Jun 14 2008
Yury Salikov, one of the suspected heads of the gang AFP PHOTO/STR
Four of twenty suspected Russian mafia members arrested on Friday will remain in Spanish custody after questioning, according to the El Mundo newspaper. Sixteen others have yet to be quizzed, but Spanish law requires that they be charged within 48 hours of arrest. Continue Reading »
Jun 13 2008
Madrid - Spanish police Friday detained several people in swoops on Russian arms traffickers and money launderers, police sources said. The judge who ordered the operation had issued 25 arrest orders. The detainees included four people regarded as ring leaders, according to radio reports. Continue Reading »
Jun 12 2008
Joseph Serio’s recently released book “Investigating the Russian Mafia” (Carolina Academic Press, Durham, North Carolina, 2008) is a detailed accounting of his study and personal experience on “Russian Mafia” related issues. He notes that the term “Russian Mafia” comprises elements of several ethnic groups in Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union. Continue Reading »
Jun 04 2008
MOSCOW — The defense attorney of businessman Sergei Shnaider, a reputed mafia boss in custody for tax evasion charges, said Wednesday he had made a request for his client to be released on bail for health reasons. Continue Reading »
Jun 03 2008
Poisoned: Former spy Alexander Litvinenko days before his death
Britain is wide open to the threat of the Russian Mafia, a leading crime expert has warned.
Squabbles between the police and MI5, the removal of the one policeman with contacts with the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the fallout from the Alexander Litvinenko murder have combined to leave London vulnerable to the mafia gangs, author Andrei Soldatov claims. Continue Reading »
Apr 24 2008
NEW YORK — A monumental porcelain centerpiece with gilt bronze mounts, made by the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in St. Petersburg during the reign of Nicholas I (1825–55) — the only major lot that failed in the Russian works of art sale at Sotheby’s last week — has become the center of a legal dispute, the New York Sun reports. As reported last week by ARTINFO, the centerpiece, comprised of eight jardinières and measuring 33 by 45 inches, was estimated to bring $2–3 million, but sank at $1.6 million. Continue Reading »
Apr 07 2008
MOSCOW — The Moscow City Court refused Monday to release businessman Sergei Shnaider, arrested in late January alongside the owner of the Arbat Prestige cosmetics chain on tax evasion charges, on $2 million bail. Continue Reading »
Feb 26 2008
The grave of Mikhail Kuchin, a casualty of Russia’s mafia wars. He is shown clutching the keys of his Mercedes
A surge in contract killings reminiscent of Russia’s mafia wars in the 1990s is threatening to damage Vladimir Putin’s legacy of stability in the dying days of his presidency.
As the Russian leader prepares to hand power to his handpicked sucessor, Dmitry Medvedev, after Sunday’s election, the Kremlin has been keen to remind Russians the president replaced Yeltsin era lawlessness with what he calls “the dictatorship of the law”. Continue Reading »
Feb 24 2008
Boris Stratievsky has been in jail awaiting trial since 2005.
Boris Stratievsky was a ‘professor’ of money-laundering for Moscow clients, according to his father, whose conversations were secretly taped by the FBI. Continue Reading »
Jan 25 2008
One of the world’s most feared mafia bosses accused of arms dealing, drug running, uranium trafficking and multiple murders has been captured by around 50 police commandos in Moscow. Continue Reading »
