providing false testimony and bribing witnesses.<br /> <br /> American diplomats wrote: “There have been disturbing indications that Bout's xxxxxxxxxx and Russian supporters have been using money and influence in an attempt to block extradition. The most egregious example was the false testimony of xxxxxxxxxx that Bout was in Thailand as part of government-to-government submarine deal. Thus, we felt it was time to once again raise the matter at the top of the government and make clear that, while we understand the judicial process must take its course without political interference, we insist that the process be free of corruption and undue influence.” In the end the Russian officials and “supporters” of Bout could not prevent the extradition, but after reading the leaked cable it is clear they have tried their best. <br /> <br style="font-weight:bold;" /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A Mafia Boss Can Not Retire</span><br /> <br /> As the Russian government and organized crime have become more entangled it is inevitable that one looks to the man in charge of it all. For years, that man was former KGB agent Vladimir Putin. He replaced his opponents with old friends who, at one time, had worked with him at the KGB. Within a short time Putin held firm control over the entire Kremlin. <br /> <br /> He then went after the so-called Oligarchs, rich Russian businessmen, who refused to abide by his rules. Those who supported him, did just that. Those who did not had a very tough time, and either went into exile or saw their world crumble before their eyes. Two examples are Boris Berezovsky, who fled Russia and now lives in Britain, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was the head of Yukos Oil Company until Putin managed to put his adversary in prison on fraud charges. <br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236997261,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236997261?profile=original" />As Putin (right) neared the end of his second term as Russian President his position of power was absolute. The Russian constitution made it impossible for him to run for a third term and in theory the time had come for him to step down from the throne. But if he relinquished his control old enemies might be tempted to make a move on him. Putin found himself in a stressful position. He had molded modern Russian society in such a way that those in a position of power were able to accept bribes and use the bureaucracy as they saw fit. Once in this position they only needed to worry about those in a position above them. This was the way it worked in Putin’s Russia. And in Putin’s Russia there is no way a regular Putin can survive. <br /> <br /> That is why he is still involved in politics and serves as Prime-Minister to his replacement and new President Dmitry Medvedev. But the leaked cables suggest that despite the title change, Putin is still the man in charge. American diplomats report: “Medvedev and Putin work well together, but Putin holds most, and the best, of the cards in the tandem relationship.” According to the diplomats “Medvedev plays Robin to Putin's Batman".<br /> <br /> “Putin’s return to the Kremlin is not inevitable, but should things remain stable, Putin remains in a position to choose himself, Medvedev, or another person as Russia's next president.” As if he were using a front boss to run his crime family. Like Tony Soprano using his Uncle Junior in television series The Sopranos. So, is Putin as involved in running his crime family as Tony Soprano was? It is impossible to say. But if we are to believe the leaked diplomatic cables and brave journalists, it seems Russians are dealing with a government that has little interest in justice and their well being and all the more interest in power and money.</p>
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Profile of Russian Mafia boss Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-alimzhan
2010-11-25T16:30:00.000Z
2010-11-25T16:30:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2002<br /> <br /> Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was born in 1949 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Tokhtakhounov's first set back came when at a young age he lost his father and, not long after his fathers death, Tokhtakhounov's mother died as well leaving Tokhtakhounov alone at the age of 13 to take care of his younger brother. Growing up as a kid one of the few places Tokhtakhounov felt happy was on the football field (soccer). Tokhtakhounov loved football and played it with a passion eventually he played in the first team of the Uzbek team Pakhtakor. As a football player Tokhtakhounov earned the nickname "Taiwanchik," which means little Taiwanese. But despite the fun he had playing football it wasn't paying the bills and Tokhtakhounov needed money to take care of his younger brother. And so Tokhtakhounov began playing cards for money and won big with it. When he injured his knee during football practise Tokhtakhounov's football career was over and he decided to test his 'luck' at cards and other operations in the big city, Moscow.