How Russian mafia captured America

In late January, the media reported that Boris Nayfeld, nicknamed Bib, who is called the most famous Russian mafioso of New York, said about your desire to return home. In an interview Associated Press Biba told that he had lost everything, and asked to give him a chance to start a new life. "Lenta.ru report"Together with the Prime Crime portal, figured out the history of criminal authority aspiring to Russia, and found out what other major figures of the Russian underworld are operating across the ocean today.

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Cry from the heart

Boris Nayfeld, who served several prison terms, turned 70. He got out of prison for the third time, divorced - and broke down. Now he can not find work in the United States - at least one that would correspond to his experience.

Correspondent Associated Press (AP) met Biba at a restaurant a few blocks north of the New York area of ​​Brighton Beach, which was a refuge for immigrants from the former USSR from the 70 of the XX century.

“I can’t do anything,” Nayfeld says in between piles of vodka. - Give me a chance to start a new life.

He is still distinguished by a shaved head, piercing eyes and a strong body in tattoos, thanks to which for decades he has remained a formidable figure in the Russian-speaking areas of New York. Biba told AP that he wants to return to his homeland, where his abilities may be in demand. However, right now Nayfeld cannot leave for Russia: he is currently on a three-year probationary period. He was appointed to Biba after his last prison sentence, which ended last October: then Naifeld sat for taking part in an attempted murder, which turned into an attempt at extortion.

- I lost everything - time, wife, work. This is enough punishment for me. I can't do anything about it. Give me a chance to start a new life, - says Boris.

Nayfeld first came to the United States from Belarus at the end of the 70-s with a wave of Jewish immigrants from the USSR who said they were fleeing religious persecution. Biba himself, by his own admission, contacted crime as soon as he arrived in the United States.

During his life, he was convicted of fraud, tobacco smuggling and the delivery of heroin, hidden on television, from Thailand through Poland. Nayfeld publicly threatened to kill his rivals and survived one attempt: a bomb was placed under Biba’s car, but it did not explode. In 1986, the crime boss was shot in the arm when gunmen with machine guns broke into his office; then comrade Biba died. A year earlier, by chance, Nayfeld was at the scene of the murder of the leader of the Russian mafia in the USA, Yevsey Agron. As noted by AP, after the assassination of Agron, Beeba became a bodyguard and a driver for the next boss of the Russian mafia, Marat Balaguly.

Nayfeld, who was called the organizer and distributor of drugs for the Russian mafia in the US Customs Intelligence Report 1997 of the Year, does not regret his criminal life.

"Never. Not. If I had another chance, I would do the same, ”he says.

When sentencing last July, the assistant US attorney told the federal judge that, although Naifeld "was a member of the Russian mafia for most of his adult life," he is no longer afraid.

“I think the moment came when the terrible myth about Boris Nayfeld probably came to an end,” said prosecutor Andrew Thomas.

Biba himself says that he does not want to return to prison. He lives on social benefits in 750 dollars a month and tries to avoid places where former partners and young criminals gather. The only exception is the bath. Now Nayfeld is trying to capitalize on his past - for example, he is thinking about participating in a reality show with other former players of the Russian underworld. Boris also actively supports US President Donald Trump and compares himself to him. “Trump is a businessman, he doesn’t care who gives him money for the project. I'm the same, ”he explains.

As noted by AP, Brooklyn, where Nayfeld returned after his numerous deadlines, does not look like the 90-s sample start. At that time, crime among Russian immigrants in New York - especially violent - reached its historic heights: the bandits literally flooded the streets with their bodies. Today, the Russian mafia in the US metropolis has shifted its focus and is engaged in more credit card fraud, as well as the organization of gambling and prostitution.

"Glorious" past

“Boris Nayfeld is a well-known personality, especially in emigre circles. A thief in law, as some believe, Biba has never been. As far as I know, he is involved in drug smuggling - and the famous story about a submarine hails from 90's, ”says Victoria Gefter, editor of Prime Crime.

... This is a famous project, which was developed by members of the Tambovskaya organized criminal group together with the Medellin cartel from Colombia. An international criminal tandem intended to buy a Russian diesel submarine, the Foxtrot submarine (641 project), capable of transporting tons of cocaine to 40 after excavating the torpedo tubes.

The criminal community managed to bring down the initial price in 20 of millions of dollars to five - but because of the death of some key players in the deal, it never took place.

Despite this, the project of the world's first drug-donor became a real legend of the time, repeatedly embellished by the media. In the interpretation of the journalists, the alliance of the Tambovskaya OPG and the Medellinsky cartel hardly intended to shoot at the coast of Santa Barbara in California torpedoes stuffed with cocaine ... What role did Boris Nayfeld play in this crazy project, however, it was not certain.

Overseas "king"

The main thief in law in the United States today is considered 91-year-old criminal "patriarch" Boris Komin (Boria Ushaty).

“I am breeding misunderstandings between thieves, but I don’t see thieves here, and it’s not a thieves' case to judge merchants,” Ushatii said and went overseas. The weight of Comyn in the criminal world is so great that he is simply out of any ratings and enjoys unquestioned authority. At the same time he kept in the shadows, information about him is extremely small. By the way, Komin is the only crime boss who lived in the USA and had influence on thieves in Russia.

