Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America

by Robert I. Friedman

Amid his efforts to expose the Russian mob, Robert I. Friedman learned from the FBI that "the most brilliant and savage Russian mob organization in the world" had put a $100,000 price on his head. Reading Red Mafiya, it's not hard to see why: this is a brave book about a troubling subject. Friedman, a freelance journalist, describes the research behind it: "I ventured into the Russians' gaudy strip clubs in Miami Beach; paid surprise visits to their well-kept suburban homes in Denver; interviewed hit men and godfathers in an array of federal lockups; and traveled halfway around the world trying to make sense of their tangled criminal webs, which have ensnared everyone from titans of finance and the heads of government to entire state security services." Their racket involves heroin smuggling, weapons trafficking, mass extortion, and casino operation, among other activities. "Blending financial sophistication with bone-crunching violence, the Russian mob has become the FBI's most formidable criminal adversary, creating an international criminal colossus that has surpassed the Colombian cartels, the Japanese Yakuzas, the Chinese triads, and the Italian Mafia in wealth and weaponry," writes Friedman. They've even penetrated professional hockey, as Friedman shows in an eye-opening chapter ("Federal authorities have come to fear that the NHL is now so compromised by Russian gangsters that the integrity of the game itself may be in jeopardy").

Red Mafiya benefits from a breezy narrative in detailing a master criminal operation whose influence on the United States is growing rapidly. Russian mobsters already have siphoned off millions of dollars in foreign aid meant to prop up their country's economy--and they may have a more direct impact on American national security concerns in the years ahead: "The Russian mob virtually controls their nuclear-tipped former superpower," writes Friedman. Now, there's a scary thought. Lifting the Iron Curtain seems to have been a mixed blessing: it let freedom in, and organized crime out. --John J. Miller

Genres: Russia, Crime, True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Politics, The United States Of America

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this a higher star rating than it probably deserves. It's scattered, as if Friedman is trying to cram as much as possible into the book about all the different crime figures he knows. You can feel Friedman racing. He was: he had contracted a rare disease while on assignment for Vanity Fair in the slums of Bombay and was dying as he wrote this. Although, given his ballsy way of handling himself when confronting Russian mobsters, I'm not wholly convinced they didn't get him in the end.

Yet for all its flaws, the book is an engaging and terrifying, if slightly confusing, read. It's been approximately ten years since this book was published. How much more firmly entrenched is the Russian mob in our culture? I would guess much more so. Ten years is a long time, especially when there's very little reporting going on regarding their activities. Their influence is probably double what it was ten years ago, when they were, on the whole, making billions of dollars off of huge scams. As a matter of fact, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Wall Street and the like didn't take lessons from them before bringing down our economy in a crash two years ago.

The FBI was woefully slow in catching on to their presence, and their usual turf war mentality kept them from working with local and international authorities in compressing Russian mob activities, thus allowing this ruthless mob—one so violent it makes the Italian mafia look timid by comparison—to flourish. Friedman only gives us some broad brush strokes, but it's a good primer for getting an idea of what goes on behind the scenes.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a personal note: I once met a Russian gangster who had been extradited to the United States. All he knew of the U.S. was the inside of a federal prison. He could barely speak English and his attempts at American profanity were quite hilarious. My re-reading of this mind-blower on the octopus that is the Russian mafia made me consider a question: why are Russian gangsters so flamboyant, to the extreme of being gaudy? Among the Italians this is frowned upon for attracting law-enforcement heat. (Ask the late John Gotti.) One plausible explanation is when your origins lie in a nation like the Soviet Union, that in the words of Churchill, "equalized misery and practiced the creed of failure", you want to go to the opposite extreme. Friedman documents how the "Mafiya" actually had its roots in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, where the dividing line between Communist Party officials, the KGB, and street criminals was mighty thin. In coming to America, mostly via Jewish immigration from the Seventies onward (including fake Jews) they naturally assumed, not without foundation, the same tactics would work if applied on a larger scale. If Friedman was right (he died at age 51, supposedly of a rare disease, but with the Mafiya you never know) Wall Street, Washington D.C. and the world of entertainment, from Hollywood to professional sports, have been infiltrated or muscled by Red wise-guys .

