Russian Mafia: Return to the Old Way an Organization of Violence

Due to the decline in power of the government a power vacuum was created in Russia into which the Russian Mafia quickly moved. The majority of real actions take place behind the a new iron curtain created by Mafia Bosses. The various regional crime organizations had made major inroads in filling this vacuum through alliances with each other and corrupt government officials. The power bases of the new organized crime groups have begun to search for new territories to expand into. Movement began with expansions into Austria and Germany. And with the fall of the Berlin Wall immigration of these crime elements began to move into America. The ties with their Russian roots were maintained along with the heavy use of violence to reach objectives and goals.

Examples of the use of violence to obtain specific is displayed by some of the activities carried out in urban centers throughout Russia. The value of living space has shot sky high and great profits can be obtained by gaining control of living space. The gaining of apartments for the elderly is a case in point. The crime organizations provide a form of insurance against the uncertain economic climate by offering to take care of the food and living needs of the elderly for a fee. The fee in most cases is signing over rights to the apartment when they die. Once the sign over is completed many of the elderly have their policy cancelled due to sudden death.

The police in many cases turn a blind eye to the problem due to the uncertainty of their own pay and job security. Over a period of time records reveal that the housing problem has ballooned into a major concern for the urban centers. In the real estate business, for example. In Moscow alone 8000 people are missing because they mysteriously disappeared from houses and apartments which had become attractive commodities on Moscow's real estate market. There is even a special housing police task force investigating businesses that use murder and extortion to clear properties of tenants. Every week a couple hundred Moscovites disappear from their homes. Most of the cases go unsolved and the profits continue to flow into the pockets of the organized crime groups.

The new crime lords can thrive under Capitalism Russian-style. Previously, under Communism, they had been the only ones able to amass then-illegal hard currency. Their ruthless methods made them into a powerful, functioning structure which would survive independent of the party. This is the real outstanding feature of the new Russian Mafia - a high degree of use of violence to obtain ends. It appears that the new crime groups are attempting to prove that they should be feared more than any elected government. The prior communist power group hired known criminals for his secret police, and under Gorbachev the first corrupt bureaucrats made contacts with the underworld. Now these connections have permitted the building of structures allow the Mafia to work without government. The new Russian is modeled after the structures of the old European and American Mafia brotherhoods. The crime rate has rocketed throughout the country and has had an adverse effect on attracting legal investments to help the Russian economy to expand. As the pool of money declines the competition for resources creates high levels of violence to control what is left. Nothing has changed much for Russia's working class. The individual still has no worth. But now instead of a two-class system comprised of proletarians and party members, Russian society encompasses a mafia hierarchy. Under ordinary conditions, large profits in investment and real estate signal an economic boom. But in Russia nothing is produced, nothing manufactured, and resources are peddled under the table by the mafia. Speculators convert their profits into dollars, which they deposit into West European bank accounts.

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