In time immemorial,almost every mafia groups consisted of ex convicts or criminals who lived dangerous lives with other mafia groups,government agents,and common street gangs as potential health and life threats.
These criminals usually made very little money,high risk,and businesses.
From my observation these elements were present:
*mafia and other criminals did not desire to make "to much" money
*criminals enjoy high risk lifestyles at very little pay
*criminals do not care if they go to prison.they are protected there
*after retiring at the age of 45-50 year of age,criminals resort to "legal" businesses for a low profile lifestyle
*the criminals with he most wounds and worst lives are "dons"[bosses].
*criminals only kill competetive criminals;but,not innocent people of society.Newer criminals are now attacking society;however.
*criminals see the society as weak and unintellgent "victims" to rob and steal from.They do not like any people of society.They think only the strong survive.They will beat and attack any citizen who interferes with them.
*criminals do not care who they hurt or kill to obtain what they desire.
*criminals use weapons to elevate their self confidence.
*criminals use drugs for control of their victims.
*male criminals hate females;and,therefore,sell females in prostitution rings that use drugs for mind and body control through drug dependence and addictions.
*criminals enjoy power over masses of people throug force.
*criminals thrive on other's fear and pain by their victims displaying weaknesses that they attack.
Some criminal "mafia" groups such as certain American mafia,Yakuza,and other groups,utilize restraunts for he elimnation of their victims.They will slaugter their victims and serve them a food in their restraunts.In Houston,Texas,a group serves the victims as "Chinese Pork".They sell the meat to foreigners as pork.
Similar;but,more brutal groups include mercenaries who will fight for anyone for money.Sometimes they switch sides if the opposition offers more money.Mercenaries were considered punishable by death worldwide if caught;by the governments.
When I asked the mafia top people if the would rather start a trillion dollar job that is legal,they replied"no.I do not want that much money."
They also stated they did not desire to have a legal business;even after retiring.
Criminals find things and people to spend their money on if they obtain too much money.
Newer gangsters are entering rich societies through music recordings and other methods.They will bring their top people with them as entertainers or helpers.When they think to become powerfull enough,they will attempt to use music as messages to attack society in mass.
Most criminals come from low income housing groups gangs.They desire recognition,bullying status,weapons use fear threats and other means to accomplish their fats.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Red Mafia-ALEKSANDR SOLONIK
Aleksandr Solonik was born in 1960 in the Russian city Kurgan. Growing up as a kid Solonik showed great interest in martial arts and guns. When he finishes school he decides to join the Russian military. When his service time is up Solonik decides to join the militia (a security unit that is used for special commando missions). Solonik signs up and eventually learns his militia skills at the Gorkovskaja Institute. However after six months he is expelled from that institute for unclear reasons. Back home Solonik gets a job as grave digger at the Kurgan cemetary. He is married and his wife gives birth to a daughter. After some time they divorce and Solonik remarries with another woman with whom he has another child, a son this time. But Solonik apparently stays restless and in 1987 he is charged with rape and convicted to 8 years in the Gulag. At the day that he is leaving for the Gulag, Solonik is allowed to say goodbye to his wife but Solonik had other ideas and during this meeting he escapes. He jumped from the second floor and fled. After several months Solonik was apprehended 120 miles north of Kurgan. Now Solonik was heavily guarded and on his way to the Gulag, no escaping this time.
Because Solonik had worked for the army and had training with the militia he was entitled to seperate lock up away from the normal population, but for some reason (probably Solonik's month long run) he was placed among normal prison population. When it became known to the other inmates that Solonik had been a soldier and had done work for the militia he was marked for death. Since there are no real rules in the Gulag Solonik was on his own, and he managed. After fights where Solonik sometimes took on as many as twelve hardened inmates a time Solonik came out the winner. After this the other inmates left him alone, he had proven himself. Solonik kept to himself in prison and after two years escaped again.
Solonik again went back home to Kurgan and there he joined the local notorious criminal organization where he started work as a hitman. Solonik's first target, the leader of a rival organization, has no chance and is whacked in 1990 in the city Tjumen. After this hit Solonik and some fellow gangsters from the Kurgan organization decide to go to Moscow. In Moscow there were jobs enough for a qualified killer such as Solonik. In 1992 Solonik whacks Russian vor Viktor Nikiforov, 6 months later another important Russian mob boss was whacked by Solonik. This time the victim was vor y zakone Valeri Dlugatsj, Dlugatsj was shot down in a crowded disco eventhough he was heavily guarded by bodyguards. In 1994 Vladislav Vinner is whacked by Solonik, Vinner had become boss after Dlugatsj death. These were all big hits but Solonik's biggest kill was yet to come. In 1994 Solonik tried to extort a Russian mobster and was told by that mobster that he didn't have to pay anything. The mobster made a phonecall and put the speaker on, Solonik knew the guy on the speaker it was Otari Kvantrishvili one of the most powerful Russian mobsters in Russian history. Solonik went home without the money. Several weeks later Kvantrishvilli is killed Solonik got his revenge and apparently had powerful backing, allegedly from Chechnian groups.
Solonik had by this time become a famous person among Underworld and law enforcement figures. Law enforcement especially had a special interest since Solonik was supposed to be in prison. When Solonik and a fellow criminal are having a drink at a Moscow marketplace they are apprehended by the Moscow militia. The militia doesn't frisk Solonik, a big mistake. Under his jacket Solonik carried an automatic weapon when Solonik and the militia members are inside the office Solonik decides to fire. He hits four militia members and runs outside, on the run he shoots two more militia members, still running Solonik was hit by a bullet but kept running eventually he was overpowered and gave up. Solonik was back in prison this time in Moscow. He went into surgery and the bullet was removed. In prison he studied foreign languages. In 1995 he escapes again. This time Solonik has little hidingplaces in Russia, his name and face are known and he is wanted by government and organized crime groups. Nobody knows where he is.