[Daiva Skirkevičienė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Įdomi knyga, skaitoma lengvai, nuo jos nesinorėjo atsitraukti. Faktai pribloškiantys: kaip Amerikoje įsikūrė ir įsitvirtino Rusijos gangsteriai ir sukūrė tarptautinį mafijos tinklą, aprėpiantį vos ne visą planetą. Ir vienas iš labiausiai pribloškiančių dalykų, kad rusų mafijai užaugti iki didelės galybės padėjo Amerikos milijardai dolerių, prezidentų Clintono ir Busho administracijų siunčiami pagelbėti Rusijos ekonomikai po Sovietų Sąjungos žlugimo…
Labai gera ir drąsi knyga, tik išleista lietuviškai 2021, tai yra praėjus 21 metams po jos pasirodymo originalo kalba. O aš ją perskaičiau tik 2024-aisiais. Taigi, ši knyga jau priskirtina rusų mafijos įsitvirtinimo Amerikoje, Rusijoje ir pasaulyje istorijai, o ne dabarčiai. Nebėra tarp gyvųjų ir knygoje aprašomų tokių Lietuvai gerai žinomų Rusijos mafijos personažų, kaip buvęs Lietuvos sporto mecenatas — banditas ir kėgėbistas — Šabtajus Kalmanovičius (gimęs Kaune, o 2009 nušautas Maskvoje), rusų giedorėlis Josifas Kobzonas. Apie kitų mafijozų, tarp jų ir Anzoro Kikališvilio (dėl jo ryšių su prezidentavusio Pakso aplinkos žmonėmis buvo kilęs didelis skandalas Lietuvoje) likimą po 2000-ųjų iš šios knygos nesužinosime.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Oh, please. I worked with the Russian mafia. We make the Italians look like guppies."---"Red" Reznikov in ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. In the days when I hung out with the studs and mares of the night I'd often drop by PORKY'S, a Miami nightclub just blocks away from the international airport. The thought crossed my mind of why so many of the dancing girls were Russian, including my favorite, a Russian ethnic girl from Kazakhstan. Later, I opened Robert Friedman's book and found out why: PORKY'S was secretly owned by the Russian mafia. (The owner later had to flee back to Russia, but that's another story.) Although RED MAFIYA concentrates on mobsters in the USA the Russians have, in fact, attained global reach. In Israel human trafficking is largely in their hands. For those who make it big their favorite hangout is Abu Dhabi. Friedman shows that in the United States red mobsters have wisely chosen to go into business with the Italians rather than fight them over turf; gasoline bootlegging, for instance, is a joint mafiya-La Cosa Nostra enterprise. One question: are Russian gangsters so tough because they survived the Gulag or did only the toughest gangsters get sent to the Gulag?

[ji won kong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very prophetic work by Friedman. Trump is the culmination of the efforts of Putin. Oligarchs, and Russian Mafia-not sure there is a distinction. It would have been great to see what Friedman thought of today, since he saw it years ago and I'm sure feared it

Very prophetic work by Friedman. Trump is the culmination of the efforts of Putin. Oligarchs, and Russian Mafia-not sure there is a distinction. It would have been great to see what Friedman thought of today, since he saw it years ago and I'm sure feared it.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friedman’s brilliant exposé of the rise of the Russian Mafiya as a global threat, undertaken at considerable risk to his own life — fortunately for Friedman, he was soon to die of natural causes, as he rushed to finish this book — is a must read on the topic, so relevant today. The book, however, only takes us up to the year 1998/1999.

[Jessmccoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn, this book was scary. A complete history of how the Russian mob arrived in America and a profile of its activities up until the year 2000. Written by a journalist, with a flair for the sensational, so some of it was a bit tiresome.

But it was frightening to see how widespread the influence of the mob is, and how deeply ingrained in Russian government, commerce, banking, etc. I'm completely fascinated by how screwed up Russia is. And I'm trying to figure out why I'm so attracted to crime stories right now. I feel a bit lowbrow about the whole thing but I'm totally sucked in.

Anyway it rekindled a bit of my obsession with Mother Russia, which I enjoyed.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great and a quick read. It is only 250 pages, but it is amazing and frightful on what is happening.

I saw this book being discussed on TV on like the History Channel and thought it would be interesting. I am glad I picked it up.

[Travis Heermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books is a frightening glimpse into the Russian mob and how it got a foothold in the West. It feels scattershot at times, and I was hoping for a little more information about the mafiya's inner workings, but the author clearly knew what he was talking about.

