The Last Boss of Brighton: Boris "Biba" Nayfeld and the Rise of the Russian Mob in America

by Douglas Century

Overview

Bestselling author Douglas Century reveals the untold story of the epic rise and fall of Boris Nayfeld, also known as Biba, one of the most notorious Russian mob bosses of our era.

Boris Nayfeld, a.k.a. “Biba,” is the last living boss of the old-school Russian mob in America, and he’s survived to tell it all. Filled with sex, drugs, and murder, Biba’s story is a mind-boggling journey that took him from petty street crime in the USSR to billion-dollar embezzlement in America.

Born in Soviet-era Belarus, abandoned by his parents in infancy, Biba’s brutal upbringing left him hungry for more—more power, control, and money. Taking advantage of the rampant corruption in the Soviet Union, Biba’s teenage hooliganism quickly turned into bolder “black cash” rackets, making him, by Soviet standards, a very rich young man. When authorities took notice and threatened him with “the supreme measure”— execution by firing squad—he managed to get out of the USSR just in time.

Within months of landing in America, his intimidating presence and street smarts quickly made him legendary in the Soviet émigré community of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and launched him to the top of New York’s Russian Jewish mob, one of the world’s most inventive, powerful and violent criminal organizations. After decades as a globe-trotting boss, and three stints in U.S. federal prisons he remains unbroken and unrepentant, even as his entire life has unraveled around him.

Now seventy-four years old, Biba is a lion in winter. Douglas Century vividly brings the notorious gangster to life in these pages, telling not only his epic journey but also the history of the Russian mob in America. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063014954
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	362,685
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Douglas Century is the author and coauthor of numerous bestselling books including Hunting El Chapo, Under and Alone, Brotherhood of Warriors, Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter, and Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire, a finalist for the 2003 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. His most recent book, No Surrender, coauthored with Chris Edmonds, was published by Harper One and was the recipient of a 2020 Christopher Award. A veteran investigative journalist, Century’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Tablet and the Guardian.

Table of Contents

Map of Boris Nayfeld's Europe xi

Map of Boris Nayfeld's Brooklyn xii

Author's Note xv

Prelude 1

Introduction 5

Part 1

Chapter 1 The Internat 15

Chapter 2 Khuligans 26

Chapter 3 The Zone 37

Chapter 4 Dead Souls 52

Chapter 5 The Blatnoy 60

Part 2

Chapter 6 America 79

Chapter 7 Little Odessa 86

Chapter 8 The Uncrowned King 94

Chapter 9 The Wrecking Crew 103

Chapter 10 The Bratva 114

Chapter 11 El Caribe 122

Chapter 12 Brooklyn Nocturne 136

Chapter 13 The Long Con 148

Chapter 14 Gasoline 155

Chapter 15 Murder on Ocean Parkway 164

Chapter 16 The Big Schneyer 175

Chapter 17 Ambush on Avenue U 184

Chapter 18 A Bend in the River 194

Chapter 19 "This Was My Revenge" 203

Part 3

Chapter 20 The Wall 213

Chapter 21 China White 228

Chapter 22 Old New Year in Paradise 236

Chapter 23 The War 248

Chapter 24 The Musors 258

Chapter 25 Fairton 271

Part 4

Chapter 26 Krysha 285

Chapter 27 Oligarchs and Gangsters 299

Chapter 28 Odessa Mama 315

Chapter 29 The Last Party 334

Chapter 30 Crime and Punishment 344

Acknowieobments 367

Glossary 369

Index 383

Editorial Reviews

Douglas Century’s The Last Boss of Brighton offers up the sordidly riveting tale of Belarusian heroin trafficker Boris Nayfeld … The stories themselves are as mind-boggling in their extremity as they are disarming in their honesty. As he recounts, in granular detail, crimes ranging from pickpocketing to violent hold-ups to a massive gas-tax swindling scheme that netted him millions, Nayfeld gives us a tour of a parallel criminal world, with all its attendant rules and "ethics." Some of Last Boss’s most head-spinny moments occur when that world intersects with banal aspects of our own. — The Globe and Mail

A brilliant, blood-soaked biography... so enjoyably mayhem-crammed as to make Howard Marks’s drug-smuggling memoir Mr Nice read like Barbara Pym. — The Sunday Telegraph

"A fascinating, page-turning story of a genuine scoundrel." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Douglas Century fuses cultural history and popular entertainment to create the dramatic effect of a novel. Last Boss of Brighton is an engrossing true story, one of those mob epics that hits all the expected notes—murder and betrayal, swaggering power and outlandish success, featuring, at its core, a complex antihero whose life story seems stranger than fiction. More than a chronicle of a notorious crime boss, it delves deep into the systemic corruption and dysfunction of the Soviet Union that created, honed, and defined Russian organized crime in America. What a relentless, captivating read.”
— Naveed Jamali, author of How To Catch a Russian Spy

“In the Last Boss of Brighton, Douglas Century has written a vivid and cinematic account of a notorious Jewish gangster, Boris Nayfeld. For Jews who grew up in high-stress environments like the Soviet Union or Israel there's a toughness and steeliness that Century captures perfectly in these pages. These are Jewish guys who possess a dangerous combination: the willingness to fight—and shoot—coupled with a hair-trigger temper. We’re so conditioned to reading books and seeing movies about the Italian Mafia, it’s often forgotten how much sechel—brains, savvy and know-how—along with brawn, that Jews historically brought to American organized crime. A must-read!”
— Aaron Cohen, former commando in the Israel Defense Forces and author of the bestselling Brotherhood of Warriors