After his escape Solonik went to Greece using a passport with a false identity which he got from the Greek consulate in Moscow. In Greece Solonik set up his own organization of around 50 men which dealt in narcotic shipments and ofcourse Solonik's specialty contract killings. Solonik's organization bought several villa's in an Athenes suburb. All this was done in secrecy, the Russian media and government had no clue what had happened to Solonik and among the public Solonik's legend grew. Solonik already had the status of 'superkiller' and now had escaped law enforcement and organized crime. But in February 1997 the legend was over. Greek newspapers published articles that said a Russian mob boss had been found 15 miles from Athenes. The man that was found was strangled to death and had no identification documents on him, after fingerprints were taken his identity became clear: it was Aleksandr Solonik. In the weeks after Soloniks body was found Greek authorities raided the villa's of Solonik's organization and found an arsenal of weapons, it also became clear that within a week Solonik was expected in Italy for a contract killing. A killing he wouldn't finish. According to the rumors Solonik was whacked by a Moscow Organized Crime group according to the Russian legend Solonik is still alive and the body that was found was a fake put in place by Solonik. Solonik remains to this day a legend for the Russian public and is known as a 'superkiller', which is the name for the best contract killers in Russia.
Because Solonik had worked for the army and had training with the militia he was entitled to seperate lock up away from the normal population, but for some reason (probably Solonik's month long run) he was placed among normal prison population. When it became known to the other inmates that Solonik had been a soldier and had done work for the militia he was marked for death. Since there are no real rules in the Gulag Solonik was on his own, and he managed. After fights where Solonik sometimes took on as many as twelve hardened inmates a time Solonik came out the winner. After this the other inmates left him alone, he had proven himself. Solonik kept to himself in prison and after two years escaped again.
Solonik again went back home to Kurgan and there he joined the local notorious criminal organization where he started work as a hitman. Solonik's first target, the leader of a rival organization, has no chance and is whacked in 1990 in the city Tjumen. After this hit Solonik and some fellow gangsters from the Kurgan organization decide to go to Moscow. In Moscow there were jobs enough for a qualified killer such as Solonik. In 1992 Solonik whacks Russian vor Viktor Nikiforov, 6 months later another important Russian mob boss was whacked by Solonik. This time the victim was vor y zakone Valeri Dlugatsj, Dlugatsj was shot down in a crowded disco eventhough he was heavily guarded by bodyguards. In 1994 Vladislav Vinner is whacked by Solonik, Vinner had become boss after Dlugatsj death. These were all big hits but Solonik's biggest kill was yet to come. In 1994 Solonik tried to extort a Russian mobster and was told by that mobster that he didn't have to pay anything. The mobster made a phonecall and put the speaker on, Solonik knew the guy on the speaker it was Otari Kvantrishvili one of the most powerful Russian mobsters in Russian history. Solonik went home without the money. Several weeks later Kvantrishvilli is killed Solonik got his revenge and apparently had powerful backing, allegedly from Chechnian groups.
Solonik had by this time become a famous person among Underworld and law enforcement figures. Law enforcement especially had a special interest since Solonik was supposed to be in prison. When Solonik and a fellow criminal are having a drink at a Moscow marketplace they are apprehended by the Moscow militia. The militia doesn't frisk Solonik, a big mistake. Under his jacket Solonik carried an automatic weapon when Solonik and the militia members are inside the office Solonik decides to fire. He hits four militia members and runs outside, on the run he shoots two more militia members, still running Solonik was hit by a bullet but kept running eventually he was overpowered and gave up. Solonik was back in prison this time in Moscow. He went into surgery and the bullet was removed. In prison he studied foreign languages. In 1995 he escapes again. This time Solonik has little hidingplaces in Russia, his name and face are known and he is wanted by government and organized crime groups. Nobody knows where he is.
After his escape Solonik went to Greece using a passport with a false identity which he got from the Greek consulate in Moscow. In Greece Solonik set up his own organization of around 50 men which dealt in narcotic shipments and ofcourse Solonik's specialty contract killings. Solonik's organization bought several villa's in an Athenes suburb. All this was done in secrecy, the Russian media and government had no clue what had happened to Solonik and among the public Solonik's legend grew. Solonik already had the status of 'superkiller' and now had escaped law enforcement and organized crime. But in February 1997 the legend was over. Greek newspapers published articles that said a Russian mob boss had been found 15 miles from Athenes. The man that was found was strangled to death and had no identification documents on him, after fingerprints were taken his identity became clear: it was Aleksandr Solonik. In the weeks after Soloniks body was found Greek authorities raided the villa's of Solonik's organization and found an arsenal of weapons, it also became clear that within a week Solonik was expected in Italy for a contract killing. A killing he wouldn't finish. According to the rumors Solonik was whacked by a Moscow Organized Crime group according to the Russian legend Solonik is still alive and the body that was found was a fake put in place by Solonik. Solonik remains to this day a legend for the Russian public and is known as a 'superkiller', which is the name for the best contract killers in Russia.
Red Mafia:VICTOR BOUT
Viktor Anatoliyevich Bout is born on January 13, 1967 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Not much is known about his early life, but at one point he joined the military and after training began working at a Russian military base in Vitebsk as a navigator. After a few years he expanded his duties and also began training commando troops of the Russian Airforce.
