Russian Mafia In America: Immigration, Culture, and Crime 0th Edition

by James O. Finckenauer (Author), Elin J. Waring (Author)

6 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-1555533748

ISBN-10: 1555533744

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

More Buying Choices

6 New from $48.99 25 Used from $7.82

31 used & new from $7.82

Deliver to France

See All Buying Options

Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Amazon Student

Does a "Russian Mafia" really exist? This book seeks to answer that question by investigating in detail such topics as the characteristics of the Russian criminal tradition of Vory v Zakone ("thieves professing the code"), contemporary Russian mobs, criminal activity among Russian immigrants, claims of KGB involvement in American crime, and connections between crime bosses and gangsters in both countries.

Drawing on research conducted in cooperation with the Tri-State Joint Soviet emigre Organized Crime Project as well as on privileged access to confidential information, James O. Finckenauer and Elin J. Waring particularly focus on criminal networks in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania area. They also report on a nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies and examine major criminal cases, notably Russian participation with Cosa Nostra families in bootleg gasoline schemes.

The Russian Mafia in America is the first in-depth study on Russian organized crime since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the arrival of the latest wave of immigrants to the United States. It is an eye-opening expose of major players in America's underworld and a significant contribution to the literature on organized crime.

New in paperback with a new epilogue by the authors.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Robert I. Friedman

53

Hardcover
52 offers from $24.88
Mark Galeotti

8

Hardcover
$20.58
Joseph D. Serio

15

Paperback
$31.00
Laura M. Radanko

3

Paperback
$18.00
Misha Glenny

95

Paperback
$16.95
Rami Kivisalo

7

Paperback
$12.00

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Robert I. Friedman

53

Hardcover
52 offers from $24.88
Frank Ragano

27

Hardcover
39 offers from $7.01
Mr. Stephen Handelman

7

Hardcover
$28.50
Joseph D. Serio

15

Paperback
$31.00
Paul Klebnikov

47

Paperback
$18.59

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In recent years, journalists have increasingly used the term "Russian mafia" to discuss crime committed by Soviet emigres in the U.S. In this straightforward, if dry, book, Finckenauer (director of the International Center, National Institute of Justice, and author of Russian Youth and Organized Crime in America) and Waring (a sociologist and author of Crimes of the Middle Classes) argue that there is no Russian mafia in the U.S., but only a network of criminals who work together when it behooves them. The authors rely on the Tri-State Joint Soviet-emigre Organized Crime Project covering New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania; on major criminal cases that involved former residents of the U.S.S.R. and members of the Italian mafia; and on interviews with Russian immigrants themselves. Along the way, they make some illuminating points, particularly about the conditions that create the rise of organized crime, the importance of honor in criminal networks and the ways in which the media and mainstream society often view the criminal activity of immigrant groups as more violent and organized than it actually is. But if the authors' distinction between a mafia and the loose crime network that they say better describes Russian emigre crime is important, one would expect it to have significant ramifications for methods of law enforcement, none of which are discussed here.

From Library Journal

Since the mid 1980s, the media have been reporting the involvement of recent immigrants from the Soviet Union in drugs, prostitution, and other organized crime, leading some journalists and investigators to speak of a Russian Mafia. Finckenauer (Russian Youth, Transaction, 1995; Organized Crime in America, Wadsworth, 1995) and Waring (Crimes of the Middle Classes: White Collar Offenders in the Federal Courts, Yale Univ., 1991) examine this issue in the first scholarly work on Russian criminal activity in America since the Soviet collapse. From immigrant involvement in American organized crime since the late 19th century, the book moves to the Russian experience in America, the Soviet Union, and contemporary Russia. Finally, the authors use detailed information from investigators in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to determine the range and scope of recent Russian criminal activity. They conclude that organized criminal activity exists but does not have the level of organization of the Cosa Nostra. Well researched and written, this work is an interesting addition for criminology collections.?Stephen L. Hupp, Urbana Univ. Lib., OH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Northeastern (December 10, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1555533744
ISBN-13: 978-1555533748
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 6 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,405,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2624 in Books > Textbooks > Law > Criminal Law
- #3695 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Criminology
- #3766 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Emigration & Immigration

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Be the first video

Your name here

Important information

Ingredients

Example Ingredients

Directions

Example Directions

Customer reviews

4 star (0%)

Write a customer review

See all 6 customer reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

DrG

Interesting approach but...

