Red Mafiya : How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America

Rating:
Summary: Red Mafiya
Review: Books that claim to take readers inside a subject often fail to deliver. But Red Mafiya really does give you the inside scoop on the Russian mob in America. And unlike many investigative books that are densely written and difficult to read, this book is hard to put down. Friedman vividly reconstructs murder investigations, describes kidnapping attempts and recounts the how the FBI tracked down a criminal in Russia. It's not all blood and gore either. It made me laugh when one mobster insists on inspecting the boots of a rival gang in order to find the person who shot him. It made me feel sorry for hard-working police who are trying to combat the crime wave without the support needed to succeed. And it made me angry to see how many of these criminals are using the millions they've looted from the former Soviet Union to buy up expensive real estate in this country.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting look at the Russian Mob
Review: Having grown up very close to Brighton Beach It was interesting to read about some of the crimes and events that happened in the area.I thought the book was very interesting in terms of portraying the leading underworld figures and their rise to the top. Some of the information the author imparts is very disturbing, how far-reaching the mob is and the different things they are involved in. Having said that it's a very colorfull history of the Russian Mafia.

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Summary: Poorly written, disorganized, and antisemitic
Review: I have read passages from this book and can say only this--a pure Racism. I do not deny that there are Russian Mobsters in America. They are vicious thugs and they must be dealt with swiftly and justly. I certainly not deny that current Russian Regime is corrupt and authocratic and it is the cause of concern.

However, in this book, Mr. Friedman does not separate mobsters from hundreds of thousands of ordinary decent Russian/Russian-Speaking Immigrants who made the America their home since early 70's and made a great contribution to the American society. For him, all Russian Emigres are either mobsters or somehow connected to mobsters. If you think this book is not Racist consider just a few passages:

"In Russia, Tarzan [nickname for one of the mobsters] told me
dishonesty is a trait that is bred from the womb. Deprivation teaches Russians to be cunning predators--it's only way to survive, he said." (Page 122)

" "The Russians didn't come here to enjoy the American Dream," New York State Tax agent Roger Berger says glumly. "They came here to steal it." "(Intro, Page xx)

"Like many young Russian emigres in East Berlin, Tarzan joined a mob crew" (Page 124)

If this is not a Racism and Russophobia--than what ? If anyone takes all these passages seriously, the next logical step would be for him or her to demand that Russians in America should be confined to concentration camps, thrown out of the country or be discriminated against in any ways possible. Whatever Mr. Friedman tells about his Russian Jewish roots does not excuse him for filling the book with such vicious passages. Any book that teaches people to hate other people because of their national or ethnic origin is a CRIME AGAINST GOD.

Rating:
Summary: I returned it
Review: I waited for this book with great anticipation. Ever since reading Handelman's "Comrade Criminal," I have been interested in the Russian mafiya.

But I think Handelman's book spoiled this one for me. "Comrade Criminal" focused on the organized crime situation in Russia. However, it had some fairly interesting tidbits about the expansion of the mobs into the United States and other countries.

Friedman's book was a little too breathless and exaggerated for me. For example, there was his claim that the Genovese Crime Family was earning billions of dollars. That seems a bit much. I could believe it of the Cali Drug Cartel certainly, but not an association of thugs that the FBI has decimated in the last twenty years.

I also found myself losing confidence in the author for another exaggeration. According to one expert drawn on by PBS's Frontline program about the mafiya, Vyacheslav Ivankov, the Russian gangster who sent the nasty Valentine's Day card to the author, may have been a big fish, but he probably was not "the Red Godfather" of America.

A final irritant was Friedman's getting the name of the DEA wrong. It's the "Drug Enforcement Administration" not "Drug Enforcement Agency." It's a small mistake, but it does make you wonder how closely the book was fact-checked (and how much the author really spent around DEA agents who would have certainly set him straight).

So I'd recommend that readers get "Comrade Criminal" and not this book.

Rating:
Summary: There's a Bear in Tony Soprano's back yard
Review: My introduction to the presence of the Russian Mafiya in the USA was limited to "Red Heat" (you remember...that movie starring Ahhnold and Jim Beluchi) and select episodes of HBO's The Sopranos.

This book is a terrifying eye-opener to the destructive presence and success the Mafiya has been enjoying for the last two decades.

This is a definite must-read for mobaholics and it's an easy read. Robert Friedman writes for Vanity Fair, and he brings to the book the same gritty, petty, gossipy, delightfully-detailed view that you get from a Vanity Fair feature.

Red Mafiya offers up a whole new cast of characters for Mob affecionados...but there are some names in this book you will recognize, e.g Marc Rich (recipient of a W. J. Clinton pardon).

It's hard for me to say this, but, kudos to Janet Reno, who according to Friedman, finally gave the FBI a green light and funding to begin a task force on the Russian mob.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: No other report on the many-tentacled Russian mafia has yet been assembled. Friedman, a veteran investigative reporter, takes the reader deep inside this shadowy world, illuminating the terrifying truth behind recent headlines about the Russian mafia in the United States.