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Tokhtakhounov started managing a football team during the day and playing cards at night he also joined the Izmaylovo Organized Crime group. For the communistic times Tokhtakhounov made good money playing cards. During the vacation Tokhtakhounov went to the resort town of Sochi where he scammed tourists out of their card money. Things went good for Tokhtakhounov he was earning a nice living with his criminal activities and had given up his manager job at the football club and was now a criminal full time. In 1972 this proved to be a mistake. Tokhtakhounov was arrested for nothing more than being without a job. In communist Russia those arrests were frequent and in 1980 Tokhtakhounov was arrested again on similar charges. During his years with the Izmaylovo Organization Tokhtakhounov mingled with Russian celebreties and athletes. He met all these people while working for the Association XXI Century company, a company owned by the powerful mobster Otari Kvantrishvily. His job in this company was to take care of the debtors who refused to pay. In 1989 Tokhtakhounov decided to leave Russia and planned on setting up business in East Germany. After having spent three years in East Germany Tokhtakhounov found the heat attention from German authorities became too much. People around Tokhtakhounov were getting killed and police questioned him on why that was, Tokhtakhounov didn't know but fearing for his own life left Germany in 1993.<br /> <br /> While in France Tokhtakhounov continued his criminal ways and in 1994 was involved, according to French authorities, in a money laundering case involving $70 million dolllars. French police also questioned him in connection with the murder of a Russian man because they believed he had ties to the man behind the murder. After all the questioning Tokhtakhounov had had enough and decided to move again this time to Israel. He didn't stay long though, after a while he moved back to France. Back in France Tokhtakhounov once again mingled with celebrities and athletes and other members of high society. And it paid off. In 1999 Tokhtakhounov was made a knight in the Order of St. Constatine. The ceremony was attended by several reputed Russian Organized Crime figures.<br /> <br /> But in 2000 Tokhtakhounov moved yet again, this time to Italy. This time it seemed like a permanent move, he bought houses in Forte dei Marmi, Rome and Milan. In Italy Tokhtakhounov kept a low profile, or so it seemed. His friends say he was very busy trying to get a Russian passport but that was it they say. On July 31 2002 however the truth of what Tokhtakhounov was doing in Italy became clear: He had fixed the Olympic Ice Skating games. On that day, June 31, 2002, Tokhtakhounov was arrested on charges that he fixed the pairs and ice dancing figure skating competitions at the Salt Lake City Olympics. According to the FBI Tokhtakhounov fixed the competition for French couple Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat and made them win by pressuring a Russian juror to vote for them in turn he pressured a French juror to vote for the Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. Tokhtakhounov did this according to the FBI to obtain a French visum. True or not Tokhtakhounov was arrested in Italy and kept there the U.S. has requested that the Italian authorities hand him over but so far it seems Tokhtakhounov will stay put in an Italian prison. If the Ice Skating fix turns out to be true it is yet another example of how far the power of the Russian Mafia reaches.</p>
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An American Businessman In Moscow: The Story Of Paul Tatum
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/an-american-businessman-in
2010-11-25T16:23:42.000Z
2010-11-25T16:23:42.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /> <br /> The first time the Western world became familiar with the crime entangled Russian business scene was when American businessman Paul Tatum was murdered by unknown assailants, reputedly over a business dispute. The murder sent shockwaves through the business community and had American congressmen screaming for justice. But after a few months it seemed like all was forgotten, Tatum as well as the corrupt Russian business scene. Maybe forgotten but hardly out of mind.