Russian mafia in the USA: how a St. Petersburg resident led a group in New York

The Russian mafia in America is legendary in every sense of the word. First of all, the fact that a lot of legends are connected with it, but very little specifics. The author of the blog on the site tried to figure out the role played in the criminal world of New York by a native of the besieged Leningrad Yevsey Agron Pikabu.

Russian mafia in the USA

“In the early 1990s, the Russian mafia in America was part of Russian folklore. It was even customary there to be proud of the Russian mafia in America. The film "The weather is good on Deribasovskaya, or it is raining on Brighton Beach" is a vivid illustration of this trend, the author writes. - However, in the 1990s, the image of the Russian mafia was well promoted in the United States. The American media and Hollywood played an important role in this, making the Russian mafia a scarecrow. "

Rumors about this were also spread by the FBI and the police in order to increase their budgets to fight the mythical "Russian mafia", the author notes.

But what was it like in reality? What role did the Russian mafia play in America?

Who is Yevsey Agron

The history of the Russian mafia in the United States is closely connected with such a person as Yevsey Agron. It was a crime boss, a famous Soviet thief in law, nicknamed Yevsey Leningradsky. He is unofficially considered the first Russian boss of an organized crime group (OCG) known as the "Russian Mafia in the United States."

“In general, this man is the founder of the Russian mafia in America,” the author writes.

Agron was born in 1932 in Leningrad. The blockade of the city began 9 years later.

“The blockade is 872 days of hunger and trials. This is more than 600 thousand people who died from hunger, disease, terrible living conditions. These are frozen corpses in the streets, bombing, shelling, cases of cannibalism, - we read from the author. - And for Yevsey Agron it is childhood. Period from 10 to 12 years. And already at 15 he had his first visit to a youngster. Then another one, but already an adult. "

This is how the "typical career of a Soviet crime boss" began. Then there were camps, imprisonment, a short stay in the wild and new terms. Robberies, theft of other people's property, fraud.

“As a result, the Soviet Union found a thief in law Yevsey Leningradsky,” the author sums up.

Emigration to the USA

Then the third wave of emigration began.

“This is when in the 1970s they began to release Jews from the USSR,” the author explained. - The motives behind Agron's departure abroad are not entirely clear. They say that it was about a card debt, or maybe just a call of the heart. Judge for yourself: in the USSR you are an accomplished and respected person. Kingpin. And there, in a foreign land, you are nobody. Nevertheless, in 1975 the Soviet Union lost the kingpin Yevsey Leningradsky. "

Agron decided to move to the largest city in America - New York. There he settled on the ocean shore, in the most famous Russian-speaking region of the United States - Brighton Beach, or "Little Odessa".

“He also created and headed the local Brighton organized criminal group. But Agron must be given his due - he was not a stupid person. In "Little Odessa", among Soviet migrants, he was an authority, a thief in law. But within the whole New York - nobody. And he understood it perfectly. Because the entire criminal New York, and almost all of the criminal America, was controlled by Cosa Nostra (the Italian mafia). And the area where Brighton Beach was located was controlled by the Colombo mafia family. In particular, the team of capo Michael Franchese. "

Who is Michael Franchese

Michael Franchese played no less a role in the formation of the Russian mafia in America than Yevsey Agron himself.

Franchese was born and raised in New York City to a family closely associated with the Mafia.

“Sonny Franchese has long served as the underboss of the Colombo family, and the boss of the family, Joe Columbo, has been a personal friend since his youth. And little Michael called Joe Columbo "Uncle Joe" because he was used to seeing him from childhood, "the author emphasizes.

By the way, Sonny Franchese died of coronavirus in 2020 at the age of 103.

At first, Michael Franchese did not want to join the mafia. He studied at the university at the Faculty of Medicine.

“It was there, by the way, that Francis Ford Coppola, the director of The Godfather, and James Caan, who played Santino Corleone, studied,” the author said.

But in the end, Michael became part of America's criminal business.

And in 1975, Joe Colombo was killed in front of Michael.

On the subject: The story of the 'diamond' street of New York: a chronology of banditry

In the same year, 24-year-old Michael Franchese sent his people to Yevsey Agron - "shake the last on the dough."

“Imagine a situation: a 24-year-old pampered American boy, who recently went to college and played baseball, puts on the grandmother of a man much older than him - he spent his childhood in besieged Leningrad. Since adolescence, he wandered around the camps, shipments in the polar zones and taiga camps, ”the author notes.

As a result, the Colombo family began to protect Yevsey Agron and the entire Brighton Beach.

“Agron himself covered legal and illegal business. In particular, the famous Russian restaurants where Willy Tokarev, Mikhail Shufutinsky, Lyubov Uspenskaya performed. The Russians kept coming and going; formed new organized crime groups. But the main one was still Yevsey Agron, ”the author explains.

Agron, Franchese and the gasoline scam

This would have continued further, if not for one event. In the 1980s, recent emigrants from the USSR and Romania came up with an interesting business.

