Russian mafia in Warsaw gets new boss

Russian mafia in Warsaw gets new boss

RUSSIAN MAFIA TO FLOOD OLYMPICS WITH DRUGS AND PROSTITUTES

RUSSIAN MAFIA TO FLOOD OLYMPICS WITH DRUGS AND PROSTITUTES:

- London Olympic Stadium -

OLYMPICS chiefs face a new hurdle in the run-up to the 2012 Games as the Russian Mafia is set to swoop on London.
Gangsters from one of the world’s most feared mobs have set up business around the site in Stratford, East London.

Ruthless Russians, who have links to several vice dens in London, plan to cash in when hundreds of thousands of tourists hit the capital.

Hookers will whore themselves to punters, cocaine will flood the streets and extortion rackets will hit small businesses, police fear.

Gamblers could also be targeted in illegal betting rings. Sources at Scotland Yard’s organised crime unit say Russian families are working in bars close to the Olympic site.

The Daily Star Sunday has been told the names of the bars suspected of laundering millions in illegal cash but cannot reveal them for legal reasons.

One Yard insider said: “Several of these people are active members of the Russian Mafia. “They are suspected major players in drug trafficking, prostitution and protection.

“The Russians are highly skilled in averting the attentions of the police so it is very difficult to detect their criminal activities. They are also adept at integrating into communities and putting on a legitimate front for their business.

“But we are certainly keeping an eye on them.” The source said Russian mobs would most likely use low-level dealers from Eastern Europe to lure foreigners into buying drugs on the back streets of London’s vice blackspots like Soho.

He also revealed that young women would be paid pennies as sex slaves working in seedy strip joints, brothels and casinos.

And some would even pose as “birthday girls” inviting ogling fellas to splash their cash on drinks – only to hit them with whopping credit card bills in extortion scams.

He added: “Drugs and prostitution bring in most of the money.

“Obviously there’s going to be a hell of a lot of people flooding into London from all over the world so it’s prime time for sophisticated criminal gangs – and the Russians are certainly that.

“They pose a different kind of threat than terrorist fanatics and suicide bombers but they will still target innocent people.

“There’ll be a lot of tourists and even Brits visiting clubs and lap- dancing bars – and, while they may not know it, it’s likely in some places they’ll be funding Mafia activity with every shot of vodka they buy.”

The mob menace comes as Olympics bosses worldwide warn of a 2012 Mafia betting scandal.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said: “We should not be naive. Sooner or later this might occur in the Olympic Games.”

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, suspected Russian Mafia kingpin Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was nicked for allegedly bribing ice skating judges but later cleared.

He is now one of the world’s most wanted men.

Source: dailystar.co.uk

Azerbaijani "mafia boss" "Dadash Novkhaninskiy" arrested in Moscow

Baku-APA. The employees of Moscow law-enforcement bodies arrested Azerbaijani “mafia boss” Dadash Ibrahimov, 38, who is known with nickname “Dadash Novkhaninskiy” in the criminal world.

APA reports that 2.84 g heroin was seized from him. According to the report, Ibrahimov got his first and only imprisonment in 2002. The court sentenced Ibrahimov 1.5 year imprisonment.

During the operation held in March 2009, “Dadash Novkhaninskiy” was arrested in “congregation” in “Podsolnukh” restaurant at Cosmonauts street. Together with him the militia officers arrested “Masalli Mamed”, “Goja” and “Yusif from Baku” in “congregation”. But the detainees were released then.

According to Russian press, if his guilt is proved, “Dadash Novkhaninskiy” will be sentenced to 3-10 years imprisonment.

Source: en.apa.az

Armenian mob "godfather" Armen Kazarian gets sweetheart deal for massive Medicare fraud scheme

An Armenian mob “godfather” who was facing a life sentence for a massive Medicare fraud scheme has cut a 3-year sweetheart deal with prosecutors.
The “vor” – an Armenian word similar to the word “don” used for Italian mob lords – admitted Monday to making threats and other crimes in exchange for the light sentence. The final details of the plea were put off for a week.

“I was involved in a criminal conspiracy,” Armen Kazarian, 47, said through a translator.

He and dozens of other Armenian gangsters were charged last October with setting up at least 118 “phantom” clinics that, with stolen I.D.s, ripped off more than $35 million in federal funds.

Federal District Judge Paul Gardephe cautioned Kazarian that he could not appeal if he was “sentenced to 37 months or less.”

Kazarian agreed.