<br /> <br /> Paul Tatum was born in 1955 in Edmond, Oklahoma. He graduated from Edmond Memorial High School. In High School Tatum already showed an enormous drive to succeed and it became clear to his fellow students and his teachers that Tatum would excel at whatever he pursued. After dropping out of college Tatum began hopping from one business deal to and he eventually ended up doing fundraisers for the Republican Party. Tatum first came to Russia in 1985 at the age of 29 when he was with an American trade delegation. Tatum immediately saw the potential of the Russian market and began planning his path to Russian success. In 1987 after two years of planning and preperation Tatum was ready to conquer Russian business, Tatum set up a business center for foreign firms in Moscow: a first for the communist city. Not long after he and several other American businessmen founded Americom International Corporation. Two important associates in Americom were H.R. "Bob" Haldeman and Bernie Rome, two former members of President Nixon's chief of Staff, Tatum came into contact with them while he was working as a fundraiser for the Republican Party. They helped Tatum get an 'in' with all the important people in Russia and enabled him to set up and expand his business without too much dificulties.<br /> <br /> By 1990 Tatum's big break came. The break came when Tatum's company RedAmer Partnership joined up with Radisson Hotel Corporation and signed a contract with Goskom Intourist and later the Moscow City Government that agreed to construct an American hotel combined with a business center that would go by the name Intourist Redamer Hotel and Business Center (later changed to Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel). A year later in June of 1991 the Hotel opened it's doors. At the numerous parties at the hotel and business center Tatum mingled with powerful figures from Russian business, politics and eventually ,and inevitably, the Russian underworld.<br /> <br /> The Moscow Underworld is a maze filled with a different Organized Crime group or gang on every corner. In the mid 1990s the Russian interior ministry did research on the amount of gangs in Moscow and came up with around 200 organizations, about 20 of those had branched out to other parts of the world. The Moscow underworld is made up out of groups from several different ethnic backgrounds. The main groups are Slavic (Russian), Georgian, Armenian and Chechen. With so many groups in Moscow the city's businesses are inevitably tangled up with Organized Crime and vice versa. Organized Crime is said to control around 75% of all private businesses in Russia. With Russian criminals threatening legit business and demanding pay offs and ineffective Russian law enforcement it is not surprising then that the demand for private security sky rocketed seeing to it that across Russia private security businesses stepped into the forground. In seven years 25.000 Russian security firms were established employing between half a million to a million workers. These workers are mainly ex Spetznaz commandos or war veterans who are desperately seeking money and would rather stay legit then go into crime. The funny and dangerous thing about these security firms is however that most of them are controlled by Organized Crime groups. With this concrete basis Organized Crime has a lockdown on the entire legit business world in Russia. It was this shady world that Paul Tatum had to start dealing with.<br /> <br /> Tatum's Hotel was doing good business and things went great, a little inconvienant for business was the August 1991 Russian Coup but after the frenzy died down Tatum had even more opportunities. It is rumored that he was the one responsible for a direct phoneline between the White House and Gorbachov's camp. After the coup things settled down again and Tatum went back to business. A business that was ever changing. In 1992 Goskom Intourist was liquidated and the Moscow City Government became a new partner in the deal. No big deal for Tatum at first, his company still owned 80% of the 50% (50% that belonged to the American partners in the deal, the other 50% belonged to the Russian companies and Moscow City Government) of the property. But with the Moscow City Government came a partner that held a lot of power, more than any of the other partners in the deal. The Moscow City Government had connections throughout the Russian government and it's system, it could pressure anyone to give in to their demands and their demands would become clear very fast.<br /> <br /> Paul Tatum and The Moscow City Government had a quiet working relationship for about two years. After that time it started to rumble. In January of 1995 problems arose with the General Director of the American Partnership. The American hadn't received his Russian visa and wasn't going to receive one either. The loss of the General Director was a big blow for Tatum because now that position would be taken over by someone from the Russian partnership. Umar Dzhabrailov was named General Director. Dzhabrailov was a Chechen who had heavy connections within the Moscow City Government and used those connections to get into the position of General Director. But those weren't the only connections Umar Dzhabrailov had, several law enforcement agencies including the F.B.I. and Interpol list Dzhabrailov as a member of Chechen Organized Crime. A report in the Russian press went even further calling Dzhabrailov a "known contract killer and one of a handful of Chechen mafia bosses operating in Moscow." Dzhabrailov doesn't deny his ties to Organized Crime but says they are "only social". With Dzhabrailov as General Director things made a turn for the worse for Paul Tatum.