Red Mafiya

Starred review from May 1, 2000
This disturbing, sharply rendered account tells how the post-Communist Russian Mafiya has infiltrated American life with tactical intelligence and a rare level of viciousness. Drawing from interviews with top Russian mobsters and police, journalist Friedman (Zealots for Zion: Inside Israel's West Bank Settlement Movement) trenchantly explores the brutal corruption of the U.S.S.R. and the anarchic greed that has flourished since its collapse, incubating a "criminal colossus that has surpassed the Colombian cartels, the Japanese Yakuzas, the Chinese triads and the Italian Mafia in wealth and weaponry." Friedman, whose reporting on this subject has appeared in Vanity Fair, the Village Voice and other publications, writes of one wise guy responsible for 100 hits and of "Tarzan"Dthe swaggering Miami mobster busted while attempting to tender a Russian submarine to Colombian drug lords. Friedman documents how the mobsters have imported their brand of terror tacticsDshakedowns, kidnappings, bombings and public assassinationDfrom Moscow to Russian communities in Denver, Brooklyn's Brighton Beach and elsewhere, and examines what he casts as the largely inadequate, uninformed responses by law enforcement. Perhaps most disturbing, he suggests, is this: following profitable 1980s-era gasoline bootlegging schemes, Mafiya criminals shrewdly expanded into numerous quasi-legal pursuitsDestablishing luxurious Russian-themed nightclubs, corrupting Russian migr ice hockey players and making inroads in Israel through their own Jewish ethnicity. Friedman isn't always in control of the bewildering array of players and narrative threads that make up his complicated tale. But there's much to praise in this frightening, urgent reportorial projectDa project that has resulted in death threats against Friedman, as he relates in his hair-raising introduction. Photo insert not seen by PW. BOMC alternate.

June 1, 2000
In Russia, the term "organized crime" may be something of an oxymoron because, according to "Jane's Intelligence Review," there are at least 6,500 criminal gangs at work in the country. Filling the vacuum created by the collapse of Communism, Russian gangsters may control as much as half of the Russian economy, and as many as 80 percent of Russian businesses may be forced to pay protection money. Friedman has reported on the "mafiya" for such popular publications as "Vanity Fair" and "Details." Now he traces its growing influence in the U.S. He is also the author of "The False Prophet" (1990), a highly critical biography of Jewish Defense League founder Rabbi Meir Kahane, and "Zealots for Zion" (1992), a controversial portrait of Israel's West Bank settlers. Garnering not only interviews with high-ranking crime figures but also several death threats, Friedman now provides startling evidence of the extent to which the "mafiya" has infiltrated the U.S. and chilling details of its ruthless tactics. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)