In 1991 Bout graduated from Moscow's Military Institute for foreign languages and could speak six languages fluently, he now expanded his duties in the military and became a translator for the Russian army in Angola, Africa. Though not for long, because in that same year, 1991, the military base where Bout was working was disbanded as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bout and his fellow officers were out of a job.
Bout and his associates were well trained, had access to all the equipment they needed and more importantly had all the international contacts. And so it was that Bout started Transavia Export Cargo company which in 1993 helped supply the Belgian peace keeping forces in Somalia, Africa. And that wasn't the only work Bout's company did. Once his company had been set up Bout had made contacts with an Afghani group called the Northern Alliance and was selling them large amounts of weapons. From 1992 untill 1995 he supplied several Afghani groups with tons of amunition and weapons. With the money he made from these deals, allegedly $50 million dollars, Bout expanded his arms dealing empire.
In March of 1995 Bout started a company in the Belgian city Oostende (Ostend) named Trans Aviation Network Group. The company had a difficult start when their main customer, the Afghani Northern Alliance, was pushed out of power by the Taliban. In May of 1995 a plane filled with weapons and ammunition destined for the Northern Alliance was intercepted in Afghanistan by the Taliban. The crew was held captive until 16th of August, 1996 when they managed to escape.
Not long after Bout had a new customer, the Taliban. It wasn't his first contact with the Taliban he had sold them weapons before but not in the large shipments he sent them now. Business was good. Bout enjoyed his life, in Ostend, Belgium he bought a mansion and had several expensive cars. In Moscow he bought an apartment in one of the more exclusive neighborhoods. But life in Belgium didn't stay sweet for long, in 1997 Belgian newspapers published reports about Bout's shady operation and when Belgian authorities started looking into his business Bout moved to the United Arab Emirates.
His United Arab Emirates company was also founded in 1995 and, based first in Sharjah and later in 2001 in Ajman, would be his main base of operations. The U.A.E. was a perfect place for a man like Bout, it was a major financial center and a cross road for East and West trade and with its bank secrecy laws and free trade zones it was paradise on earth for an arms dealer.
From his base in Sharjah Bout ran his empire which also by 1995 included Africa. In 1995 he founded Air Cess in Liberia, this would mean the beginning of his grip on weapons supplying in Africa. Bout didn't care who he supplied with weapons or for what cause as long as people paid him his money. U.S. and U.N. officials say Bout airlifted thousands upon thousands of assault rifles, grenade and missile launchers and millions of ammunition rounds into Africa. Clients of Bout's companies include Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and Uganda. You could almost say that without Bout there would be peace in Africa.
Most of the weapons that arrived in Africa came from Bulgaria where Bout had made frequent trips between 1995 and 2000. In 2000 Bout was seen visiting six weapons factories there. Between July 1997 and September 1998 Bout organized 38 flights with weapons shipments worth an estimated $14 million dollars to African nations. In the summer of 2000 four of Bout's planes landed in Liberia with weapons on board. The shipments contained helicopters, armored vehicles, anti aircraft guns and automatic rifles. By now ofcourse law enforcement was beginning to understand Bout's place in the world af arms dealing and decided to take him down, something that would be more difficult than thought at first.
By the time the world took notice of Bout he was safely in his home in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. By now Bout had made the political connections and money that made him almost untouchable. And on top of that, the law enforcement units didn't even have any proof. While investigating Bout's empire several of the law enforcement units went crazy. Bout's empire was a maze of people, companies, planes and routes. It was impossible to check where and when Bout's planes flew and which planes belonged to him. Bout kept moving himself and his companies around and had nothing registrated in his own name. When they finally had the evidence to charge him Bout was protected by high placed U.A.E. royalty and officials such as Sultan Hamad Said Nassir al Suwaidi, advisor to the ruler of Sharjah, who apparently also co-owns one of Bout's companies. The world wanted him bad but when he seemed too far out of reach the interest to catch him died down as well as the intensity with which he was hunted. Then came September 11, 2001 which changed everyones priorities.
On September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda terrorists attacked New York and the entire free world. Al Qaeda was very close to the extreme muslims of the Afghani Taliban, a group that was supplied with weapons by Bout. After September 11 Bout became a top priority for the U.S. Old evidence was pulled from the shelves and new evidence was collected. His name was everywhere, in newspapers on television. Everyone knew of Victor Bout's arms dealing empire. But no one knew where Bout was or how to cath him.
By now the U.S. and Interpol were looking everywhere but couldn't find him, the United Arab Emirates were hesitant to cooperate but eventually caved in although one can only guess if they really did. And even if they did Bout was always safe in his homeland Russia where corrupt officials knew how to hide a man like Bout. Russia was asked by the U.S. and Interpol to deliver Bout and at the height of the tension Moscow decided to give a press conference in which they said that Bout wasn't in Russia. It turned out to be an enormous blunder because at exact the same time as the Moscow press conference Bout was giving his own conference at Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy in a live interview in which he claimed his innocense and told that he "was just a businessman".
On March 6, 2008 Victor Bout was in a five star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand negotiating an arms deal worth millions. His buyers were members of the Colombian FARC, and they were eager to get the deal done. Bout was offering them more than 700 surface-to-air missiles, thousands of guns, high-tech helicopters, and airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers and missiles. Everything looked perfect for Bout, just another smooth deal, like so many others he had organized throughout the past twenty years. But unbeknownst to him, the FARC rebels actually were undercover agents part of an American-led sting operation. Thai police arrested Bout on the spot. At this moment Bout is still fighting his extradition to the United States where he faces four terrorism-related charges. His future does not look good.
