NCJ Number
182690
Date Published
1999
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Organized crime in the industrial cities of the Ural region of Russia is examined with respect its causal factors, its nature, and its influence on international security and urban community life.
Abstract
The new holders of wealth in Russia since the collapse of Communism are an alliance of former Communist party bureaucrats, organized criminals, and dishonest businesspersons described as the gangster industrial complex. In contrast, 80 percent of the Urals’ population live in cities that are centers of poverty and social discrimination. Ordinary citizens’ regularly encounter corruption in the form of bribe collection not only from housing and municipal agencies, but also from personnel in traditionally altruistic spheres as health care and education. Large regional Mafia empires control policymaking, the economy, and industrial production in the Urals. The criminal organizations vary in size and engage in a wide range of activities. The two levels of organized crime in the Urals’ cities are the street thugs who extort payoff protection from small businesses and the more profitable level known as the roof and peopled by traditional crime bosses. Organized crime has become a major impediment to the development of urban community because it operates with such a high degree of impunity. Organized crime groups in the Urals are also exporting their operations and networks and are collaborating with foreign criminal organizations. City governments have responded to organized crime with rhetoric more than substance and with initiatives that reflect basic misunderstanding of the issues. Addressing organized crime will require attention to the political, economic, and human-rights dimensions, should be linked to a broad reform strategy, and will need support from the West, particularly with respect to the increasing smuggling of nuclear materials. Footnotes