Red Mafiya
by Robert I. Friedman
Little, Brown and Company

Robert I. Friedman thinks he's a badass. At least that's the impression you get after reading his book, "Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America."

His introduction to the book details how he sidesteps one Russian mobster's death threat and boldly snubs another. Sure, getting a postcard in the mail that says, "Friedman! You are a dirty fucking American prostitutian liar! I will fuck you! And make you suck my Russian dick!" must be a scary thing. But this book is supposed to be about how the Russian mob invaded America, not about how the Russian mob threatens the author.

At first glance "Red Mafiya" seems to be an account of the Russian Mafiya's rise to power. A reader might expect to read about the fall of Communism, the economy, the black market and Russian politics and think Friedman would analyze the social and political atmosphere in Russia and somehow connect those to an increasingly powerful and global Russian mob.

But Friedman does very little analysis in "Red Mafiya" and lots of plain old reporting. What we get is not how the Russian Mafiya has invaded America, but, simply, that the Russian Mafiya has invaded America. It is, however, interesting to read about Russian mobsters competing for turf in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach neighborhood.

We learn that most of these Russian emigrés are Jews who claim persecution in Russia. They may be Jews, but the dons of the Russian Mafiya are also hardened ex-cons from the Russian gulag. The Russian hardscrabble government shipped them here to get rid of them.

Friedman is known as one of the best investigative journalists in the business and the access he gets to information is truly astounding. He cites dozens of classified FBI reports on the Russian Mafiya. He knows the intimate details of how the godfather of the Russian mob, Marat Balagula, organized a multi-million dollar gasoline bootlegging operation. He details how Republic National Bank, once based in New York City, laundered billions of dollars of dirty Russian mob money. He even cites the Republic account — complete with the nine-digit account number — through which $2.2 million in drug money passed.

While Friedman's investigative skills are impressive, we don't really need to know account numbers at banks that have since been sold. That's just pompous. And, boy, is Friedman pompous. In one of the best sections of the book, where Friedman illustrates the Russian Mafiya's infiltration of the National Hockey League, he describes a visit to a suspected Russian extortionist.

"In a bit of a role reversal," Friedman writes, "I brought along an attorney built like a nose tackle, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon and is a black belt in Sambo, a form of Russian martial arts." Oooo, Bobby, you're so dangerous!

He interviews several NHL players, coaches and administrators, most notably Pavel Bure, a cool-looking Florida Panthers player who denies any involvement in organized crime but hangs out with some of the most connected Russian mobsters in the world. The interviews prove enlightening, but again, Friedman's analysis falls short.

He quotes a top FBI official (in "Red Mafiya", they're all "top" FBI officials) as saying, "Russian organized crime has a major foothold in the NHL." Such a strong foothold, in fact, that federal authorities are beginning to fear that professional hockey games may be fixed. But Friedman never cites the percentage of Russian players in the NHL, which in 1995 was only 7.6 percent. Even if every Russian player in the NHL was corrupt, 7.6 percent of them would have a hard time fixing any game.

Friedman certainly breaks new ground in "Red Mafiya." He knows more about the Russian mob than any reporter out there. It's just unfortunate that he could not place that knowledge into a more profound economic and political context.

— Ben Welch (bwelch@english.umass.edu)