In 1991 Bout graduated from Moscow's Military Institute for foreign languages and could speak six languages fluently, he now expanded his duties in the military and became a translator for the Russian army in Angola, Africa. Though not for long, because in that same year, 1991, the military base where Bout was working was disbanded as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bout and his fellow officers were out of a job.
Bout and his associates were well trained, had access to all the equipment they needed and more importantly had all the international contacts. And so it was that Bout started Transavia Export Cargo company which in 1993 helped supply the Belgian peace keeping forces in Somalia, Africa. And that wasn't the only work Bout's company did. Once his company had been set up Bout had made contacts with an Afghani group called the Northern Alliance and was selling them large amounts of weapons. From 1992 untill 1995 he supplied several Afghani groups with tons of amunition and weapons. With the money he made from these deals, allegedly $50 million dollars, Bout expanded his arms dealing empire.
In March of 1995 Bout started a company in the Belgian city Oostende (Ostend) named Trans Aviation Network Group. The company had a difficult start when their main customer, the Afghani Northern Alliance, was pushed out of power by the Taliban. In May of 1995 a plane filled with weapons and ammunition destined for the Northern Alliance was intercepted in Afghanistan by the Taliban. The crew was held captive until 16th of August, 1996 when they managed to escape.
Not long after Bout had a new customer, the Taliban. It wasn't his first contact with the Taliban he had sold them weapons before but not in the large shipments he sent them now. Business was good. Bout enjoyed his life, in Ostend, Belgium he bought a mansion and had several expensive cars. In Moscow he bought an apartment in one of the more exclusive neighborhoods. But life in Belgium didn't stay sweet for long, in 1997 Belgian newspapers published reports about Bout's shady operation and when Belgian authorities started looking into his business Bout moved to the United Arab Emirates.
His United Arab Emirates company was also founded in 1995 and, based first in Sharjah and later in 2001 in Ajman, would be his main base of operations. The U.A.E. was a perfect place for a man like Bout, it was a major financial center and a cross road for East and West trade and with its bank secrecy laws and free trade zones it was paradise on earth for an arms dealer.
From his base in Sharjah Bout ran his empire which also by 1995 included Africa. In 1995 he founded Air Cess in Liberia, this would mean the beginning of his grip on weapons supplying in Africa. Bout didn't care who he supplied with weapons or for what cause as long as people paid him his money. U.S. and U.N. officials say Bout airlifted thousands upon thousands of assault rifles, grenade and missile launchers and millions of ammunition rounds into Africa. Clients of Bout's companies include Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and Uganda. You could almost say that without Bout there would be peace in Africa.
Most of the weapons that arrived in Africa came from Bulgaria where Bout had made frequent trips between 1995 and 2000. In 2000 Bout was seen visiting six weapons factories there. Between July 1997 and September 1998 Bout organized 38 flights with weapons shipments worth an estimated $14 million dollars to African nations. In the summer of 2000 four of Bout's planes landed in Liberia with weapons on board. The shipments contained helicopters, armored vehicles, anti aircraft guns and automatic rifles. By now ofcourse law enforcement was beginning to understand Bout's place in the world af arms dealing and decided to take him down, something that would be more difficult than thought at first.
By the time the world took notice of Bout he was safely in his home in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. By now Bout had made the political connections and money that made him almost untouchable. And on top of that, the law enforcement units didn't even have any proof. While investigating Bout's empire several of the law enforcement units went crazy. Bout's empire was a maze of people, companies, planes and routes. It was impossible to check where and when Bout's planes flew and which planes belonged to him. Bout kept moving himself and his companies around and had nothing registrated in his own name. When they finally had the evidence to charge him Bout was protected by high placed U.A.E. royalty and officials such as Sultan Hamad Said Nassir al Suwaidi, advisor to the ruler of Sharjah, who apparently also co-owns one of Bout's companies. The world wanted him bad but when he seemed too far out of reach the interest to catch him died down as well as the intensity with which he was hunted. Then came September 11, 2001 which changed everyones priorities.
On September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda terrorists attacked New York and the entire free world. Al Qaeda was very close to the extreme muslims of the Afghani Taliban, a group that was supplied with weapons by Bout. After September 11 Bout became a top priority for the U.S. Old evidence was pulled from the shelves and new evidence was collected. His name was everywhere, in newspapers on television. Everyone knew of Victor Bout's arms dealing empire. But no one knew where Bout was or how to cath him.
By now the U.S. and Interpol were looking everywhere but couldn't find him, the United Arab Emirates were hesitant to cooperate but eventually caved in although one can only guess if they really did. And even if they did Bout was always safe in his homeland Russia where corrupt officials knew how to hide a man like Bout. Russia was asked by the U.S. and Interpol to deliver Bout and at the height of the tension Moscow decided to give a press conference in which they said that Bout wasn't in Russia. It turned out to be an enormous blunder because at exact the same time as the Moscow press conference Bout was giving his own conference at Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy in a live interview in which he claimed his innocense and told that he "was just a businessman".
On March 6, 2008 Victor Bout was in a five star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand negotiating an arms deal worth millions. His buyers were members of the Colombian FARC, and they were eager to get the deal done. Bout was offering them more than 700 surface-to-air missiles, thousands of guns, high-tech helicopters, and airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers and missiles. Everything looked perfect for Bout, just another smooth deal, like so many others he had organized throughout the past twenty years. But unbeknownst to him, the FARC rebels actually were undercover agents part of an American-led sting operation. Thai police arrested Bout on the spot. At this moment Bout is still fighting his extradition to the United States where he faces four terrorism-related charges. His future does not look good.