December 8, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

As an assistant professor in Criminal Justice I am constantly searching for new material on organized crime. I used this book for a graduate course on the topic in Spring 05 and neither I nor the students were very impressed. There are three basic issues to be raised:

1. On ethnicity: On the first page of text the author states: "For all Russians, being especially adaptive and innovative often meant putting aside morality and legality, and this outlook-- characterized by rationalization, hypocrisy, and a double standard of morality-- to varying degrees shapes the thinking and behavior of almost all Soviet Russians who have come to America." A Russian immigrant friend of mine read this passage and said, "I agree completely." After some further thought he then said, "But doesn't this describe Americans as well?" The thought that criminal motivation is based on ethnicity is a throwback to organized crime theories up through the 1960s and 1970s. Social science recognizes that types of crimes may be related to ethnicity through experience and opportunity, but the rationalizations, hypocrisies, and double moral standards of organized criminals are human, rather than Russian American, traits.

2. There is a definite over dependence on governmental data sources. While government sources are useful, those of use in the field recognize the need to balance this information with other source types.

3. The conclusion is that there is no Russian Mafia in America. Summed up by one of my students: "Maybe the shape of mafia as an organized crime type has changed." The strict definition of "mafia" used in the book excludes almost every type of criminal organization found in the world today. More time should be spent on predicting future patterns or perhaps explaining how and why the "mafia" model is no longer applicable to organized crime in general. Part of this stems from too much reliance on government data which still organizes organized crime according to a mafia template.

One important good note: The discussion on how media distorts perceptions of organized crime is well written and, for the most part, well researched.

I think a book like this had to be written as part of the evolution of understanind on Russian-American organized crime. I say this in the hope that better things will eventually come about.

7 people found this helpful8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Well written-pre-PC analysis. Scholarly work without political slant. ...

December 3, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Well written-pre-PC analysis. Scholarly work without political slant. Interesting read now that Putin is so currently in the news.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Rollin Ressegieu

Received Book !

May 7, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Perfect !

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

K. M. Winick-Ford

Resourceful reading

August 8, 2018

Format: Hardcover

Interesting stories of the vory and how they operate. Historical pieces I was unaware of, and a different perspective than I’d anticipated.
Addresses what went on in Russia, the conflict with the Bolshevik movement, how the mafia isn’t really the “mafia”,...

I learned a new word- avtoritety
The author defines this as comrade criminals; although Russians today discourage the usage of the word comrade due to its negative connotation
Avoritety isn’t defined by Webster but avoritet was, and explained as having authority and nothing specifically linking it to anything criminal in nature

The section on tattoos was more informative as I’d known about the star and significance of having tattoos in prison but the kneecap tattoos symbolizing that the person does not bow down was new to me

Just baffled me to read there were 8000 mobs in Russia in 1995 with 32,000 people in them
But surprisingly there were 500 contract killings in 1996; I found that to be somewhat disproportionate

Ethnicity among the criminals was another eye opener I hadn’t considered.

The market economy and the mafias role as performing a necessary “function in a fledgling market that lacks regulations” was bizarre as well. The author addresses the krysha or “roof” protection.

Undocumented soviet residents smuggled aligns with American politics today. Prostitutes and hitmen among others were escaping from the former Soviet Union and were referred to as the Tyazhiki or “shadow people”. Some ended up in New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania.

It’s worth the read. I recommend it.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Bryce Wylie

GREAT

July 13, 2003

Format: Paperback

Anything that exposes criminal elements in our society is worth reading and analyzing. The Russian Mafia, however, with its' fierce reputation throughout the world and dabblings in everything from prostitution, gambling, stolen merchandise, and even rumored nuclear technology, is not to be feared. This book exposes the Russian Mafia in America and how they are controlling whatever they touch and goes into great detail in examining the illegal immigration and citizenship schemes,
overseen, yes, by the Russian Mafia. Personally, I believe the Russian Mafia has weaknesses in organization, structure, and even leadership which will eventually weaken these Siberian slugs to a hard downfall. Further, from reading this book, I think the Russkies are enjoying capitalism just a little too much.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

GBr

Authors' basic assertion has been shown to be absurd

April 17, 2003

Format: Paperback

Given the information now pouring out of Russia, including Vladimir Putin's attempts to handle kleptocrats in his country, and the existence of deep and broad interconnections and money transfers with their U.S. counterparts (think e.g. global prostitution), the assertions made in this work seem surreal. The dense and pedantic narrative seems almost to be designed to hide the fact that the content offers no insight into the topic.
Read Red Mafiya. It is more anecdotal, but the brave (late) Robert Friedman clearly got up from his desk to do some fact-finding.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Russian Mafia In America: Immigration, Culture, and Crime 0th Edition

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item