One of the most personally dangerous gangsters in the Russian underworld – in the sense of a willingness to get his hands dirty in his own ‘wet work’ as well as giving the orders to others – has just been sentenced to life in a Moscow court. Sergei Butorin, known as ‘Osya’, was convicted of 29 murders. 29! As if that were not enough, he and his gang claimed the scalps of some of Russia’s most notorious gangsters himself, including the contract killer Alexander Solonik and the over-reaching Georgian godfather Otari Kvantrishvili (shot by Butorin’s right-hand man Alexei Sherstobitov, ‘Lyosha the Soldier’).

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Just a quick note: my latest Siloviks & Scoundrels post has been published in Moscow News, ‘Mythologizing the “mafiya.”‘ It picks up on some of the points in my previous IMS blogpost, worrying about the impact of a continued misunderstanding of Russian organized crime.

The US administration has rolled out its new Strategy to Combat Transnational Crime with an associated Executive Order on Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations. Great – it is time to put TOC higher up the threat ladder (just as the terrible Oslo events underline the dangers in focusing too much on jihadist terrorism) and while this does not represent a silver bullet solution in and of itself, it is a useful overall strategy and does unlock further resources as well as, one hopes, mark the shift of budgetary allocations towards the struggle.

The Strategy on the whole talks in broad terms, but it does make it clear that its main concern about Russian/Eurasian gangs is the threat of the penetration and destabilization of the US economy by kleptocrat criminal-businessmen:

Russia/Eurasia: Russian and Eurasian organized crime networks represent a significant threat to eco­nomic growth and democratic institutions. Russian organized crime syndicates and criminally linked oligarchs may attempt to collude with state or state-allied actors to undermine competition in strategic markets such as gas, oil, aluminum, and precious metals. At the same time, TOC networks in the region are establishing new ties to global drug trafficking networks. Nuclear material trafficking is an especially prominent concern in the former Soviet Union. The United States will continue to cooperate with Russia and the nations of the region to combat illicit drugs and TOC.

I’m a little skeptical about the whole question of dominating strategic assets (not least because the Kremlin tends to regard that as its job, and whatever you say about Russian OC, it’s outgunned by the state). Arguably a greater threat to US economic wellbeing is the extent and professionalism of Russian medicare fraud operations. Sure, rather less sexy that nuclear trafficking, less headline-grabbing than drug dealing, but a substantial drain on an already overstretched public good.

My main surprise, though, was in reading the list of specific entities targeted in the Executive Order:

1. THE BROTHERS’ CIRCLE (f.k.a. FAMILY OF ELEVEN; f.k.a. THE TWENTY)
2. CAMORRA
3. YAKUZA (a.k.a. BORYOKUDAN; a.k.a. GOKUDO)
4. LOS ZETAS

The Camorra are indeed the most violent and dynamic of the Italian-based OC groups. The Yakuza have suffered major setbacks, and are rather less overtly violent, but retain massive economic clout and social capital. Los Zetas, ex-special forces turned narcos, are among Mexico’s most dangerous groups.

But the Brothers’ Circle, aka Family of Eleven, aka The Twenty? Who are these? (more…)