After 20 minutes of protracted translations, however, Gardephe stopped the plea as incomplete.

“I’m not hearing the element of a (racketeering) conspiracy,” he told prosecutors.

“We’re having a devil of a time translating from English to Armenian to English again,” famed Californian defense lawyer Mark Geragos told the judge.

Gardephe granted Kazarian and prosecutors another week to work on the language.

When prosecutors crached the ring, they said the Armenian mob “puts the traditional Mafia to shame.”

So far, only two others – Rafik Terdjanian and Karen Aharonian – have pleaded guilty.

Charges in the takedown were also filed in California, Georgia, New Mexico and Ohio, against more than 70 other mobsters.

In all, they falsely billed the government for $160 million.

Source: nydailynews.com

Russian Mafia to flood Olympics with Drugs and Prostitutes

OLYMPICS chiefs face a new hurdle in the run-up to the 2012 Games as the Russian Mafia is set to swoop on London.

Gangsters from one of the world’s most feared mobs have set up business around the site in Stratford, East London.

Ruthless Russians, who have links to several vice dens in London, plan to cash in when hundreds of thousands of tourists hit the capital.

Hookers will whore themselves to punters, cocaine will flood the streets and extortion rackets will hit small businesses, police fear.

Gamblers could also be targeted in illegal betting rings. Sources at Scotland Yard’s organised crime unit say Russian families are working in bars close to the Olympic site.

The Daily Star Sunday has been told the names of the bars suspected of laundering millions in illegal cash but cannot reveal them for legal reasons.

One Yard insider said: “Several of these people are active members of the Russian Mafia. “They are suspected major players in drug trafficking, prostitution and protection.

“The Russians are highly skilled in averting the attentions of the police so it is very difficult to detect their criminal activities. They are also adept at integrating into communities and putting on a legitimate front for their business.

“But we are certainly keeping an eye on them.” The source said Russian mobs would most likely use low-level dealers from Eastern Europe to lure foreigners into buying drugs on the back streets of London’s vice blackspots like Soho.

He also revealed that young women would be paid pennies as sex slaves working in seedy strip joints, brothels and casinos.

And some would even pose as “birthday girls” inviting ogling fellas to splash their cash on drinks – only to hit them with whopping credit card bills in extortion scams.

He added: “Drugs and prostitution bring in most of the money.

“Obviously there’s going to be a hell of a lot of people flooding into London from all over the world so it’s prime time for sophisticated criminal gangs – and the Russians are certainly that.

“They pose a different kind of threat than terrorist fanatics and suicide bombers but they will still target innocent people.

“There’ll be a lot of tourists and even Brits visiting clubs and lap- dancing bars – and, while they may not know it, it’s likely in some places they’ll be funding Mafia activity with every shot of vodka they buy.”

The mob menace comes as Olympics bosses worldwide warn of a 2012 Mafia betting scandal.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said: “We should not be naive. Sooner or later this might occur in the Olympic Games.”

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, suspected Russian Mafia kingpin Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was nicked for allegedly bribing ice skating judges but later cleared.

He is now one of the world’s most wanted men.

source: DailyStar

Russian mob eclipses Italian Mafia in South Florida, FBI says

One defense lawyer quipped that they’re about to become “G-Girls,” as in guilty.

When the feds busted a syndicate of Russian-speaking nightclub owners and their so-called Bar Girls, it seemed like just another titillating tale from South Beach.

But the April bust showed that the FBI is taking the Eastern European mob a lot more seriously these days than the Italian Mafia. La Cosa Nostra is no longer the bureau’s Public Enemy No. 1 when it comes to organized crime in South Florida.

“Eurasian organized crime is our No. 1 priority,” said FBI supervisory special agent Rick Brodsky of the Miami office.

Alex Simchuk is a suspect
at large in a South Beach
nightclub ring roundup

In April, six reputed members of an Eastern European network — along with a Sunny Isles investor and 10 Bar Girls imported mostly from Latvia and Estonia — were charged with conspiring to seduce and fleece unsuspecting South Beach tourists by running up their credit card bills for booze at private clubs on Washington Avenue. The prosecution’s case has moved so quickly that two of the “B-Girls’’ girls plan to plead guilty on Thursday in Miami federal court.

Sunny Isles Beach, where some of the reputed mobsters live, has so many immigrants from the former Soviet Union that it has earned the nickname “Little Moscow.’’ The high-rise coastal cities of Hollywood and Hallandale Beach also are home to many Russian-speaking nationals.

