Perilous Times
Russian mafia taking over French Riviera
Mafia kingpins from the former Soviet Union have moved into the French
Riviera and are taking over with “quasi-military” precision.
By Peter Allen, Paris
Published: 9:00PM BST 31 Aug 2010Mafia kingpins from the former Soviet
Union have moved into the French Riviera and are taking over with
?quasi-military? precision.
The Russian mafia are now linked to almost every crime committed on the
French Riviera Photo: GETTY
Their grip on the region is now so tight that Riviera detectives expect
an eastern connection to almost every crime.
“Everything from burglary and money laundering to vice is controlled by
the Mob from former Communist countries,” said one police officer, who
was involved in the arrest of 69 members of a Georgian syndicate in
March.
Although most of the arrests of members have been in Spain, the gang’s
nerve centre, many of the bosses now have luxury villas on France’s
Mediterranean coast, and foot soldiers work for them, flying out for
set period before returning home with their profits.
“They’re into everything, from the Russian prostitute rings in resorts
like Cannes and St Tropez to gassing tourists in their villa and
stealing everything they’ve got,” said the police officer.
“Bosses are now based here permanently, with foot soldiers working for
them, often flying in for set periods before returning home with their
profits in cash. The numbers really are unprecedented at the moment.”
Alain Bauer, a French criminologist, said: “This is one of the best
structured criminal organisations in Europe, with a quasi-military
operation”.
Another investigator, from the judicial police in Nice, told Le Figaro
newspaper that he had recently been involved in the arrests of two
eastern Mafia chiefs.
“One of them is involved in a vast money laundering operation in Spain
and waiting to be extradited”, said the officer. “The other is
suspected of masterminding the assassination of another rogue Georgian,
and he organised a very violent settling of accounts, worthy of an
action film, in a flat in Nice.”
Laurent Laubry, a representative of the police union Alliance, said
that many of the gang members were heavily armed ex-soldiers from
Soviet regions such as Chechnya.
He said that one of his colleagues was beaten up by four Chechens as he
went to buy a packet of cigarettes last week.
“The undercover officer received a rain of blows to the face and was
left for dead between two cars,” said Mr Laubry, who described the
“ultra-violent methods of these people, who have no morals, no rules,
and who are often heavily armed and beefy.”
As well as the arrival of the Russian Mafia, the traditional Italian
one is also said to be alive and well in France.
In June, Giuseppe Falsone, a leading Sicilian Godfather, was arrested
in Marseilles after a decade on the run. He was believed to have had
plastic surgery and was using false identification while continuing to
coordinate criminal activity, said local police.