Red Mafia:TARIEL ONIANI
In July last year Russian police used a dramatic helicopter raid to detain dozens of reputed crime bosses known as “thieves-in-law,” gathered on a yacht at a reservoir outside Moscow. Some of them attempted to flee from police and jumped overboard, but the water was too cold for swimming that day and the criminals preferred to return to the captured craft. The Russian news media covered showed scenes of commandos marching the handcuffed gangsters single file to waiting buses. Most of the more than three dozen suspected gang leaders detained in the raid were later released because of a lack of evidence. Among those detained, according to media reports, was Tariel Oniani, an ethnic Georgian with a reputation as one of the most powerful crime bosses in the Soviet Union.
Some speculated that Tariel Oniani, had organized the meeting to discuss a conflict with a rival crime boss, Aslan Usoyan. The dispute could develop into a bloody conflict reminiscent of the gang wars of the 1990s. Usoyan gathered his supporters, including Vyacheslav Ivankov, known as Yaponchik, for a May 2 meeting in Krasnodar, newspaper Kommersant reported. In an interview with a local newspaper, Aslan Usoyan denied rumors of impending violence. “We are peaceful people and don’t bother anybody,” he said. “We are for peace, in order to prevent lawlessness.” In fact the thieves-in-law have been linked to numerous murders in the post-Soviet period. Authorities have accused them of ordering contract killings and carrying out kidnappings and innumerable financial crimes.
Tariel Oniani was born in the miner’s town of Tkibuli in 1952. His father died in a mine. Tariel was first convicted of robbery and theft at the age of 17. He served the total of 8 terms in prison, An influential “thief-in-law” in the Moscow of the 1980s, he moved to Paris in the 1990s and later to Spain, when criminal charges were brought against him in France. He ran a construction business on the Mediterranean coast, apparently employing an illegal Georgian work force and investing in real estate for money-laundering purposes. After the police failed to arrest Oniani in Spain in the summer of 2005, an international warrant was issued against him. The Spanish police undertook a large-scale operation but he managed to escape. They conducted some 50 searches in Barcelona, Alicante, and at the resorts of Marbella and Torremolinos where offices of Tariel Oniani’s companies were situated. In September of 2005, hardly three months after the operation, intelligence services were alerted that Oriani had issued an order to assassinate the ones in charge of the investigation, the judge and the public prosecutor.
Months later, in May, Oniani’s business partner Zakhar Knyazevich Kalashov (photo right), the man considered to be the leader of the Russian mafia in Spain, was arrested in Dubai. Knyazevich well known as Shakro Junior arrived on the Costa Blanca at the end of the 1990s, then later spent time on the Costa del Sol and in Cataluña. The criminals had established a network of bars and restaurant chains on Spain's Mediterranean coast, and also trafficked luxury cars to launder money from criminal activities in the former Soviet Union. Knyazevich who was brought back onto Spanish soil on board a military aircraft, fled Spain, when 28 members of his organisation were arrested, and 800 bank accounts were frozen. Several international arrest warrants have been issued for the man linked to killings and drug trafficking. In november 2006 Spanish police arrested nine other gang members including Ukrainian national Oleg Vorontsov, a former advisor to ex-president Boris Yeltsin, who led the crime ring after the arrest of Knyazevich.
“I knew this man [Tariel Oniani]. I met him in Paris a long time ago,” businessman Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov told Kommersant “I would not say he’s a bad man. He is a businessman with good connections. I think this is a provocation, the same as was directed at me. You see, it’s summer in Europe now. It’s dead boring there in summer, and they need to amuse people, their voters, and, at the same time, show they earn the voters’ salt."
In the last 15 years the thieves-in-law have spread around the world, from Moscow to Madrid to Berlin and Brooklyn. They are involved in everything from petty theft to billion-dollar money laundering schemes, while also acting as unofficial jurists among conflicting Russian criminal factions. When the Soviet Union fell, they emerged from the broken country’s peripheries to exploit the legal chaos. By all accounts, they infiltrated the top political and economic circles.
Some speculated that Tariel Oniani, had organized the meeting to discuss a conflict with a rival crime boss, Aslan Usoyan. The dispute could develop into a bloody conflict reminiscent of the gang wars of the 1990s. Usoyan gathered his supporters, including Vyacheslav Ivankov, known as Yaponchik, for a May 2 meeting in Krasnodar, newspaper Kommersant reported. In an interview with a local newspaper, Aslan Usoyan denied rumors of impending violence. “We are peaceful people and don’t bother anybody,” he said. “We are for peace, in order to prevent lawlessness.” In fact the thieves-in-law have been linked to numerous murders in the post-Soviet period. Authorities have accused them of ordering contract killings and carrying out kidnappings and innumerable financial crimes.
Tariel Oniani was born in the miner’s town of Tkibuli in 1952. His father died in a mine. Tariel was first convicted of robbery and theft at the age of 17. He served the total of 8 terms in prison, An influential “thief-in-law” in the Moscow of the 1980s, he moved to Paris in the 1990s and later to Spain, when criminal charges were brought against him in France. He ran a construction business on the Mediterranean coast, apparently employing an illegal Georgian work force and investing in real estate for money-laundering purposes. After the police failed to arrest Oniani in Spain in the summer of 2005, an international warrant was issued against him. The Spanish police undertook a large-scale operation but he managed to escape. They conducted some 50 searches in Barcelona, Alicante, and at the resorts of Marbella and Torremolinos where offices of Tariel Oniani’s companies were situated. In September of 2005, hardly three months after the operation, intelligence services were alerted that Oriani had issued an order to assassinate the ones in charge of the investigation, the judge and the public prosecutor.
