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Moscow |
5 Top Crimes of the Russian Mob: What is the Mafia’s Business Model? The history of the Russian (or Red) mafia traces all the way back to the times of the tsar, when it was an act of rebellion to steal from the rich to feed the poor. However, little remains of that “Robin-Hood” like time. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, ex-convicts and smugglers infected almost every Government institution, traveling abroad in order to establish one of the five most deadly worldwide crime organizations in the world today. Here are five of the crimes that the Russian mob specializes in; a glimpse at what makes them so widely known – and feared – all over the world. |
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1. Kidnapping Ever since the Red Mafia’s birth, kidnapping has been its leading source of income and intimidation. One of the most infamous cases was the kidnapping of Canadian entrepreneur Dough Steele, who also had to pay millions of dollars to protect his Moscow night club, The Hungry Duck. The mob has even attempted to kidnap Madonna while she was touring Russia in 2006! 2. Banking Fraud Unlike other criminal organizations, the Russian mafia boasts some of the world’s most talented, educated felons. Drawing members from PhD and Master’s degree programs, the organization has been able to commit the biggest banking frauds in history, targeting even behemoths like Citibank and HSBC. In 2010, computer hackers linked to the Russian mafia stole £6 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Possessing thousands of cloned credit and debit cards and an army of thieves, the mob regularly steals from more than 2500 cash machines all across Europe. 3. Weapons smuggling After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the ex-Soviet nations, including Russia, were left with an unfathomable surplus of armaments in military storage. From machine guns to nuclear weapons, the Russian mob has taken to selling these weapons on the black market. The CIA and FBI have drawn connections between these formerly Soviet weapons caches to the arms used by terrorist groups in the middle east, all provided by the mob. The movie Lord of War, starring Nicholas Cage, illustrated this epidemic of weapons smuggling that still persists all over the world. |
Weapons smuggling |
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Ludwig Fainberg |
4. Human trafficking A revealing investigation by The Sunday Mirror exposed a terrifying network of sex slaves and human trafficking. The article revealed that teenage girls from all over the world were being kidnapped and smuggled to European countries by the Red Mafia. These girls were kept in deplorable conditions before being sold like cattle for £3,000. The buyers were brothels who kept the girls as prisoners and forced them to serve as sex slaves. 5. Drugs trafficking Taking advantage of the territory gained in the US, many Russian mafia made contact with South American drug cartels in order to smuggle cocaine into Europe. One of the most chilling cases was the partnership between the Russian mobster Ludwing “Tarzan” Fainberg and the Colombian drug Lord Juan Olmeda. Together they used ex-military submarines to send drugs all over Europe in exchange for rockets and other weapons. |