<br /> <br /> Paul Tatum didn't realize it that fast but the Russian partnership had made ousting him it`s priority....by any means possible. While Tatum went about his business the Russian side showed it's teeth. On St Valentine's Day 1995 one of Tatum's bodyguards was found beaten and stabbed in the chest with a pen knife. The bodyguard also had a message from his attackers: "Tell Paul it's high time he left for home." Most businessmen would've gotten the message and would've left town immediately, but not Paul Tatum. Tatum had grown a fondness for the Moscow nightlife, the clubs, the women. Tatum had enough money and liked to spend it and some even say he started acting like a mobster throwing around cash and surrounding himself with gorgeous women. Meanwhile the cold war for control of the Hotel and business center continued. Tatum had upped his bodyguards and after the attack on his bodyguard took extra security measures he now always had his bodyguards guard empty rooms so no one could plant bombs in them. He also decided to fight Dzhabrailov in the media he called him a "genuine Mafioso" who "has threatened he can kill me at any time" The fight had turned ugly and was now spilling from the boardrooms onto the public scene.<br /> <br /> After months of warring between the Tatum and Dzhabrailov in February 1996 it looked like there would be a solution to Tatum's problems. The solution was to bribe Dzhabrailov and the Moscow City Government. If Tatum would pay the sum of $1 millions dollars to a certain person all his troubles would end. $500.000 dollars would go to the Moscow City Government and the other $500.000 dollars would go to Dzhabrailov so that he would resign or step down as General Director. But instead of paying Tatum decided to take the matter to court. Tatum sued the Russian partners for $35 million dollars additional payments and payment of damages. In the media Tatum remained defiant as ever saying "They will have to shoot me to get rid of me" Things were heating up and Tatum was bracing himself for the hit. He now had said goodbye to the fast nightlife of Moscow preferring to stay in his Hotel in suites 850 and 852. Tatum was now told repeatedly by U.S. embassy oficials to leave Russia, Tatum replied in U.S.A. Today with: "I feel like I'm fighting a one-man battle." "They'd rather pay than stand up and fight." On September 30, 1996 Tatum went even further when he published a full page ad in a Moscow paper directed to Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov:<br /> <br /> "Yuri M. Luzhkov: I must tell you that not one person here in Russia or abroad is fooled. All know of the dangerous activities. I implore you to show the world your resolve and commitment to become the catalyst to solve these grave problems-peacefully, efficiently, with fairness and justice for the investor and for the legal agreements under which their original activities were created. The world now awaits this signal. This is your choice and your crossroads. Where do you stand, Yuri M. Luzhkov? In the shadows or the bright sunlight?"<br /> <br /> It would be Tatum's last defiant gesture.<br /> <br /> On November 3rd, 1996 around 5.00 PM Paul Tatum left his Hotel and headed towards the Kievskaya metro station, where he had arranged to meet someone. When Tatum arrived there with his bodyguards the person he was supposed to meet wasn't there, instead a man walked up towards Tatum and shot him eleven times from five meters distance with an AK-47. Tatum's bodyguards did nothing to protect there boss, the killer dropped his weapon and fled the scene unharmed. Tatum's bodyguards rushed their wounded boss to the hospital but to no avail Paul Tatum died shortly after his arrival. Shortly after the news of Tatum's death Dzahrailov and the Moscow City Government took undisputed control of the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel and businesscenter. He denied any role in the Tatum murder but did say: "What goes around, comes around". Dzahrailov also saw to it that a planned memorial service at the hotel was nixed as well as Tatum's wishes to be buried at the prestigious Novodevichy Cemetery. Tatum was eventually cremated and interred in the Moscow Novodevitsji cemetary. "Paul never learned it was their country," said Tatum's Americom associate Bernie Rome. "He was like a bull in a china shop. He didn't understand you have to play by Russian rules. It's all very sad."<br /> <br /> Tatum's murder shows how corrupt Russian business had become. Russian business is controlled by Organized Crime groups and powerfull businessmen who use strong arm tactics and criminal ways to get deals done. With Russian law enforcement and the Russian courts inefective Russian business has absorbed Mafia tactics to get it's demands done. It will be interesting to see how and if Russian business will ever de-criminalize and return to normal business procedures such as sueing each other over a business dispute instead of putting out a murder contract.</p>