Months later, in May, Oniani’s business partner Zakhar Knyazevich Kalashov (photo right), the man considered to be the leader of the Russian mafia in Spain, was arrested in Dubai. Knyazevich well known as Shakro Junior arrived on the Costa Blanca at the end of the 1990s, then later spent time on the Costa del Sol and in Cataluña. The criminals had established a network of bars and restaurant chains on Spain's Mediterranean coast, and also trafficked luxury cars to launder money from criminal activities in the former Soviet Union. Knyazevich who was brought back onto Spanish soil on board a military aircraft, fled Spain, when 28 members of his organisation were arrested, and 800 bank accounts were frozen. Several international arrest warrants have been issued for the man linked to killings and drug trafficking. In november 2006 Spanish police arrested nine other gang members including Ukrainian national Oleg Vorontsov, a former advisor to ex-president Boris Yeltsin, who led the crime ring after the arrest of Knyazevich.
“I knew this man [Tariel Oniani]. I met him in Paris a long time ago,” businessman Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov told Kommersant “I would not say he’s a bad man. He is a businessman with good connections. I think this is a provocation, the same as was directed at me. You see, it’s summer in Europe now. It’s dead boring there in summer, and they need to amuse people, their voters, and, at the same time, show they earn the voters’ salt."
In the last 15 years the thieves-in-law have spread around the world, from Moscow to Madrid to Berlin and Brooklyn. They are involved in everything from petty theft to billion-dollar money laundering schemes, while also acting as unofficial jurists among conflicting Russian criminal factions. When the Soviet Union fell, they emerged from the broken country’s peripheries to exploit the legal chaos. By all accounts, they infiltrated the top political and economic circles.
Red Mafia
'Red Mafia' Operating in the U.S. – Helping Terrorists
Col. Stanislav Lunev
Monday, Oct. 1, 2001
I would like to reveal to you today some "secrets" about the Russian mafia.
Some background first. There are thousands of Mafia-type organized crime syndicates in Russia, including about 200 operating in Moscow alone, and more than 300 functioning internationally, according to Russian police estimates.
Total membership of these gangs, known to intelligence sources as a "Red Mafia," approximates almost 1 million "soldiers" – or the equivalent of all the Russian army's ground forces.
The Red Mafia is the continuation of Russia's Communist old guard. This is why the Russian mafia is totally controlled and populated by "ex-KGB" and "ex-GRU" agents.
In reality, these men still work for Russian intelligence agencies and are still communist and still intent on destroying America – but today they have a new front and one that appears to the West less menacing.
The Red Mafia is up to all the same tricks the KGB engaged in, but now Western leaders dismiss the problems as simply a "mafia" one rather than blaming the Russian government.
The Russians are providing nuclear technology to rogue countries like Iran – and the Americans and media here buy the excuse that "the mafia" is doing it – as Russian leaders say, "We have no control over it."
This is the same mafia that staged a series of apartment bombings in Russia – using, guess who, groups linked to Osama bin Laden.
Today, U.S. intelligence experts believe that almost two-thirds of all commercial institutions in Russia, some 400 banks (those in Moscow alone control more than 80 percent of the country's finances), dozens of stock exchanges, and hundreds of large government enterprises are controlled by the mobs. About 40 percent of the GDP in Russia is in the hands of organized crime, working in concert with corrupt officials and businessmen.
These are striking figures, especially when compared to a range of 5 percent to 7 percent in the industrialized countries and up to 30 percent for some African and Latin American nations.
Of course this is Russia's domestic problem, but unfortunately now it is not only Russia's, because about 30 of the most powerful and dangerous Russian gangs are already operating in almost all American states.
Using practically unlimited resources from Russia, these criminal syndicates are working independently and in close cooperation with local gangsters to establish control over America's profitable small and medium-size businesses.
In addition, Russian mobsters are penetrating the most sensitive areas of large U.S. companies and corporations, stealing their secrets to sell and using stolen data for their own illegal activities.
They are also very busy destroying local life by taking a very active part in contract murder, extortion and racketeering, money laundering, fraud, prostitution, and other criminal "business."
Russian mobsters also pay very close attention to drug trafficking, considering this area as most promising and profitable.
In this activity Russian mobsters are using their international connections and expertise in cooperation with the most dangerous drug cartels of Latin American countries.
The seizure last May of 20 tons of cocaine from two "fishing boats" off the West Coast, manned by Russian and Ukrainian crewmen, has raised concerns in the U.S. intelligence community that Mexican drug cartels are doing business with the Red Mafia.
American experts believe that drug cartels in Mexico, considered to be among the world's most ruthless, have followed the lead of Colombian cocaine smugglers in forging alliances with the Russian mobsters and other Eastern European crime syndicates.
Led by the Arellano-Felix cartel in Tijuana, those alliances have been firmly established and involved in the shipment of both cocaine and heroin.
It is known that Colombian drug cartels established connections with the Russian Mafia as early as 1992. Russian mobsters, who operated from New York, Florida and Puerto Rico, moved quickly to help the Colombians import drugs into Europe through Italy.
Employing many former KGB agents, Russian criminal syndicates controlled almost all banks in Moscow and St. Petersburg and established others in Panama and the Caribbean to launder billions of dollars in illicit drug profits for themselves as well as for the Colombians.
