The Russian Mafia

Moscow. The square in front of the Bolshoi Theatre. Old women sell knitted socks, shoelaces or sausages themselves. The few rubles supplement their meagre pensions. But the 300 or so Moscow crime gangs demand 'protection money'.... In expensive German cars and Italian-cut suits, the 'Godfathers' parade through the streets: the 'new mafia' shamelessly displays its power. Freddy de Pauw tells the sometimes unbelievable story of gang wars, Azerbaijani drug barons, uranium smuggling and contract killers. He reveals the close ties with international crime organisations, the Kremlin's lethargic reaction, the poverty of the ordinary citizen. And there is the role of the former communist nomenklatura, the smell of oil in the war for Chechnya, the Belgian connection(s)... A disturbing dossier on the threatening chaos in Russia. And a sober position for tough international action. Because the octopus's tentacles reach all the way to us!