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Profile of Russian Mafia boss Tariel Oniani
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-tariel-oniani
2010-11-03T18:49:45.000Z
2010-11-03T18:49:45.000Z
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<p><br /> By "Hollander" (Hollander is a pseudonym)<br /> Posted on March 6, 2009<br /> <br /> In July last year Russian police used a dramatic helicopter raid to detain dozens of reputed crime bosses known as “thieves-in-law,” gathered on a yacht at a reservoir outside Moscow. Some of them attempted to flee from police and jumped overboard, but the water was too cold for swimming that day and the criminals preferred to return to the captured craft. The Russian news media covered showed scenes of commandos marching the handcuffed gangsters single file to waiting buses. Most of the more than three dozen suspected gang leaders detained in the raid were later released because of a lack of evidence. Among those detained, according to media reports, was Tariel Oniani, an ethnic Georgian with a reputation as one of the most powerful crime bosses in the Soviet Union.<br /> <br /> Some speculated that Tariel Oniani, had organized the meeting to discuss a conflict with a rival crime boss, Aslan Usoyan. The dispute could develop into a bloody conflict reminiscent of the gang wars of the 1990s. Usoyan gathered his supporters, including Vyacheslav Ivankov, known as Yaponchik, for a May 2 meeting in Krasnodar, newspaper Kommersant reported. In an interview with a local newspaper, Aslan Usoyan denied rumors of impending violence. “We are peaceful people and don’t bother anybody,” he said. “We are for peace, in order to prevent lawlessness.” In fact the thieves-in-law have been linked to numerous murders in the post-Soviet period. Authorities have accused them of ordering contract killings and carrying out kidnappings and innumerable financial crimes.<br /> <br /> Tariel Oniani was born in the miner’s town of Tkibuli in 1952. His father died in a mine. Tariel was first convicted of robbery and theft at the age of 17. He served the total of 8 terms in prison, An influential “thief-in-law” in the Moscow of the 1980s, he moved to Paris in the 1990s and later to Spain, when criminal charges were brought against him in France. He ran a construction business on the Mediterranean coast, apparently employing an illegal Georgian work force and investing in real estate for money-laundering purposes. After the police failed to arrest Oniani in Spain in the summer of 2005, an international warrant was issued against him. The Spanish police undertook a large-scale operation but he managed to escape. They conducted some 50 searches in Barcelona, Alicante, and at the resorts of Marbella and Torremolinos where offices of Tariel Oniani’s companies were situated. In September of 2005, hardly three months after the operation, intelligence services were alerted that Oriani had issued an order to assassinate the ones in charge of the investigation, the judge and the public prosecutor.<br /> </p>
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<p>Months later, in May, Oniani’s business partner Zakhar Knyazevich Kalashov (photo right), the man considered to be the leader of the Russian mafia in Spain, was arrested in Dubai. Knyazevich well known as Shakro Junior arrived on the Costa Blanca at the end of the 1990s, then later spent time on the Costa del Sol and in Cataluña. The criminals had established a network of bars and restaurant chains on Spain's Mediterranean coast, and also trafficked luxury cars to launder money from criminal activities in the former Soviet Union. Knyazevich who was brought back onto Spanish soil on board a military aircraft, fled Spain, when 28 members of his organisation were arrested, and 800 bank accounts were frozen. Several international arrest warrants have been issued for the man linked to killings and drug trafficking. In november 2006 Spanish police arrested nine other gang members including Ukrainian national Oleg Vorontsov, a former advisor to ex-president Boris Yeltsin, who led the crime ring after the arrest of Knyazevich.<br /> <br /> “I knew this man [Tariel Oniani]. I met him in Paris a long time ago,” businessman Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov told Kommersant “I would not say he’s a bad man. He is a businessman with good connections. I think this is a provocation, the same as was directed at me. You see, it’s summer in Europe now. It’s dead boring there in summer, and they need to amuse people, their voters, and, at the same time, show they earn the voters’ salt."<br /> <br /> In the last 15 years the thieves-in-law have spread around the world, from Moscow to Madrid to Berlin and Brooklyn. They are involved in everything from petty theft to billion-dollar money laundering schemes, while also acting as unofficial jurists among conflicting Russian criminal factions. When the Soviet Union fell, they emerged from the broken country’s peripheries to exploit the legal chaos. By all accounts, they infiltrated the top political and economic circles.</p>