[Arne-Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als ik bij de maffia ga, dan ga ik bij de Russische. Zeker weten. Italianen en Japanners zijn maar watjes. Dat geldt tenminste voor de maffiosi van Cosa Nostra, Ndrangheta, Camorra en Yakuza. Althans in vergelijking met de Russen. Als je Friedman mag geloven in zijn al eind jaren ‘90 verschenen schokkende werk over opkomst en opereren van de Russische maffia. Over hoe Russische joodse boeven een nieuw thuis vonden in de VS, maar hun tentakels richting Israël, Rusland en tal van andere plekken op de wereld verspreidden.

De opkomst van de Russishce maffia in de VS ging gepaard met klaterend geweld, zodat zij snel terrein wonnen op andere boevengroepen. De autoriteiten konden deze gewelddadigheid ook niet de kop in drukken bij gebrek aan serieus wapentuig en mankracht, maar ook omdat de lijnen naar de bovenwereld zeer sterk ontwikkeld werden. Bekende namen als Rudy Giuliani worden ontmaskerd door de auteur en ook grote helden uit de sport (met name ijshockey) komen er niet zonder kleerscheuren vanaf.

Ook zorgwekkend is dat de Russen beschikking hebben gekregen over gestolen wapentuig na het uiteenvallen van de USSR. Zelfs voor diefstal van en handel in nucleair materiaal is bewijs gevonden. Hiermee komen scenario’s zoals ze worden gepresenteerd in films als James Bond en series als 24 echt tot leven. Superschurken die nucleair materiaal willen verkopen aan één of andere booswicht of fout regime die de wereld willen vernietigen. Waar op film James, Jack en al die andere helden ons van een wisse ondergang redden is de vraag of de autoriteiten in het echt ook zo heldhaftif en doortastend zijn. Aan de andere kant leven we inmiddels in 2024, dus dat geeft de burger wel weer moed.

Met Russische maffia ben ik voorlopig door mijn stapeltje maffiaboeken heen. Mocht iemand nog goede tips hebben over een onderscheidend écht goed gerelateerd non-fictieboek, dan hou ik me aanbevolen. Wat voor mij het dichtstbij komt en al klaar ligt om in te beginnen is de klassieker Blackwater van Jeremy Clahill over het beruchte huurlingenleger. Daar ga ik dus binnenkort maar aan beginnen. Alternatief is Taliban van Ahmed Rashid, een boek dat al veel te lang ongelezen in de kast staat en daarmee gedateerd raakt (net zoals Russische maffia dat was). Ik zou zeggen pak de stemkastjes er maar bij en stemmen maar!!!!

O Blackwater
O Taliban
O Anders, namelijk…

P.s. ik loop wat achter met reviews. Excuus voor mijn trouwe volgers, ik zal de komende weken één en ander bijwerken.

[Zoltan Pogatsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A diligently written chronicle of how the Russian maffia came to be established in the United States. Nothing extraordinary about this book, but it is well written and well documented. All in all an interesting read if you wanna know sthg about this topic.

[Sheridan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter rubbish, not even good fiction, utter rubbish. Was this written in Tel Aviv? Utter rubbish, sensationalist, dim witted, unbalanced, what other adjective is needed to describe this tripe? Will someone please write an accurate, balanced, objective book that does not seek a salaried cheque from a friendly police force's friend? Such a deadly serious topic deserves honest attention but it is the thing that such honesty is rare and quietly hidden.

[Janna · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I realized that all these mafia guys are coming from the same place where I was born and grew up, I could not believe it. It is scary to think how much capacity for cruelly a human brain is able contain! The book is documentary and the events and people, creating these events are captured as they took place. The author obviously is a very courageous man, who put at risk his life reveling details of very dangerous for the society and for him and his family people.

[Kit Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Up to and including both the hydrogen bomb and that gnarly-ass flesh-eating bacteria, few things on this planet seem scarier than the Russian mafia.

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another favorite on the international red mafia invasion.

[Malachi Antal · Rating 4 out of 5]

in this well-written researched book came across term mafiya when also found maffiya. comprehensive black-and-white photos to give readership a nice mental break to place images to aforementioned personalities and venues.

