EntityQ817144· pop 38· linked from 950 articles

Russian mafia

umbrella term for organized Russian crime groups

Key facts

Founding location: Moscow , Russian SFSR
Years active: Late 1980s–present
Territory: Post-Soviet states , European Union , Israel, United States, Australia
Ethnicity: Primarily Russians but also from other Post-Soviet states .
Criminal activities: Human trafficking, racketeering , drug trafficking, extortion , murder, robbery, smuggling, arms trafficking, gambling, prostitution, pornography, money laundering , fraud, financial crime , terrorism
Notable members: List of members

via Wikipedia infobox

Article

The Russian mafia (Russian: ру́сская ма́фия, romanized: russkaya mafiya [ˈruskəjə ˈmafʲɪjə] or росси́йская ма́фия, rossiyskaya mafiya [rɐˈsʲijskəjə ˈmafʲɪjə]), also known as bratva (братва́, bratva [brɐtˈva]; lit. 'brothers' clique'), is a collective of various organized crime-related elements originating and operating in Russia. Any of the mafia's groups may be referred to as an "Organized Criminal Group" (OPG, from Russian "организованная преступная группа"). This is sometimes modified to include a specific name, such as the Orekhovskaya OPG. Sometimes, the Russian word is dropped in favour of a full translation, and OCG is used instead of OPG.

In December 2009, Timur Lakhonin, the head of the National Central Bureau of Interpol within Russia, stated that "Certainly, there is crime involving our former compatriots abroad, but there is no data suggesting that an organized structure of criminal groups comprising former Russians exists abroad" on the topic of international Russian criminal gangs. In August 2010, Alain Bauer, a criminologist from France, said that the Russian mafia "is one of the best structured criminal organizations in Europe, with a quasi-military operation" in their international activities.