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Profile of Russian Mafia boss Sergei Mikhailov
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-sergei-mikhailov
2010-11-03T18:30:00.000Z
2010-11-03T18:30:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001 <br /> <br /> Sergei Mikhailov is considered one of the most powerful Russian mobsters. He is the boss of the Moscow based Solntsevskaya organization, the biggest in Russia and probably the world, counting 5.000 members. Mikhailov's power reaches from Moscow and Geneve to Miami and the Middle East.<br /> <br /> Sergei Anatoliavic Mikhailov was born in February 7, 1958 in Moscow, Russia. He grew up in an atmosphere where doing crime wasn't considered a bad thing. Especially when the real criminals were the cops and politicians who murdered and tortured anyone who dared sing a different tune than the one approved by the communist government. Mikhailov, or Mikhas as he was called, didn't dive into a life of crime right away, first he worked as a waiter in several Moscow restaurants. But the pay wasn't as good as it could be and so pretty soon Mikhailov turned to crime full time.</p>
<p>After some time without being caught his luck ran out. In 1984, at the age of 26, Mikhailov was charged with theft and fraud and sentenced to 6 months in prison, or as the Russians call their hell: Gulag. There, Mikhailov made some good contacts with other Russian gangsters, including members of the Vor v Zakone, the Russian Mafia. The contacts made in prison would serve Mikhailov well.<br /> <br /> When he got out, Mikhailov was a hardened criminal with contacts and a feared reputation. He was ready to begin his rise to power. Once out he began his own organization, he named it after a neighborhood in Moscow: The Solntsevskaya organization. In the beginning its main activities were: extortion, counterfeiting, drug trafficking and blackmail. Ppretty soon the group got into trouble with other crews working the same area. Several wars were fought and every time Mikhailov and his Solsnetskaya organization came out on top. With his rivals out of the way Mikhailov had total control and his organization soon expanded into arms dealing, infiltration of legitimate businesses and money laundering. Pretty soon the Solsnetskaya organization was the biggest, most organized, most powerful and most feared criminal organization in Moscow and Russia. The money was rolling in and Mikhailov's power was enormous.</p>
<p>When Mikhailov was arrested in 1989 on extortion charges he served 18 months in a Russian detention center awaiting his trial. When the trial finally the main witness refused to testifie, Mikhas walked that same day and continued to expand his criminal empire. And it would expand, the Soviet Union was about to fall and the Russian Mafia would get a whole new playing field.<br /> <br /> When the Soviet Union collapsed and the Iron Curtain fell Russia was in total chaos. And where there's chaos there is an opportunity. Mikhailov and the other Russian Mafia bosses took advantage of the confusion in the Russian government and gained control of politicians and gevernment resources. With the government and the Iron Regime knock out there was nothing left to stop the Russian Mafia from totally taking over what the government left behind. Pretty soon Mikhailov's Organization owned banks, casino's, car dealerships, even the local airport (The Vnoekovo Airport). Operating from their new headquarters, a stylish building along the Leninsky Prospekt, Mikhailov's Organization controlled prostitution, gambling and weapons dealing. Mikhailov had taken control of Russia and now felt it was time to expand, the Western world was waiting and Mikhailov got himself and his Organization ready to go international.