The Russian Mafia: Private Protection in a New Market Economy 1st Edition by Federico Varese
 
Challenging widely held views, this book presents a thorough account of the Russian Mafia. It charts the emergence of the group in the context of the transition to the market, the privatization of protection, and pervasive corruption. It includes reports of undercover police operations,
in-depth interviews conducted over several years with the victims of the Mafia, criminals and officials, and documents from the Gulag archives. It also provides a comparative study, making references to other Mafia, such as the Japanese Yakuza, the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, and the American-Italian Mafia.
 
Review

"Enlightening, perceptive and superbly researched. Essential reading for anybody seriously interested in the mind and heart of contemporary Russian criminal society."--John le Carré
 

"Headlines on Russian organized crime appear regularly in the Western Press and carry alarming messages [] Now we finally have a sober, scholarly account. Unlike headline writers, Varese is cautious about the use of the term 'Mafia'. [] The history of the vory-v-zakone is fascinating."--Alena Alena
Ledeneva, Times Literary Supplement
 

"In his scholarly study, Varese systematically surveys the source of the problem, inventories the origins and resources of those groups providing protection, and then describes the way the relationship works. At the core of his book is an elaborate case study of the city of Perm, where he spent months working with police records, conducting interviews, and collecting newspaper stories." --Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs
 
3.20