'In Brighton Beach, he had shrewdly placed reliable members of the Jewish Organizatsiya's Old Guard like ... ' good novel research to find the technical terminology.

'Lev's Park Avenue company controlled a massive fleet of deepwater ships in Panama, which the government sus-pected of smuggling everything from coke to the latest model Ford Bronco, and of obtaining American visas for any number of mafiosi. "Bullshit," said Lev about the alleged smuggling. "I move chicken parts." If a ship's captain smug-gled contraband, he was completely unaware of it, he told me.' {classic insight into wholly unsubstantiated bullshit slinging contest}

favourite part when cagey type good at chameleonic blending in, 'Despite Ivankov's flagrant, multinational criminal active-ities, during his years in America, the FBI had a hard time even locating him. [the same FBI created fraudulent Russian dossier from Steele Mi-6 pipedreams] "At first all we had was a name," says the FBI's James Moody. "We were looking around, looking around, looking around, and had to go out and really beat the bushes. And then we found out that he was in a luxury condo in Trump Towers" in Manhattan.*

'But almost as soon as they found him, he disappeared again leaving nothing but vapor trails for the FBI to follow. "Ivankov," explained an FBI agent, "didn't come from a walk-and-talk culture," like Italian gangsters who take walks to discuss family business so they can't be bugged or overheard by the bureau. "As soon as he'd sniff out the feds, he'd go hiding for days at a time," a trait that made him harder to keep tabs on than Italian mobsters.'

Dan Hotel besides, King David Hotel, amongst sites see in Israel since read Friedman's book.

'Ivankov had many prosaic conversations about the phi-losophy of the vors with ... , an imposing enforcer type who lived in Los Angeles. The of the vor — which Ivankov called "human law" — was pure, honest, and uncorrupted by politics. He ridiculed the polit-ical pretensions that were the foundation of perestroika, declaring that it was merely a cynical plot devised by the ruling class to control the populace. After perestroika "they'll invent something different, again and again, and this is an endless process," he told ... "But in any case, everything is fine, brother. We live according to the law of the mini-state, everything is done in an honorable and honest way. And that's it."

each chapter is mischievous bedlam rocks the boat. writer even received a promise from individual insulted by the book a memento. learnt from other good reads reviewer that writer, Friedman, dying in the Bombay presidency when he wrote this book.

good novel research for forthcoming financial thriller gangster novel so could write in style of better writers.

late journalist wrote the picayune details ; the shootings ; the stabbings ; the swindles, like an insider. 2nd favourite part of book includes black-and-white photographs one addressed to Robert I. Friedman —

It was easy finding a valentine for someone like you ... [some hallmark card depicted androgynous cats found perfect valentine ; generic form card since nothing says your special like a mass-market valentine ; unless its individualized]

FRIEdman! You are a dIrty FuckINg AmerIcaN prostItutIan LIar!

I WILL Fuck You! ANd make you suck My RuSSIaN DICK!

[Valiant Thor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a shocking book with great relevance to current events, though it was published in 2000. It's kind of unsettling to read predictions in there of how powerful Mafiya would be "in 20 years", considering that is NOW, and we've got a mobbed-up President dealing with Israel, which the book states is dominated by the Mafiya. Yikes.

"Red Mafiya" made it obvious I had been more-or-less completely ignorant of the Russian mob and its power and reach, and after reading it, it's plain to see how things have progressed since 2000, and that "Red Mafiya" can probably rightly be viewed as prologue to the Trump Presidency. How many gangsters in "Red Mafiya" lived in Trump Tower? I'd have to go back and count. But wait, is this some anti-Trump thing? Not quite. Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Chuck Schumer make their own appearances in the book, sucking up to gangsters for campaign cash, and providing them their favors. Isn't bi-partanship wonderful?

"Red Mafiya" plugs into a number of other stories, without making the connections explicitly. For example, the Russian mob in Sofia plugs right into Robert Maxwell's criminal empire (see "Robert Maxwell: Israel's Superspy") and even 9/11 (see Daniel Hopsicker's documentary "Mohammed Atta and the Venice Flying Circus". Oh, and I almost forgot: in Daniel Hopsicker's documentary on the 2000 election fiasco in Florida, "The Bix Fix 2000", he traces voting machine chicanery back to a Russian mob operation in New Jersey. Makes one wonder if we witnessed a "Big Fix 2016".