“There is no group of organized crime more brutal than Russian organized crime. I know it firsthand—I worked Russian O,C. cases for years as a federal agent in Los Angeles. Century has done it again in The Last Boss of Brighton. This book is the real deal: a compelling, supercharged page-turner destined for the bestseller lists.”
— William Queen, Special Agent, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (retired) and author of the New York Times bestseller Under and Alone

“The Last Boss of Brighton really takes me back: Douglas Century masterfully recreates a time and place—New York City in the 1980s—in which I played an intricate role ... Every single week I was stealing tens of millions of dollars with my Russian partners…. There’s some glamor and power to being a gangster, but whether we’re talking about Italian Americans or Russians, there simply are no happy endings when you choose to be part of that life. I highly recommend anyone interested in mob books give The Last Boss of Brighton a read.”
— Michael Franzese, former caporegime in the Colombo Crime Family and author of Quitting the Mob and Blood Covenant

“There’ve been many books and movies based on Russian gangsters. They’re mostly cartoons bearing no resemblance to the real-life characters from this complex underworld. In The Last Boss of Brighton, Douglas Century has dug deep to get to the heart of the matter. I’ve got a life-or-death personal connection to this story: in 1999, Biba was given a contract to kill me. It was strictly business—nothing personal. Thankfully, the contract was called off; Biba is as happy as I am that the hit failed because today he likes my radio show as much as I like this book.”
— Steven “Seva” Kaplan, host at Davidzon Radio/RTN, the largest Russian language radio station in the United States

From the Publisher

Douglas Century fuses cultural history and popular entertainment to create the dramatic effect of a novel. Last Boss of Brighton is an engrossing true story, one of those mob epics that hits all the expected notes—murder and betrayal, swaggering power and outlandish success, featuring, at its core, a complex antihero whose life story seems stranger than fiction. More than a chronicle of a notorious crime boss, it delves deep into the systemic corruption and dysfunction of the Soviet Union that created, honed, and defined Russian organized crime in America. What a relentless, captivating read.”

Naveed Jamali

The Last Boss of Brighton really takes me back: Douglas Century masterfully recreates a time and place—New York City in the 1980s—in which I played an intricate role ... Every single week I was stealing tens of millions of dollars with my Russian partners…. There’s some glamor and power to being a gangster, but whether we’re talking about Italian Americans or Russians, there simply are no happy endings when you choose to be part of that life. I highly recommend anyone interested in mob books give The Last Boss of Brighton a read.”

Michael Franzese

There’ve been many books and movies based on Russian gangsters. They’re mostly cartoons bearing no resemblance to the real-life characters from this complex underworld. In The Last Boss of Brighton, Douglas Century has dug deep to get to the heart of the matter. I’ve got a life-or-death personal connection to this story: in 1999, Biba was given a contract to kill me. It was strictly business—nothing personal. Thankfully, the contract was called off; Biba is as happy as I am that the hit failed because today he likes my radio show as much as I like this book.”

Steven “Seva” Kaplan

In the Last Boss of Brighton, Douglas Century has written a vivid and cinematic account of a notorious Jewish gangster, Boris Nayfeld. For Jews who grew up in high-stress environments like the Soviet Union or Israel there's a toughness and steeliness that Century captures perfectly in these pages. These are Jewish guys who possess a dangerous combination: the willingness to fight—and shoot—coupled with a hair-trigger temper. We’re so conditioned to reading books and seeing movies about the Italian Mafia, it’s often forgotten how much sechel—brains, savvy and know-how—along with brawn, that Jews historically brought to American organized crime. A must-read!”

Aaron Cohen

There is no group of organized crime more brutal than Russian organized crime. I know it firsthand—I worked Russian O,C. cases for years as a federal agent in Los Angeles. Century has done it again in The Last Boss of Brighton. This book is the real deal: a compelling, supercharged page-turner destined for the bestseller lists.”

William Queen

★ 2022-06-29
The life of a ruthless mobster, based on personal interviews.

When Boris Nayfeld was born in 1947 in Gomel, Belarus, his father was thousands of miles away “doing time in a Soviet gulag for black marketeering.” His mother abandoned him and his brother three years later, leaving them in the care of their grandmother. “I never loved [my mother],” he said later in life. “To be honest, I’m only grateful for one thing: she didn’t have an abortion.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before he was hanging out with gang members, on his way to his own first experience with Soviet prisons. Century, the author of Hunting El Chapo and other bestselling true-crime books, thrillingly chronicles Nayfeld’s criminal career in the Soviet Union, where stealing from the state was a main source of illicit income. However, living visibly beyond one’s nominal means was a good way to earn unwelcome attention, and in 1979, Nayfeld and his family took part in a general exodus of Jews to the U.S. It wasn’t long before he found himself in Brighton Beach, where “bilking the system was widely admired, a demonstration of intelligence and adaptability.” Nayfeld quickly allied himself with those who could ease his path, especially Evsei Agron, a pickpocket from Leningrad who’d become a kingpin in Brooklyn. Under Agron’s mentorship, Nayfeld took part in a stunning variety of scams, from passing counterfeit Russian coins to recent immigrants to insurance fraud, eventually hitting a real jackpot with fuel-tax evasion. Century wisely lets his subject tell most of the story in his own vivid words, painting his career in crime as a regular job, with prison just a cost of doing business and violence one useful item in the toolbox. True-crime fans will find this one irresistible, and the lengthy glossary of terms is a welcome addition.

A fascinating, page-turning story of a genuine scoundrel.

Kirkus Reviews