As NewsMax.com reported, the partnership gave the Colombians a new market for their cocaine and heroin, nearly all of which previously had been destined for the U.S. It also provided the Colombians with an access to sophisticated weapons, intelligence-gathering equipment and other military hardware, including dozens of airplanes and helicopters, and special super-speedboats now being used to ferry drugs out of the country.
Chillingly, they almost got a Russian submarine for drug smuggling but the FBI destroyed the deal.
Russian criminals are also very busy in cyberspace, considering this area a most profitable one for their future profits and development. The Red Mafia is working very carefully in cyberspace, and the real scope of this criminal activity is still little known by the American people.
Until now we have known only about some cases involving Russian criminals and small-crime groups, which were disclosed by the U.S. law-enforcement agencies.
However, Russian hackers are blamed for a series of spectacular feats in recent years, particularly for stealing secret Microsoft source codes, ransacking the Pentagon's computers, hacking into NATO's military websites, posting thousands of credit card numbers on the Internet, and stealing million of dollars from Western banks.
According to press reports, Russian hackers first captured the world's imagination in 1994, when a young mathematician, Vladimir Levin, hacked into the computers of Citibank and transferred $12 million to the bank accounts of his friends around the world.
He conducted the entire operation from his little one-room apartment in St. Petersburg.
Levin was arrested, but his case inspired other hackers, for example, Ilya Hoffman, a talented viola student at the Moscow Conservatory, who was detained in 1998 on charges of stealing $97,000 over the Internet. Another group of Russians stole more than $630,000 by hacking into Internet retailers and grabbing credit card numbers.
Some of the world's biggest Internet companies, including CompuServe and AOL, were forced to abandon Russia in 1997 because of the widespread use of stolen passwords.
Currently, Russian hackers are very busy in coordinated attacks on commercial and military computers in the U.S. and other members of NATO. When the North Atlantic alliance launched its bombing campaign in Yugoslavia in 1999, Russian hackers retaliated with their own wave of attacks on NATO member countries, breaking into their websites, posting anti-war slogans and overloading them with floods of junk e-mails.
In October 2000, a sustained break-in of Microsoft's highest-security network was traced back to a computer address in St. Petersburg. In January of the same year, an unidentified Russian hacker calling himself MAXUS stole more than 300,000 credit card numbers from CD Universe in an extortion bid, but was never caught. This list could go on and on, but there is no surprise over the quality of Russian hackers, who are extremely well-educated and talented.
However, in Moscow there is a special training center for hackers named the Civil Hackers' School, which exists with the support of Russia's intelligence services and criminal syndicates. Officially, the school is preparing specialists for legitimate jobs in computer security by shaping the new generation of computer whiz kids.
But in reality it is providing high-level training for young Russian hackers, who have provoked fear and anxiety in the West. Since 1996 this Civil Hackers' School, operating from a shabby little Moscow apartment, has trained several hundred highly trained hackers, who find jobs in the Russian intelligence community as well as in organized crime groups.
In the high-stakes game pitting fleet-fingered Russian hackers against the giants of American e-commerce and law enforcement, the Russians have been winning almost every time. All of these crimes, however, pale in comparison to the sheer size and scope of a hacking and extortion web that was so large that the FBI took the unusual step of warning the public about it in a March 2001 press release.
In this document, the FBI cited the ongoing danger from several organized hacker groups from Eastern Europe, specifically Russia and Ukraine, who were responsible for stealing more than 1 million credit card numbers and attacking the networks of over 40 businesses in 20 states of the U.S.
Nobody apparently knows, or perhaps even cares, how deeply the Red Mafia has already penetrated the American establishment. But the danger of this activity is already real in many American states and needs very close attention from U.S. law enforcement agencies, which until now have not been able to cope with this problem.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Russia
A product that might interest you:
Through the Eyes of the Enemy
___________________________________________________________________________
Col. Stanislav Lunev
Monday, Oct. 1, 2001
I would like to reveal to you today some "secrets" about the Russian mafia.
Some background first. There are thousands of Mafia-type organized crime syndicates in Russia, including about 200 operating in Moscow alone, and more than 300 functioning internationally, according to Russian police estimates.
Total membership of these gangs, known to intelligence sources as a "Red Mafia," approximates almost 1 million "soldiers" – or the equivalent of all the Russian army's ground forces.
The Red Mafia is the continuation of Russia's Communist old guard. This is why the Russian mafia is totally controlled and populated by "ex-KGB" and "ex-GRU" agents.
In reality, these men still work for Russian intelligence agencies and are still communist and still intent on destroying America – but today they have a new front and one that appears to the West less menacing.
The Red Mafia is up to all the same tricks the KGB engaged in, but now Western leaders dismiss the problems as simply a "mafia" one rather than blaming the Russian government.
The Russians are providing nuclear technology to rogue countries like Iran – and the Americans and media here buy the excuse that "the mafia" is doing it – as Russian leaders say, "We have no control over it."
This is the same mafia that staged a series of apartment bombings in Russia – using, guess who, groups linked to Osama bin Laden.
Today, U.S. intelligence experts believe that almost two-thirds of all commercial institutions in Russia, some 400 banks (those in Moscow alone control more than 80 percent of the country's finances), dozens of stock exchanges, and hundreds of large government enterprises are controlled by the mobs. About 40 percent of the GDP in Russia is in the hands of organized crime, working in concert with corrupt officials and businessmen.
These are striking figures, especially when compared to a range of 5 percent to 7 percent in the industrialized countries and up to 30 percent for some African and Latin American nations.
Of course this is Russia's domestic problem, but unfortunately now it is not only Russia's, because about 30 of the most powerful and dangerous Russian gangs are already operating in almost all American states.