<br /> <br /> Combat Brigades at work in MoscowIn 1994 while Mikhailov sent his soldiers all over the world to set up base he himself decided to go to Israel. Israel is a popular residence among Russian mobsters because it has a certain rule: Jews from all over the world may return to Israel and can not be refused even if they are on the run from the law. Because of this law many Jewish Russian mobsters decide to live in Israel, and many non Jewish Russians decide to get a fake passport, one of them: Sergei Mikhailov. While living in Israel Mikhailov watched his empire expand. His Organization was now active all over the world. He did business with other criminal organizations including the Colombian Cartels and Italian Mafia's both the US Italian as the Italian and Sicilian. Mikhailov's power was enormous, he had hit teams (called combat brigades) on standby in Miami. Whenever somebody had to be whacked Mikhailov flew his professional hitteam to the place where the hit took place, this could be in Russia or somewhere in Europe, the team took care of the hit and then flew back to Miami to wait for a new assignment. In the meantime they ran some U.S. based operations for the Organization in New York, Los Angeles and Houston.<br /> <br /> In 1995 Mikhailov decided to move to Switzerland. In Switzerland Mikhailov started building up a web of bank accounts and companies with respectable directors. According to Swiss court documents Russian mobsters had laundered $60 billion dollars through Swiss banks. Mikhailov was doing well and showed it, he had put his kids in a good private school and bought a castle near Geneva, drove a beautiful Rolls Royce and he spent about $15.000 dollars a month on clothing. Life was good, until Swiss authorities decided to put some pressure on the Russian mobsters who were moving to Switzerland. In October 1996 Mikhailov was arrested and charged with being boss of a criminal organization using false documents and breaking a Swiss law restricting foreigners from buying property. In his mansion police found Israeli Military bugging equipment with this bugging equipment Mikhailov was able to listen in on secret Swiss police radio transmissions. The police also found loads of documents with names of bogus companies on it, used for laundering money from drugs and weapon sales. Detectives also found out that Mikhailov invested millions of his white money in the U.S.. He had bought nightclubs in New York and Los Angeles. Furthermore he bought a car dealership in Houston. Mikhailov denied he was a criminal and said he was just a "simple businessman". The Swiss authorities didn't buy it and locked him in a prison to await his faith. During the period between his lock up and the trial a lot of things would happen all over the world.<br /> <br /> Mikhailov was considered a threat to society and so he was held in a Swiss prison awaiting his trial. While the Swiss prosecutors were gathering evidence Mikhailov made sure there wasn't much evidence left. Several people who had done business with Mikhailov were found dead. In Holland a father and his son were murdered, the father was stabbed in his eye and bled to death. Another man in Amsterdam was shot to death. Short there after the head of the Moscow police department fled to Switzerland. He claimed he was threatened by some of Mikhailov's men. Even the media was threatened, a Belgian journalist who wrote several columns about Mikhailov was warned by the local police that there was a contract on his life. Eventualy the police stopped the plot when they arrested a corrupt Belgian policeman who was about to take out the hit. Finally after 2 years the trial started, November 30, 1998 was set and 80 witnesses wearing bulletproof vests would come in and testifie. If Mikhailov was convicted he faced up to 7 years in prison.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236977277,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />The trial turned out to be a major succes for Mikhailov and a major blow to the Swiss authorities. Despite all the evidence found at Mikhailov's home and around 80 witnesses the Swiss prosecutors could not convict Mikhailov. The big obstacle was the Russian government. The Russians were asked to give certain documents that would show that Mikhailov was the head of a criminal empire, they refused. As a result Mikhailov was found not guilty on the most serious charges and found guilty on a minor charge for which he wasn't sentced since he already had served 2 years awaiting his trial. Mikhailov immediately thanked the jury, crying: "My heart is full of gratitude...I love you, I love you, I love you." Later, in a statement, he added: "You have shown to the whole world that democracy, law and justice exists in this country." And he wasn't finished after being set free in DEcember of 1998 Mikhailov went back to Russia and sued canton Geneva for his lost income in the 2 years he had spent in prison awaiting his trial, he won......In July, 1999 a Geneva court awarded Mikhailov the full amount he had claimed, although the cantonal authorities appealed against the decision.<br /> <br /> Mikhailov leads his criminal empire that stretches from Asia to Canada back to Moscow and Western Europe. There is no place on this world which is safe for his Organization. He continues to make billions of dollars and expands his power as we speak. Sergei Mikhailov is one of the most dangerous Russian gangsters of the moment and what's even worse: He's living in freedom.</p>
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