I came away from this book convinced the Mafiya is a major factor in politics and geopolitics that is vastly underappreciated. The book is engaging and the writing excellent. I cruised through the book quickly and felt like I got a lot out of it. Highly recommended.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, if frustratingly incomplete look inside various Russian mob families in the US and around the world. The best part of this book is the history of the Russian mob's formation in the Soviet Union. I now want to find a book about the vors and their domination of the gulags.

There are enough interesting stories spread throughout, like the attempt to buy a Russian submarine for Colombian drug lords, to keep you going through the dryer spots. My biggest problem is that the book seems incomplete, like the author had a set of stories to tell but a higher ambition. This doesn't read like a true history of the mob as much as a recounting of some of their crimes as recorded in various court documents. The author does try to interview some mobsters for completeness, but they have little to say.

[John Christmas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert I. Friedman's Red Mafiya, published in 2009, is a masterpiece of research on how the Russian Mafia infiltrated the United States and Israel. Friedman has a clear and precise writing style and includes details that only he could collect, having personally met some of the major players. It's accurate to say that he risked his life to write this book. Also refreshing is open discussion of Jewish involvement in Russian organized crime. Friedman is perfect for this job, having a Jewish background himself, and the book serves as a warning to the US and Israel that this problem must be tackled and is a national security issue for both countries.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, although very dated. The writer was a hell of a reporter, but sometimes it seemed like he could've given more context to what was going on (Was Brighton Beach a relative backwater for the mob, or a true locus of power?). The Russian mob is global and entrepreneurial with tentacles everywhere. It doesn't have a corporate system of five fixed families with the same basic structure within the families of a boss, capos, and soldiers. It's more of criminals forming temporary alliances, some with small brains and big balls who rob banks, some with big brains and big balls who just buy the bank.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for every American. Published in 2000, Friedman charts the rise of the Russian 'Mafiya' through the collapse of the Soviet Union to their subsequent infiltration of the west. This book sets the stage for the rise of Trump (Trump Tower and Taj Mahal are name-dropped in the book as being notorious havens for money laundering). This book provides a sobering account of how the Russian mob infiltrates banks, politics, and law enforcement. It's unnerving to think of how deep they've embedded themselves in American society in the 20 years since the book was written...

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title says it all. Friedman explains how the Russian mob controls not only Russia but takes advantage of openings in the West (e.g., the U.S., the U.K. and Israel) to control them as well. Unfortunately, he died in 2002, so he's not around to update the book. What was undoubtedly eye-popping in 2000 when the book came out is pretty well known now. I found the details somewhat tedious (which Mob boss was supported by which politician, etc.), and really wanted to know about the connections between the Mafiya and the oligarchs.

[Ian Sandham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep dive into the Russian mafia in the US

Light-shining writing on the darkest criminal organization in human history. Fascinating and chilling. Absolutely frustrating to learn how deeply and thoroughly the Russians are gaming the balance of Justice in their favor.

[Jolanta Ginsevičiūtė · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kartais reikia nusiimti rožinius akinius ir pažvelgti tiesai į akis. Norėjosi šią knygą perskaityti kuo greičiau....Daug teisybės, nusikaltimų, Rusijos mafijos schemų....Ir vistik žiauri tauta... :( 😞😓

[Seth Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

This places a spotlight on the influences the Russian Mafia has had on the rest of the world. It was amazing to me how much the Russian Mafia had hob-knobed with am American entrepreneurs, and how much of an impact they had on American policy and politics on both sides of the aisle.

[Rithwik Hari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is a bit clunky at times, but Friedman’s book is a must read. Most Americans have no clue as to the extent that our society is infected by the mafiya, with dramatic implications for our economic system, political system (hello Trump), and the evolution of Putin’s Russia.

[Jeff Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a brilliant piece of investigative journalism that's ribald and eye-opening. It reveals quite a lot about the underworld, but this work unfortunately ended with his death two years after publication. Now is when we need his skills, to follow this research into the White House.

[Alexander Bragman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many people who have talked about forbidden topics he suddenly died mysteriously, that is enough reason to read this massive exposure of who are the real people behind the "Russian Mafia".

[Bud Theisen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think Robert Friedman fell into the trap of believing everything he heard from the Russian wiseguys he talked to. Several brilliant sentences in the book, but beyond that, just an above average book

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched.