Russian Mafia - Structure and Composition

Structure and Composition

"They're not carefully structured Cosa Nostra-type families... They're loose structures of networks, but they draw on people from a number of different areas."
— James Finckenauer, author of Russian Mafia In America

Although most Russian criminal groups vary in their structure, there have been attempts at trying to figure out a model in how they work. One such model, which could be possibly out-dated structure, as it is based on the old style of Soviet criminal enterprises, works out like the following:

  1. Elite group: the leadership, oftentimes a vor or vory, manages and organizes plans for operations.
  2. Support group: they set specific tasks for subordinate groups or choose who does what task.
  3. Security group: they are in charge with security and intelligence.
  4. Working group: the individuals that actually carry out the crimes; they are often uninformed of the identity of the leadership.

Read more about this topic:  Russian Mafia

Famous quotes containing the words structure and, structure and/or composition:

    Science is intimately integrated with the whole social structure and cultural tradition. They mutually support one other—only in certain types of society can science flourish, and conversely without a continuous and healthy development and application of science such a society cannot function properly.
    Talcott Parsons (1902–1979)

    Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.
    Northrop Frye (b. 1912)

    Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.
    Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890)