Russian mafia

Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey

Escenarios Regionales

Proyecto Tercer Parcial

Russian Mafia

05/11/10
Estrella Fernanda Reyna Bernal A01127792
Profa. Norma Angélica Flores Minuetz
RUSSIAN MAFIA
Organized crime is defined like the operation of illegal business entities whose members are bound together because of their group interest and theirdesire to profit from illegal activity.

The organized crime flourishes best in the weak states. When becomes the complete collapse in the Soviet Empire in 1991, a new Russian state assumed the power and Russia transforms to a weak state, so that institutional weakness led to the other 14 independent states that emerged of the original Soviet Russia.

That’s when the Russian Mafia appears and itis the most important organized criminal group in Russia, in other countries better known as Ukrainian mafia.

Russian mafia is said to be the toughest and dangerous mafia group of all. It has many gangs like the Solntsevskaya bratva which is the most powerful and dangerous crime groups of all. Another strong mafia group was the Dolgoprudnenskaya. It was the largest and most influential crimegroup of Russia, the oldest mafia and most important group was the Izmaylovskaya. This group strictly obeyed the internal discipline and followed the quasi-military ranks. They engaged in extortions, murder-for-hire, and infiltration of legitimate businesses.

The Russian mafia has been involved in various illegal and criminal activities related to money laundering, oil trade and smuggling ofweapons.
Russian mafia tattoos are widely known. These tattoos represent the rank that the “integrants” has in mafia: the sins committed the number of murdering, and the prison sentences etc. If a new person enters in mafia, is given him a tattoo of a rose on his chest; and with advancement in each rank, different tattoos are added to it. There are many types of tattoos and only the mafia people knowof its original meaning.
It was a hope that the dissolution of the Soviet Union and a move toward an open market type of economy would have created greater opportunity and competition of legitimate businesses, and that the role of the Mafia would then be reduced.
Unfortunately, corruption and the Mafia have only grown stronger over the last years. While official reports from Russia express thatapproximately 8,200 criminal organizations exist in Russia with their members numbering some 32,000 people, others argue that the actual number of true organized crime syndicates number is less than 100.
Considering these statistics, it is estimated that there are some 50,000 companies in Russia that are controlled by organized crime groups and that these groups control 40% of Russia's grossnational product. While the multi-million dollar "white collar" crimes have attracted the most media attention, violence continues to be a significant control agent of the Mafia.
Even the Russian Mafia has produced severe detrimental effects on the economy in Russia, the Russian Mafia it is currently seen as only the third strongest threat to the economy.
Given their common interests in illicitprofits and avoidance of national and international law enforcement authorities, there is a “natural” tendency for Russian criminal organizations to forge alliances or partnerships with their South American and Caribbean counterparts when operating in the region. Such links allow the Russians, along with other transnational crime groups, to carry out criminal activities in the region with arelatively low profile, to avoid detection by authorities, and to reduce their risks of arrest, infiltration, and loss of profits.
The exporting of products and natural resources is a highly lucrative practice and, therefore, the Russian Mafia and corrupt officials are involved. Direct involvement, whether knowingly or not, commonly occurs when American businessmen and corporations form partnerships...