“Mikhail Markovits from Romania, David Bogatin from Saratov and Lev Persits from Odessa - these guys have never been bandits at all, in the Soviet Union they were ordinary citizens. They owned a small oil products wholesaler in Brooklyn. And these smart guys came up with an interesting business, an interesting scheme. But in order to implement it, a roof was needed, a large and powerful roof, - the author writes. - Naturally, they turned to Yevsey Agron for this very roof. And he provided it for them. "

Agron introduced them to the young capo Michael Franchese, whose charge he was.

And the scheme was as follows: gangsters set up shell companies and through them sold gasoline in bulk to smaller businessmen.

“They were honest traders, unaware of the deception. Gangsters included federal and local taxes in the price (and gasoline excise taxes are a large part of the cost of fuel). But in reality they did not pay anything to the state. When it began to demand taxes from small distributors, the shell companies were liquidated. As a result, it turned out that consumers pay gasoline tax not to the state, but directly into the pockets of gangsters. Now imagine how much gasoline was sold in New York, ”we read in the article.

To carry out such a plan required money, corrupt connections in the government, lured police and, of course, power. Yevsey Agron had none of this, but the Colombo mafia family had it all.

“Michael Franchese immediately estimated future profits. They decided to share the money according to conscience and justice: 75% - to Michael Franchese, 25% - to Russians, ”the author writes.

Therefore, Franchese went to the then boss of the Colombo family - Carmine Persico.

“I explained the whole scheme and began to beg Persico not to let other“ families ”into the gasoline business for at least a year. Well, in order to have time to capture as large a market share as possible, - the author specified. - Persico gave him six months. As a result, within three months, competitors managed to sniff out about the gasoline business and began to actively penetrate there. "

On the subject: Gangs of New York: how it really was

But the deed was done, and the "petrol" scam began to bring in a lot of money. Thanks to these funds, Michael Franchese became one of the richest mobsters in the history of the mafia. He "earned" up to $ 8 million a week.

“Even taking into account the fact that he gave more than half to his boss Carmine Persico, and another 10% to the common fund of the Colombo family, it was still a lot of money,” the author of the article stated.

Franchese got his own plane, bought himself luxury real estate all over America.

“In short, I was spending money uncontrollably,” the blogger writes. - He went to the coolest restaurants, every week he got the latest model car. But at the same time, Michael was a great businessman. Whatever he touched, everything turned to gold. "

He then became an official Mazda dealer in New York.

Franchese also actively invested in the porn business. One of the highest-grossing porn films in history, Deep Throat, was shot in his studio.

“I personally knew Muhammad Ali and invested in the career of the then young Mike Tyson,” we read in the site's blog. “They called him Yuppie Don and was compared to Michael Corleone from The Godfather.

“Well, here's the question: was it Michael Franchese who was such an intelligent, talented and brilliant businessman (why would it suddenly), or is it his cunning Russian friends Mikhail Markovits, David Bogatin and Lev Persits who constantly consulted and advised,” the author reflects. - During this time, Franchese managed to feel respect for the Russians. They were smart and business savvy. The Russians constantly had new projects, and they turned to Francheza. The dealers have jointly carried out more than one securities scam. Michael has invested 10 million in a joint purchase of a bank in Austria for money laundering. They worked closely together, that's for sure. "

Power Struggle, Business Collapse, and Prison

But all good things come to an end.

“In 1984, a war broke out in the Colombo family, different factions of the family fought for power. In addition, they began to imprison family members en masse by the FBI. At some point, the Colombo family actually ceased to exist and was not revived very soon, ”the author writes.

The rest of the families took over the gasoline business.

In 1985, Michael Franchese went to prison. He was accused of tax evasion, participation in a gasoline scam, extortion and a number of other crimes.

In March 1986, he made a deal with the investigation and pleaded guilty. As a result, he was deprived of all assets and property, according to the RICO law (English The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, RICO Act) - the US law on racketeering and corrupt organizations.

So Yevsey Agron was left without a so-called roof.

“In the same 1985, he was shot right next to his house. And Brighton Beach and the entire Russian mafia went under the wing of the Lucchese family, ”the author writes.

Mikhail Markovitz, David Bogatin and Lev Persits became the bosses of one of the groups in Brighton Beach. In 1988, Markowitz was shot in his Rolls-Royce as he drove up to his house. He was liquidated by his own, on behalf of the Colombo family.

“The fact is that he led a defiantly luxurious lifestyle,” the author explained.

An attempt was also made on Lev Persits, and since then he has been moving in a wheelchair.

On the subject: Ruthless thief in law: how the father of the Russian mafia kept all Brighton Beach at bay

David Bogatin fled to Austria and then to Belarus, but was extradited to the United States and is now serving a prison term.

By the way, Michael Franchese eventually served his sentence and was released. This is a unique case, but he announced that he was leaving the mafia. In 2010, Franchese even released a book called "I Will Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse." In addition, he gives lectures on success, maintains a video blog and gives interview... The former mafioso even became a Christian preacher.

“As you can see, the Russian mafia in America in 1970-1980 was inseparable from Cosa Nostra. But very soon the time will come when the USSR will collapse and there will be many times more Russians in America. But Cosa Nostra, on the contrary, will be defeated. The Russian mafia will be headed by people such as Marat Balagula, Monya Elson and Boris Naidfeld. And then the situation will change seriously, ”the author summed up.