Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America

My introduction to the presence of the Russian Mafiya in the USA was limited to "Red Heat" (you remember...that movie starring Ahhnold and Jim Beluchi) and select episodes of HBO's The Sopranos.This book is a terrifying eye-opener to the destructive presence and success the Mafiya has been enjoying for the last two decades.This is a definite must-read for mobaholics and it's an easy read. Robert Friedman writes for Vanity Fair, and he brings to the book the same gritty, petty, gossipy, delightfully-detailed view that you get from a Vanity Fair feature. Red Mafiya offers up a whole new cast of characters for Mob affecionados...but there are some names in this book you will recognize, e.g Marc Rich (recipient of a W. J. Clinton pardon).It's hard for me to say this, but, kudos to Janet Reno, who according to Friedman, finally gave the FBI a green light and funding to begin a task force on the Russian mob.

RED MAFIYA by Robert Friedman is a report on some of the figures and actions of the Russian mob in the United States today. Although, there are some claims that this book is "anti-Semitic," the author is himself Jewish. Friedman was a brave author to write and publish this because of the nature of the criminals he is trying to expose.The Russian mob has been making tremendous headway in its criminal undertakings since it first took root in the 1970's. It is made up of many Soviet emigres who were brought over to the US because of some of their "refugee" status. Many are Jews brought over through the auspices of Jewish aid and refugee organizations. The two largest centers of Russian mob activity are Brighton Beach (in Brooklyn) and Miami. Many of its members are brilliant and highly educated, some holding PhDs in engineering, mathematics and economics. They have been involved in pretty much everything in which illegal money is to be made: the drug trade, prostitution, sex-clubs, gasoline bootlegging to avoid excise taxes, money laundering, arms deals, extortion, possibly rigging NHL games, jewelry theft and smuggling, the list goes on and on...One of the reasons for the Mafiya's success is that is has two entire countries to base themselves in: Russia and Israel. Russia is completely corrupt with a crumbling economy and infrastructure. Israel offers a safe haven because it does not extradite its citizens and any Jew fleeing peresecution can seek refuge there. Israel also has very lax banking laws, to encourage the income of capital, so billions of dollars have been illegally laundered there over the years. Most of the top players in the Russian mob are Jewish, including Elson, Agron, Nayfeld, Balagula, noted author Yuri Brokhin, politically connected orthodox Rabbi Ronald Greenwald, Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainburg and the most powerful, Semion Mogilevich. Some, like Ivankov, are not Jewish but hold Israeli citizenship. The fact that many of the mobsters are Jewish is mentioned by Friedman as a cause of law-enforcement's lack of motivation in tackling the issue because it would inflame extremly sensitive political interests. Prominient names appear in this book who have had cameos with mobsters--all the way up to Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

This is the best book I have read on the subject (I've read it twice)! The author has done excellent research and his writing style is extraordinarily readable. If this topic interests you, buy this book.

In Red Mafiya, Robert Friedman has a rare achievement: a book that is intelligent and gripping. I am so tired of books that are superficial and carelessly written. This author has taken the time to give the subject it's political and historical context. Yet the anecdotes and details are wonderfully written. I loved reading the stories about how mobsters like Monya Elson got their start as criminals. It's an important book and deserves to be widely read.

No other report on the many-tentacled Russian mafia has yet been assembled. Friedman, a veteran investigative reporter, takes the reader deep inside this shadowy world, illuminating the terrifying truth behind recent headlines about the Russian mafia in the United States. If anything, the book is too ambitious: the level of detail and breadth of its coverage is so extensive that some may wish that it focused on a single crime family or era instead of attempting to tell the entire story of the Russian mafia, which has its roots as far back as Czarist Russia. This book is simply much bigger in scope than most books, movies or television shows about any form of organized crime--Russian or not--tend to attempt. Yet if the book suffers from its breadth, summarizing important historical developments too briefly, it also makes a virtue of its intimate, character-driven narrative. A gripping tale that brings the reader into the netherworld of the Russian mafia and introduces him personally to the individuals who live and die by the AK-47.A short note: Some in the Russian-American community have found this book to be offensive, believing that the author treats all Russians as if they are criminals. As a non-Russian or Russian-American, I did not find this to be so. I understand the fear of stereotype felt by Russian and Russian-Americans, but this complaint sounded similar to the ones expressed by Italiam-Americans when books and reports about La Cosa Nostra came out. The subject is Russian criminals, so many of the Russians in the book are criminals, but nowhere did I see racist, biased treatments of all Russians as criminals. It is true that, because the Russian mafia began before the breakup of the Soviet Union, the term "Russian" is used broadly. However, the author always seemed to identify the individual figures in the book by their specific roots, whether Ukranian, Russian, etc.