“At the time of Ded Hassan Ushaty, as an honored guest, he was often invited to Moscow, just in January, on his name day (Komyn celebrates his birthday on January 17 - Lanty.ru comment). So he had a certain influence on thieves in Russia. The rest of the “American” thieves can hardly boast the same, ”explains Victoria Gefter.

Turned around in full

However, if Boria Ushaty is rather a living “symbol” of thieves' traditions, then there are criminal authorities in the USA who do not sit in the shadows and force the local press to write shocking articles about the especially dangerous Russian mafia again and again.

“Of the thieves in the law, overseas, as far as I know, are Rajden Shulai (Rajden Pitersky) and Armen Ghazaryan (Pzo). There are cases for both in the United States - and both have turned in full scope in the States, doing everything from racketeering and smuggling to all kinds of frauds, ”the interviewee told Lenti.ru.

The authority from St. Petersburg Rajden Shulaya was crowned 2013 in May at a "gathering" in Cyprus by the approximate leader of the Sukhumi thieves clan Merab Dzhangveladze (Merab Sukhumi). In June of the same year, Razhden was detained in Lithuania during a large-scale police raid on the territory of nine EU countries (13 thieves in law were detained as a result of the operation). However, this did not prevent him from moving across the ocean and creating a full-fledged organized criminal group in the US, whose members, according to the American investigation, are involved in contract killings, robberies, thefts, extortion, fraud, trafficking in drugs and weapons and other serious crimes.

According to the US law enforcement agencies, the Xazum member was included in Razhden’s criminal group. Shulai's “right hand”, 33-year-old Zurab Janashvili (Zura) and most of the gang members lived in the New York district of Brooklyn. As for the leader, he lived in the town of Edgewater (New Jersey). According to the prosecution, the Shulai gang operated in five states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Nevada. Among other things, members of the organized criminal group organized an underground poker game at Brighton Beach and knocked out debts from the lost gamblers, hacked the Atlantic City and Philadelphia casinos using special devices that predict the behavior of slot machines and engaged in extortion from businessmen.

Also on the account of the Shulai gang, theft of transport cargo (including 10 thousands of pounds of chocolates), opening a nightclub to distribute drugs, bribing police officials and using forged documents, checks and bills. Members of the organized criminal group and the fair sex, who robbed men with the help of sleeping drugs.

8 June 2017, the New York City Prosecutor’s Office indicted the participants in Shulai’s organized criminal group; it is curious that exactly 22 of the year before in New York was arrested the king of the "Russian mafia", the thief in law Vyacheslav Ivankov (Jap). If Razhden Pitersky’s fault is proved, he will face 60 years in prison in total: 20 for extortion, 15 for attempting to break into a casino, as much for using fake documents, and for five years for shipping and selling stolen goods and transporting sale of smuggled cigarettes.

In the footsteps of Ostap Bender

Unlike Razhden Shulai, who did not hesitate to use force in his American affairs, another thief in the law who settled in the US - Armen Ghazaryan (Pzo) - relied on ingenious frauds. Born in 1964 in Yerevan, Pzo gained fame as the leader of a large local organized criminal group. He was crowned in 1991 in Rostov-on-Don, and from 1996, Ghazaryan lives in the USA. According to the portal vesti.az, Pzo - a supporter of the clan of Grandfather Hassan - was one of the organizers of multi-million embezzlement from the program Medicare (federal voluntary health insurance program for people older than 65 years) on a federal scale.

The scheme of this large-scale fraud worked like this: attackers in various ways stole the identity of doctors who worked on Medicare, and its insured elderly participants, and then opened fictitious clinics. Rarely premises were rented for this — where more often everything was limited to “service” mailboxes. After that, on behalf of false clinics with real doctors, whose data were stolen, Medicare billed. The federal program transferred money to the scammers - and they immediately took out and "laundered" the funds with the help of accomplices.

According to the portal vesti.az, Pzo with two accomplices organized a fraudulent network of 118 fictitious clinics in 25 states. Because of the actions of scammers program Medicare lost about 163 million dollars; another 50 million dollars lost in a social health program for people with limited financial resources Medicaid. According to some reports, part of the stolen funds went straight to the obshchak of the clan of Ded Hasan.

However, a large-scale insurance scam was eventually discovered by FBI agents: the agency charged a total of 78 to those involved in the case. Ghazaryan, who was threatened with life imprisonment on the basis of charges, made a deal with justice and admitted only one of the charges - in racketeering. As a result, in February 2013, Pzo was sentenced by a federal court in the New York Southern District to 37 months of arrest, a fine of 60 thousand dollars and confiscation of property, including a house worth 600 thousand dollars in California.

Of course, in this regard, it is worth remembering the example of Vyacheslav Ivankov, who managed to move to the USA and live there for some time. But the story of the relocation of the king of the Russian underworld across the ocean can have a very weighty background.

“It is believed that Jap was in the US on the instructions of state security. And then he was returned back as the famous Soviet intelligence officer, illegal Rudolf Abel, who was arrested in the States and later extradited to the USSR, ”says the Prime Prime editor.

Therefore, Ivankov’s example can rather be considered an exception to the rule. But in general, Russian thieves in the law are not expected overseas, and they, knowing this, are in no hurry to move to the United States.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How Russian mafia launders money in America

Their own and others: the Russian about life in New York

The last boss of the Russian mafia in New York asks to let him go home

Trial of crime boss Boris Nayfeld begins in New York

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