Re: Re: Albanians

From: mayhem <meurtre_at_earthlink.net_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 01:32:15 -0700

The Russian Mob is absolutely alive and well in the U.S., and thriving in
L.A.

Johnny--if "mafia" is singular, U.S. grammar dictates "the ... Mafia is
operating." It's teddibly, teddibly Breetish to write "the ... Mafia *are*
operating."

--J

> The Russian Mafia are also of course operating all over the world,
> and not just in Russia. You may find them even in Los Angeles!
>
> I never heard of an Albanian Mafia, but it may well exist. I do
> recall hearing about an enormous "ponzi" scam played in Albania,
> where people were promised a doubling of any investment. Apparently,
> thousands of citizens got involved, and the government even promised
> to back it up. Then it collapsed, and many people were left screwed
> over. This was 1996? The government collapsed soon after. Not
> surprisingly, people who were raised in a communistic society are
> often naive about investing money, and are easily fooled by scams.
>
>
> John
>
>
>
> --- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_y..., mayhem <meurtre_at_e...> wrote:
>> My understanding is that with the Italians and other traditional
> gangsters,
>> they will take you out if you go against them. With the Russians,
> they will
>> go after your whole family.
>>
>> They are very smart, and they can think both within a bureaucracy
> and
>> outside it. A number of them have Ph.Ds, and they were "trained" in
>> negotiating bureaucracies in the USSR. When caught there, they were
>> tortured--so if they are interrogated here in the U.S., they just
> laugh and
>> say, "what are you going to do to me?"
>>
>> And they don't think like criminals--more like a foreign
>> intelligence-gathering agency. They've been known to place
> surveillance
>> cameras outside the police stations to identify whistle-blowers.
>>
>> It's like the difference between a normal cancer and something very
>> aggressive, like a melanoma.
>>
>> --J
>>
>>> I don't know about the LA Times, but the Russian Mafia has a
>>> reputation for being utterly ruthless. As a result, they are also
>>> very bold, since nobody with any common sense is going to blow the
>>> whistle on them.
>>>
>>> In the old USSR days, there was no Mafia as such. Criminals were
>>> watched closely by the authorities, and were in jail most of the
>>> time. After the collapse of the USSR, some of the criminals
> adapted
>>> to the new way of life. They called themselves "businessmen" and
>>> their wealth skyrocketed. This was when the Russian Mafia was
> born.
>>>
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>> --- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_y..., "Hiram Gonash"
> <okfreddy_at_h...>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Sorry for the change of topic...
>>>>
>>>> A few weeks ago the LA Grimes had an article in part about the
>>> Russian
>>>> Mafia here in LA (I think).
>>>>
>>>> Anyway.
>>>>
>>>> It mentioned that with most normal Mafia types there's a certain
>>>> protocol - you just don't go around killing people (competitors).
>>>>
>>>> Except the Albanians.
>>>>
>>>> The article mentioned that the Albanian Mob is utterly,
> absolutely
>>>> ruthless and feared for their lack of civility.
>>>>
>>>> So much for sweet kind Albania (though there is that habit of the
>>>> Blood Feud).
>>>>
>>>> Back to mundane..
>>>> --.d.o
>>>
>>>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Received on 2002-09-14 01:32:20