The alleged B-Girl scam was hardly the first time the Eastern European mob struck South Florida. In February, 13 South Florida members and associates of an alleged Armenian crime organization were charged with extortion and other offenses as part of a series of indictments against more than 100 suspects from Miami to Los Angeles.

The main extortion charge accused ringleader Aram Khranyan, 41, of Sunny Isles Beach, and others of threatening “physical violence” against a man if he did not pay a $12,000 debt to a member of Khranyan’s organization.

Despite the nationwide publicity, it didn’t quite measure up to the B-Girl scam for sheer amusement.

Consider this tale:

Brett Daniels, a professional magician, had just finished his February show at the Gulfstream Casino when he and a few colleagues headed down to South Beach.

At Mango’s, a lively tourist spot on Ocean Drive, he met an attractive woman clad in a short leopard-skin dress and her sidekick, who wasn’t as pretty. After showing them a few magic tricks, one of the girls told Daniels it was her birthday and proposed taking him to a private club a few blocks away to drink Russian vodka.

Four or five shots later -- he can’t remember exactly -- Daniels found himself fighting over an incomprehensible $1,368 credit card tab with the owner of the Tangia club on Washington Avenue. “Pay your bill or you’re going to jail,” the bouncer told him.

What Daniels didn’t know at the time was that he had been scammed by the Eastern European mob, according to the FBI.

At the helm of the alleged South Beach club racket: Alec Simchuk, 44, of Hallandale, who is now a fugitive. Simchuck and others in his network -- including Albert Takhalov, 29, of Aventura -- brought in longtime Sunny Isles real estate broker Isaac Feldman as an investor in Stars Lounge on Washington Avenue.

Feldman, who lost his bid for a city commission seat last year, plans to fight the charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud. His attorney, Myles Malman, said his client was a “minority investor” in the Stars Lounge, which was controlled by Simchuk and Takhalov.

“He was hardly ever there and he didn’t supervise or control the women,” said Malman, a former federal prosecutor. “He did not operate or run this club. The notion that the Russian mob is involved in this club is far fetched and the ultimate stretch.”

Malman then added: “My client lost everything.”

That may be so, but for a while, Simchuk’s organization ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bogus bills for booze, wine and champagne on the credit cards of bedazzled male tourists, prosecutors charge. All together, the B-Girls, who received 20 percent commissions for bringing in customers, ripped off about 90 patrons, mostly tourists or businessmen with telltale signs of wealth, such as expensive watches or shoes, authorities say.

One victim from Philadelphia, who was approached by two B-Girls at the swank Delano Hotel, complained he was taken for $43,000 at Caviar Beach on Washington Avenue. His American Express bill included dozens of charges for booze. Another victim was charged $5,000 for a bottle of champagne.

Authorities say the case is a sign of the mob from the former Soviet Union reaching deeper into South Florida to commit “any type of fraud you can think of,” said Brodsky, in charge of the Miami FBI’s organized crime squad. Their stocks in trade: credit card fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking, prostitution, drugs, extortion and arms smuggling.

Brodsky said the Eastern European mob is very different from La Cosa Nostra, known for its “made men,” “wise guys,” and “good fellas.”

He held up Simchuk, the alleged leader in the B-Girl case, as a classic example. Simchuk, 44, is accused of smuggling sexy B-Girls from his Baltic State clubs back home to work in private, leased venues along Washington Avenue. Brodsky said Simchuk works for a “thief in law” in his homeland who acts like a “general,” controls underworld enterprises, and resolves disputes, including using threats and violence.

A thief-in-law, known as a “Vor" in Russian, arose in Stalin’s forced labor camps of political prisoners and criminals. The term now refers to a high-ranking member of a criminal syndicate from Russia or the former Soviet Union.

“The challenge [to law enforcement] is the hierarchy is overseas and has greater access to political protection,” Brodsky said.

According to court records, Simchuk and five other Eastern European men operated the alleged racket for a year at Caviar Bar, 643 Washington Ave.; Stars Lounge, 643 Washington Ave.; Nowhere Bar, 653 Washington Ave.; Steel Toast, 758 Washington Ave.; Tangia Club, 841 Washington Ave.; and Club Moreno, 1341 Washington Ave.

Today, Caviar, Stars and Tangia are not open for business. Steele Toast plans to reopen as an actual nightclub, Havana Nights, this weekend. Club Moreno is a scooter shop.

