The Russian Mafia: Private Protection in a New Market Economy / Edition 1

by Federico Varese

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199279494
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/07/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Yale University

Table of Contents

IntroductionI. The Transition to the Market and Protection in Russia1. The Transition to the Market2. The State as Supplier of Protection3. Varieties of ProtectorsII. Private Protection in Perm4. Searching for Protection5. The Contract and the SericesIII. The Russian Mafia6. The Mafia in Perm7. Mafia Ancestors: The vory-v-zakone, 1920s-1950s8. The Rusian MafiaConclusionAppendicesList of Respondents and Interview ContentNotesBibliographyIndex

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher