Russian mafia

Russian mafia
Founding locationSoviet Union
Years activeLate 1980s–present[1]
TerritoryPost-Soviet states, European Union, United States, Israel, Australia
EthnicityPrimarily Russians but also from other Post-Soviet states and Jews.[2][3]
Criminal activitiesHuman trafficking, racketeering, drug trafficking, extortion, murder, robbery, smuggling, arms trafficking, gambling, prostitution, pornography, money laundering, fraud, financial crime, terrorism
Allies

The Russian mafia (Russian: ру́сская ма́фия rússkaya máfiya [ˈruskəjə ˈmafʲɪjə] or росси́йская ма́фия rossíyskaya máfiya [rɐˈsʲijskəjə ˈmafʲɪjə]),[4] otherwise referred to as bratva (братва́ bratvá [brɐtˈva]; lit.'brothers' clique'), is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating in the former Soviet Union (FSU). Any of the mafia's groups may be referred to as an "Organized Criminal Group" (OPG, from Russian "организованная преступная группа"). This is sometimes modified to include a specific name, such as the Orekhovskaya OPG. Sometimes, the Russian word is dropped in favour of a full translation, and OCG is used instead of OPG.

In 2012, there were as many as 6,000 groups,[5] with more than 200 of them having a global reach. Criminals of these various groups are either former prison members, corrupt officials and business leaders, people with ethnic ties, or people from the same region with shared criminal experiences and leaders.[clarification needed][6] In December 2009, Timur Lakhonin, the head of the National Central Bureau of Interpol within Russia, stated that "Certainly, there is crime involving our former compatriots abroad, but there is no data suggesting that an organized structure of criminal groups comprising former Russians exists abroad" on the topic of international Russian criminal gangs.[7] In August 2010, Alain Bauer, a criminologist from France, said that the Russian mafia "is one of the best structured criminal organizations in Europe, with a quasi-military operation" in their international activities.[8]

The Russian mafia is similar to the Italian crime groups in many ways, in that the groups' organizations and structures follow a similar model. The two groups also share a similar portfolio of criminal activity. The highly publicized Sicilian Mafia is believed to have inspired early criminal groups in Russia to form mafia-like organizations, eventually spawning their own version. The Russian mafia, however, differed from the Sicilians due to their environment. The level of political corruption and arms sales in post-Soviet Russia allowed for their massive expansion, as well as the incorporation of many government officials into the crime syndicates. Russian mafia groups have also been involved in uranium trading, stolen from the Soviet nuclear program, and human trafficking, among other serious activities.[9]

  1. ^ The 'Russian Mafia' as an organized crime group started in the late 1980s, as we can see in the creation of the most powerful gangs from the country such as the Solntsevskaya Bratva, Tambovskaya Bratva, Orekhovskaya gang and Uralmash gang
  2. ^ Перекрест, Владимир (16 March 2010). "Русская мафия попала на еврозону". Известия (in Russian). Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Самые известные мафиозные кланы в СССР". www.factroom.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  4. ^ "В Испании ликвидирована "российская мафия"" (in Russian). Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference fas.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mallory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lakhonin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bauer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Fijnaut, Cyrille (Summer 1990). "Organized crime: a comparison between the United States of America and Western Europe". The British Journal of Criminology. 30 (3): 321–340. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a048024.