As for Nowhere Bar, it is still operating. General manager Vladislav Salaridze said his business never conducted illegal activity. “No, no, no, we are a legitimate business. We do bar mitzvahs, weddings, parties for celebrities and comedy shows," he said. “But we always were getting mixed up with Caviar [Bar] because we both have Russian owners."

According to court records, Simchuk and the others leased the private clubs, obtained credit-card merchant accounts, flew in B-Girls from Eastern Europe or the Baltic States with 90-day visas, rented apartments for them, and sent them out to hotels like the Delano, Clevelander and others along Ocean Drive to seduce male visitors into coming to their private clubs.

An FBI agent who led the investigation said they went “hunting” in pairs, worked between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., lured “wealthy males” back to the clubs and ordered multiple bottles of booze without telling the victims the price.

“The clubs are not open to the public, and operate solely as a front for fraud,” FBI agent Alexander V. Tiguy wrote in an April affidavit.

The goal was to jack up the bills, and squeeze the customers to sign off on their credit card slips -- no easy task.

“Some victims are so intoxicated by the drinks forced upon them by the B-Girls that they cannot stand and are not competent enough to sign credit card receipts,” Tiguy wrote in the affidavit. “Those victims are propped up by the B-Girls long enough to obtain signatures.”

In most instances, the bartender or manager explained to the victims that they agreed to purchase the alcohol, that the bar had surveillance video of them, and demanded that they pay or the police would be called to arrest them.

On several occasions, the bouncer or Miami Beach police officers would inform the victim about the state’s Innkeeper Law, which requires patrons disputing a charge to challenge the bill with their credit card company -- or risk getting arrested.

At several of the clubs, an undercover Miami Beach police officer was working as the bouncer to obtain evidence for the investigation.

Daniels, the magician, said he felt like he had no choice but to pay his bill after he called police and club Tangia’s bouncer told him he would be going to jail. The bouncer was an undercover cop, but he did not know that at the time.

“They had my driver’s license and credit card,” recalled Daniels, 50, who turned to the FBI. “I couldn’t do anything.”

source: miamiherald.com

Russian mafia in Europe

There are a lot of books, documentaries and studies, devoted to Russian mafia. This article shows a European view of this criminal phenomenon, which scares the world.

Russian mafia structures are well known in Russia and in other countries (especially in the U.S., where the first Jewish mafia group had appeared before the Soviet Union collapsed). The world also knows the main representatives of Russian mafia: Japonchik, Superkiller, King of St. Petersburg, Lesha-soldier and many others.

Walter Kegö, former leader of the Swedish police, says, that Russian Mafia, increasingly settling in Sweden, is very intelligent: "They are able to use Swedish naivety, they also may be dangerous for the Swedish state welfare, undermining its resources. Due to the weakness of the banking system they have an excellent opportunity for money laundering". Walter Kegö is one of the authors of the report "Russian-speaking criminal groups in the European Union", written in the Stockholm Institute of Security Policy and Development, linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the Polish Polytika newspaper, Russian mafia is considered to be the most powerful crime syndicate in the world. Compared with some other organizations of this type, Russian mafia is more subject to violence in aiming their goals. Under the general name "Russian mafia" a lot of groups from the former Soviet Union era are hiding, not only Russians. According to the American FBI, the leaders of Russian mafia are the most dangerous people in the world. They are often associated with Russian business, politics or mass media. In addition, Swedish experts note, that the modern Russian mafia simulates really good. Instead of godfathers and their gangs, the representatives of stylish businessmen, well-versed in finance and technologies began to appear in the West.

The theme of Russian mafia in Sweden is really popular in connection with the next stage of saving the plant of Saab Automobil. This brand would had disappeared from the market about 20 years ago, if it hadn't been bought by American General Motors. But when the economic crisis took place in the U.S., Americans got rid of most European companies, which brought more losses. The Swedish plant in Trolhettan near Gothenburg started to work at its half capacity and couldn't sell its cars at high prices. The plant closing could bring the reduction of about nine thousand jobs. The help came from Victor Muller, who managed to run the plant. It turned out, that Muller was headed by Russian oligarch Vladimir Antonov, who had been accused for having links with mafia and money laundering. The plant purchase and then getting rid of its assets could serve for legalization of suspicious things.

Walter Kegö briefly led the investigation for the murder of the Prime Minister Olof Palme, says, that not always Russian "clean" capital will take control over Swedish companies. Tommy Lindström, former police chief, released the information that there were attempts to invest in Sweden some proceeds from criminal profit. Russian mafia has been dealing with drugs, cigarettes and alcohol smuggling and also intended to do legal business. The former policeman says after his resign the fight with Russian mafia became weaker and at this moment mafia successfully conceals the origin of funds and investments.