If anything, the book is too ambitious: the level of detail and breadth of its coverage is so extensive that some may wish that it focused on a single crime family or era instead of attempting to tell the entire story of the Russian mafia, which has its roots as far back as Czarist Russia. This book is simply much bigger in scope than most books, movies or television shows about any form of organized crime--Russian or not--tend to attempt. Yet if the book suffers from its breadth, summarizing important historical developments too briefly, it also makes a virtue of its intimate, character-driven narrative. A gripping tale that brings the reader into the netherworld of the Russian mafia and introduces him personally to the individuals who live and die by the AK-47.

A short note: Some in the Russian-American community have found this book to be offensive, believing that the author treats all Russians as if they are criminals. As a non-Russian or Russian-American, I did not find this to be so. I understand the fear of stereotype felt by Russian and Russian-Americans, but this complaint sounded similar to the ones expressed by Italiam-Americans when books and reports about La Cosa Nostra came out. The subject is Russian criminals, so many of the Russians in the book are criminals, but nowhere did I see racist, biased treatments of all Russians as criminals. It is true that, because the Russian mafia began before the breakup of the Soviet Union, the term "Russian" is used broadly. However, the author always seemed to identify the individual figures in the book by their specific roots, whether Ukranian, Russian, etc.

Rating:
Summary: A Lightweight Page-Turner
Review: RED MAFIYA by Robert Friedman is a report on some of the figures and actions of the Russian mob in the United States today. Although, there are some claims that this book is "anti-Semitic," the author is himself Jewish. Friedman was a brave author to write and publish this because of the nature of the criminals he is trying to expose.

The Russian mob has been making tremendous headway in its criminal undertakings since it first took root in the 1970's. It is made up of many Soviet emigres who were brought over to the US because of some of their "refugee" status. Many are Jews brought over through the auspices of Jewish aid and refugee organizations. The two largest centers of Russian mob activity are Brighton Beach (in Brooklyn) and Miami. Many of its members are brilliant and highly educated, some holding PhDs in engineering, mathematics and economics. They have been involved in pretty much everything in which illegal money is to be made: the drug trade, prostitution, sex-clubs, gasoline bootlegging to avoid excise taxes, money laundering, arms deals, extortion, possibly rigging NHL games, jewelry theft and smuggling, the list goes on and on...

One of the reasons for the Mafiya's success is that is has two entire countries to base themselves in: Russia and Israel. Russia is completely corrupt with a crumbling economy and infrastructure. Israel offers a safe haven because it does not extradite its citizens and any Jew fleeing peresecution can seek refuge there. Israel also has very lax banking laws, to encourage the income of capital, so billions of dollars have been illegally laundered there over the years. Most of the top players in the Russian mob are Jewish, including Elson, Agron, Nayfeld, Balagula, noted author Yuri Brokhin, politically connected orthodox Rabbi Ronald Greenwald, Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainburg and the most powerful, Semion Mogilevich. Some, like Ivankov, are not Jewish but hold Israeli citizenship. The fact that many of the mobsters are Jewish is mentioned by Friedman as a cause of law-enforcement's lack of motivation in tackling the issue because it would inflame extremly sensitive political interests. Prominient names appear in this book who have had cameos with mobsters--all the way up to Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Rating:
Summary: Antisemitic and Russophobic Thrash by a self-hating Jew
Review: Robert I. Friedman (who recently died) was a terrorist loving, antisemitic and russophobic thrash peddler. His books are full of obscene innuendo and downright libel. He never backs up his sources and engages in Jew-bating (his previous books) and Russophobic rants (Red Mafiya). As a Jew from the Soviet Union and a proud Zionist, I consider Friedman to be as antisemitic and dangerous to the Jewish community as David Duke and Louis Farrakhan.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful and Alarming
Review: Telling the tale of the growth of the Russian mafia in America from its inception to its current staggering state, Friedman presents a book here that is worth every bit of the price it may cost.
Few titles I have seen make as clear the true magnitude of this situation in America, and it really is a problem that has not been fully understood. Though the book focuses more on the history of the mob's rise than the current state of affairs, this is important to know for the hope of catching up on nearly two decades of American law enforcement neglect.
Once the message of this book is understood, you'll find it difficult to not be at least a little alarmed and certainly angered at the ease with which the red mob grew in America.
Especially interesting is the discussion of the mob's connection to Russian NHL players, and upon finding out about NHL attitudes towards the situation the real alarm may set in.
I would indeed recommend this book highly to the lay reader with an interest in crime topics, though it probably does lack the depth that criminal justice professionals would look for in an analysis. But of course an analysis like that isn't its intent, but rather it hopes to open up our eyes, and trust me, that it will do.