Using practically unlimited resources from Russia, these criminal syndicates are working independently and in close cooperation with local gangsters to establish control over America's profitable small and medium-size businesses.
In addition, Russian mobsters are penetrating the most sensitive areas of large U.S. companies and corporations, stealing their secrets to sell and using stolen data for their own illegal activities.
They are also very busy destroying local life by taking a very active part in contract murder, extortion and racketeering, money laundering, fraud, prostitution, and other criminal "business."
Russian mobsters also pay very close attention to drug trafficking, considering this area as most promising and profitable.
In this activity Russian mobsters are using their international connections and expertise in cooperation with the most dangerous drug cartels of Latin American countries.
The seizure last May of 20 tons of cocaine from two "fishing boats" off the West Coast, manned by Russian and Ukrainian crewmen, has raised concerns in the U.S. intelligence community that Mexican drug cartels are doing business with the Red Mafia.
American experts believe that drug cartels in Mexico, considered to be among the world's most ruthless, have followed the lead of Colombian cocaine smugglers in forging alliances with the Russian mobsters and other Eastern European crime syndicates.
Led by the Arellano-Felix cartel in Tijuana, those alliances have been firmly established and involved in the shipment of both cocaine and heroin.
It is known that Colombian drug cartels established connections with the Russian Mafia as early as 1992. Russian mobsters, who operated from New York, Florida and Puerto Rico, moved quickly to help the Colombians import drugs into Europe through Italy.
Employing many former KGB agents, Russian criminal syndicates controlled almost all banks in Moscow and St. Petersburg and established others in Panama and the Caribbean to launder billions of dollars in illicit drug profits for themselves as well as for the Colombians.
As NewsMax.com reported, the partnership gave the Colombians a new market for their cocaine and heroin, nearly all of which previously had been destined for the U.S. It also provided the Colombians with an access to sophisticated weapons, intelligence-gathering equipment and other military hardware, including dozens of airplanes and helicopters, and special super-speedboats now being used to ferry drugs out of the country.
Chillingly, they almost got a Russian submarine for drug smuggling but the FBI destroyed the deal.
Russian criminals are also very busy in cyberspace, considering this area a most profitable one for their future profits and development. The Red Mafia is working very carefully in cyberspace, and the real scope of this criminal activity is still little known by the American people.
Until now we have known only about some cases involving Russian criminals and small-crime groups, which were disclosed by the U.S. law-enforcement agencies.
However, Russian hackers are blamed for a series of spectacular feats in recent years, particularly for stealing secret Microsoft source codes, ransacking the Pentagon's computers, hacking into NATO's military websites, posting thousands of credit card numbers on the Internet, and stealing million of dollars from Western banks.
According to press reports, Russian hackers first captured the world's imagination in 1994, when a young mathematician, Vladimir Levin, hacked into the computers of Citibank and transferred $12 million to the bank accounts of his friends around the world.
He conducted the entire operation from his little one-room apartment in St. Petersburg.
Levin was arrested, but his case inspired other hackers, for example, Ilya Hoffman, a talented viola student at the Moscow Conservatory, who was detained in 1998 on charges of stealing $97,000 over the Internet. Another group of Russians stole more than $630,000 by hacking into Internet retailers and grabbing credit card numbers.
Some of the world's biggest Internet companies, including CompuServe and AOL, were forced to abandon Russia in 1997 because of the widespread use of stolen passwords.
Currently, Russian hackers are very busy in coordinated attacks on commercial and military computers in the U.S. and other members of NATO. When the North Atlantic alliance launched its bombing campaign in Yugoslavia in 1999, Russian hackers retaliated with their own wave of attacks on NATO member countries, breaking into their websites, posting anti-war slogans and overloading them with floods of junk e-mails.
In October 2000, a sustained break-in of Microsoft's highest-security network was traced back to a computer address in St. Petersburg. In January of the same year, an unidentified Russian hacker calling himself MAXUS stole more than 300,000 credit card numbers from CD Universe in an extortion bid, but was never caught. This list could go on and on, but there is no surprise over the quality of Russian hackers, who are extremely well-educated and talented.
However, in Moscow there is a special training center for hackers named the Civil Hackers' School, which exists with the support of Russia's intelligence services and criminal syndicates. Officially, the school is preparing specialists for legitimate jobs in computer security by shaping the new generation of computer whiz kids.
But in reality it is providing high-level training for young Russian hackers, who have provoked fear and anxiety in the West. Since 1996 this Civil Hackers' School, operating from a shabby little Moscow apartment, has trained several hundred highly trained hackers, who find jobs in the Russian intelligence community as well as in organized crime groups.
In the high-stakes game pitting fleet-fingered Russian hackers against the giants of American e-commerce and law enforcement, the Russians have been winning almost every time. All of these crimes, however, pale in comparison to the sheer size and scope of a hacking and extortion web that was so large that the FBI took the unusual step of warning the public about it in a March 2001 press release.
In this document, the FBI cited the ongoing danger from several organized hacker groups from Eastern Europe, specifically Russia and Ukraine, who were responsible for stealing more than 1 million credit card numbers and attacking the networks of over 40 businesses in 20 states of the U.S.
Nobody apparently knows, or perhaps even cares, how deeply the Red Mafia has already penetrated the American establishment. But the danger of this activity is already real in many American states and needs very close attention from U.S. law enforcement agencies, which until now have not been able to cope with this problem.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Russia
A product that might interest you:
Through the Eyes of the Enemy
___________________________________________________________________________
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