The Russian Mafia Essay

The Mafia was first developed in Sicily in feudal times to protect the estates of landlords who were out of town. The word Mafia, derived from the Sicilian word, Mafioso, means family. Today, Mafia is a name which describes a loose association of criminal groups. These groups can be bound together by blood, oath or sworn secrecy. Many people had considered the Sicilian Mafia as the most ruthless mobsters of the twentieth century.

“It was during the troubled years of the 1860s that the Italian kingdom’s ruling class ruling class first heard talk of the mafia in Siciliy” (Dickie, s38, 2004). In this quote we find a potential reason to why the idea that the mafia was born during the making of the modern Italian state has become leading with scholars. Most likely this event shaped the mafia into what it has become because of the political influence that the Italian state bestowed upon Sicily. However, it is not unlikely that the mafia wasn’t already existing in Sicily during this time, and most definitely that criminal gangs of Sicily before this time had traits that were transferred into the mafia as it evolved under the new Italian kingdom. While the mafia is largely

3. Characterize the initiation ritual. How do you think it compares to the “real” ritual – if such a ritual exists?

Russian organized crime in the United States is unique to traditional organized crime, specifically La Costa Notra, in several ways. These unique traits distinguish the abilities and operations of Russian organized crime. It is generally agreed by researchers and practitioners that Russian groups are generally less structured than Italian organized crime groups. Additionally, they have thrived by adapting to and exploiting technology. Many Russian organized crime members are highly educated, including Semyon Moglievich who had a degree in economics (Radanko, 2011). There are also Russian mafia members who have PH.D’s in mathematics, engineering, or physics (Friedman, 2000). Many law enforcement agencies characterize Russian organized crime as organized crime groups who primarily speak the Russian language, thus comprised of groups from different regions of the former Soviet Union. For the purposes of this paper, this author will follow the same guideline to characterize Russian organized crime.

We may not see this group but the mafia was big back in the day. The mafia was the leading group in criminal activity in the 1960’s(Darity). The mafia was a group that would make tons and tons of money off of drugs, robberies and murders. They would sometimes pay off cops to look the other way and if they didn’t get what they wanted they would use their firearms. With stronger and more enforced laws, many lives could have been saved.

The Mafia is involved with more crime then one can think. Back when there was prohibition who do you think was the booze smuggler, the Mafia. this is just a few crimes the Mafia commits. Mafia hitman Salvatore ``Sammy the Bull'' Gravano pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he helped operate and finance a multimillion dollar, statewide criminal drug deal in Arizona. A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted 19 individuals, including six with suspected ties to organized crime, on charges of stock fraud and money laundering. Sex probably rates higher than whiskey in desirability, and so organized crime moved into illegal prostitution. these are just a spoonful or what the Mafia does. Racketeering; fraud; car theft; robbery; armed assault; drug dealing; trafficking in weapons and radioactive material; trafficking in human beings and exploitation through prostitution; alien smuggling; smuggling of precious and antique goods; extortion for protection money; gambling; embezzling from industries and financial institutions up to infiltration and control of private and commercial banks; controlling of black markets. The Mafia is dangerous group of people and they should be put in jail.

Organized crime in the United States keeps the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in a never-ending investigation of criminals suspected of the infiltration of legitimate businesses. A notorious twentieth century organized group was the New England Patriarca Mafia, or N.E.P.M.. Originating in 1915, the N.E.P.M. evolved over the early twentieth century decades, until 1954 when Raymond Loredo Salvatore Patriarca was donned as boss* and promptly began to expand its power. Due to mafia-related language that will be present throughout the paper, a page of definitions is supplied at the end of the paper. Defined words throughout the paper will be noted with an asterisk, “ * ”.

The Mafia way of life may seem like a romantic updated version of the western movie played out on the streets of the big cities where the good guys and the wise guys who share the same instincts and values do battle before an enthralled public but it is actually very different. The Mafia is really just a group of uneducated thugs making money by victimizing the public. Initially, the Mafia was setup as a prominent supplier of bootlegged liquor, but it has spread into many different areas of crime. During this research paper I will discuss three aspects of the Mafia which are crime, structure and decline in leadership.