According to the report, Russian mafia in the countries of the EU consists of more than 300 000 people. Most of them are located in Germany and Poland. The report informs, that there are about 20 thousand people involved in the mafia, located in Poland and there are not only Russian criminals, but also Ukrainians and Belorussians.

The main mafia activity is smuggling, theft, prostitution, assault, drugs and black mail. In addition, some Polish experts have some doubts that the Swedish report indicates the correct data; they say, that no presence of Russian-speaking mafia was fixed in Poland.

source: russian-ic.com

Russians want their Medicare too

In Charleston, WV the feds busted three suspected members from a Russian mob crew for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to collect $4 million through false Medicare claimsas reported by Randy Yohe for WSAZ:  U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin "says similar criminal fraud schemes are springing up throughout the country."  The men allegedly were engaged in a so-called  "false-front provider" scheme whereby "someone sets up phony companies to file fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims" as reported by Rusty Marks for the Gazette-Mail.

Further coverage:

"Three Men Charged In Massive Health Care Scheme" by Andrea Lannom for WOWK

Russian Organized Crime Ring busted in Charleston

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- An organized crime ring of Russians recently set up shop in Charleston.
Their plan was to collect millions in false Medicare claims. That's before federal agents busted up the mob.
But, we found that if this fraud is so prevalent, so are the watchdog agencies that saw something funny going on in and around Charleston.U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says there's a current epidemic of Medicare fraud nationwide. And, he says a group of Russians figured a sleepy West Virginia city would be ripe for a massive federal heist.
Shocked employees at Lester Raines Honda took some pictures May 6 when a S.W.A.T. team swooped in and arrested three Russians on conspiracy and fraud charges. The cover story was they were in town to look for a car
Goodwin says, in early April, a Russian crime ring rented office suites in Dunbar, South Charleston and in downtown Charleston along Capitol and Quarrier streets. He says they set up false companies and opened bank accounts and began to file $4 million in false Medicare claims.
“We caught it in time that none of the money got to the bad guys,” Goodwin said.
He says, before they got a penny, the feds broke up a Russian crime machine that was well oiled and ready to go.
And why would these Russians who give California and New York addresses even come to West Virginia?
“Why come to sleepy little West Virginia?" Goodwin said. "This is where the soft spots are.”
Goodwin says similar criminal fraud schemes are springing up throughout the country.
We’re told more federal arrests may come in this ongoing investigation.
These suspects had a network of false front offices, couriers and electronic bank transfers ready to roll. Now, their felony cases will roll - to a federal grand jury. The three Russians arrested so far will remain behind bars. The judge denied any release on bond, worrying they could be a flight risk.


 source: wsaz.com

Russian Mafia in northeast Philly

2 Highly-Ranked, Reputed Mobsters Have Philly Ties


PHILADELPHIA - In this edition of "Mob Talk," we're taking a look at a different group of wiseguys: the Russian mafia.  Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser and the Inquirer's George Anastasia take the wraps off two highly-ranked reputed Russian mobsters who have ties to Philadelphia.  One has been on the FBI's most wanted list. The other is a rising star in the red mafia who FBI agents have been trailing for years.  And part of that trail runs right through Philadelphia.

Mob Talk: Inside The Russian Mafia: MyFoxPHILLY.com

Authorities after Russian Mafia’s money in tourism region

The Russian "palace" in Bayahibe,
 where the two bodies were found

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.- Intelligence agencies follow the paper trail of the Russian Mafia’s investments in the country’s eastern tourism region and in other areas, to locate and subsequently confiscate them, diariolibre.com.do reports.

It reports that the presence of Russian capos is a fact especially in the East region where underworld scandals have already occurred, including that of two brothers, one of whom was executed gangland style together with his wife in the “Kremlin” style house in Bayahibe, and which is still unsolved.

“The Russian Mafia’s tentacles have arrived in this zone, where some actions linked to drug trafficking and also murders have yet to be clarified, the news source report says.

Russian investments

Current Russian investments include show business figures in Los Corales i Punta Cana and in nearby Cap Cana, which has participated with a delegation of the country in the "Russian–Spanish Safari," hosted by the Tourism Ministry, considered among the top the real estate events in St. Petersburg and Barcelona.

source: dominicantoday.com