The Russian state has been characterized by its strong heritage of powerful, autocratic leadership. This domination by small ruling elite has been seen throughout Russia's history and has transferred into its economic history. Throughout the Russian czarist period, to the legacy of seventy years of communism; Russia has been a country marked by strong central state planning, a strict command economy and an overall weak market infrastructure (Goldman, 2003). Self-interest, manipulation and corruption have all been present in the Russian economy, and have greatly helped the few as opposed to the many. To this day, Russia still struggles with creating a competitive and fair market.

Russian immigrants are normally urban in derivation. They are moderately well educated and obtain technological abilities, and normally hold martial skills. Russian criminals did not take off in their criminal careers as affiliates of juvenile street gangs in ethnic ghettos as do most in the United States. Russian organized crime groups have also participated in sophisticated crimes such as Medicaid scams, identity theft, securities-related fraud, counterfeiting, insurance fraud, and tax fraud. Russian criminals in the U.S. have neither the critical mass nor the criminal complexity to create a major local or regional threat. Membership is temporary, loosely structured, and without formal hierarchy while the Russian criminal network consists

The Italian Mafia in the U.S. can trace its origins all the way back to the Sicilian Mafia which was founded in Sicily during the 1800’s (Italian Organized Crime). After thousands of years of different armies with different nationalities conquering Italy and exploiting its people, the Sicilians became to be more clannish and family focused. Originally they were just resistance fighters that were protecting their friends and family. They were relied on for protection, justice, and survival. Nobody cared if they got money from it because it came from the oppressive authorities. Members of these groups were known as “Men of Honor” and they were well respected and even admired because they looked out for their family and kept silent sometimes even unto death. They didn’t become an organized crime group until the 1920’s however (Italian Organized Crime). It was around this same time that the US began to see what later became La Cosa Nostra or “our thing,” better known as the American Mafia which was aided by the “thousands of Italian organized crime figures, mostly Sicilian Mafiosi” who came to the United States illegally (Italian Organized Crime). The modern American Mafia is credited to Charles “Lucky” Luciano who came over in the 1920’s (Italian Organized Crime). Luciano structured La Cosa Nostra just like their Sicilian

During the Soviet era even when Stalin was in control, crime organizations were growing in the shadows of the Russian economy to later on surpass the government. Even though the Soviet state had a strong control of the economy, Russian mafia gangs were still able to twist and turn the law to get things their way. In addition, during Stalin’s rule he mainly “focused on heavy industry and neglected consumer goods” (Goldman, 1996, p.40). As a consequence, organized crime groups created the black market where it mainly focused on providing goods and services for the people that were considered unimportant and sold without the consent of the government, as mentioned before this is called the shadow economy in Russia.

Imagine living in a world where crime ruled. A world where gangsters were more powerful than politicians, owned the police, and ran the city in whatever way they felt. They robbed whom they wanted and killed when they didn't get their way. Now stop imagining and realize that this happened here in the United States of America in the 1920's. It was run by an organization made up mainly of Italians called the Mafia.

The Russian Mafia, also known as Bratva (Brotherhood) is a collection of various organized crime groups that originated during the former Soviet Union era. It is made up of underworld leadership in which engages in providing illegal goods and services that range anywhere from drugs and weapons smuggling to gambling and human trafficking. As in the U.S, there is no universally accepted definition of organized crime in Russia. However, the Bratva shares many basic characteristics with other well-known criminal organizations such as the Italian Mafia. Therefore, the definition that has been commonly used in the U.S will be fitting for the Bratva as well. The FBI defines organized crime as, "any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities" (FBI). The Bratva falls under this definition with one of its many groups, the 'Vory v Zakone ', which translates to 'Thieves-in-law '. They are bound by a code of honor in which states that one is not to make a living on anything other than thievery, complete submission to the laws of criminal life, including obligations to support the criminal ideal and refusal to participate in all political activities (Omics).

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century, criminal organizations have begun to develop within various nations throughout the world. Some of these criminal organizations consist of various national and ethnic groups who centralized themselves as a single enterprise and various illegal activity which results in monetary gains, such as drug trafficking, racketeering, human trafficking, setting up illegal gambling establishments, and corrupting the local government with members of their own. For example, the Mexican drug cartels control one of the vast drug routes in Latin America while the Sicilian Mafia have set up a large protection racketing system throughout Italy. The Yakuza have established themselves in Japan and are