After his arrest in Las Vegas, reputed ‘vor’ Razhden Shulaya said, “I understand what they accused me of, but I just don’t understand why.”
Federal authorities in Manhattan on Wednesday unsealed indictments on 32 alleged Russian mobsters for a variety of crimes, ranging from organizing illegal poker games to stealing several tons of chocolate confections.
The men are alleged to be a part of the so-called Shulaya Enterprise, a Russian crime organization headed by his the notorious Razhden Shulaya and his co-boss, Zurab Dzhanshivili. The FBI’s Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force in New York City arrested 25 of the men. Seven of the men remain at large at the moment. The Shulaya Enterprise is thought to have operations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Florida.
Razhden Shulaya was arrested in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It is expected he will be extradited to New York to face charges.
The 40-year old Russian National said after his arrest, “I understand what they accused me of, but I just don’t understand why.”
Joon Kim: “Dizzying Array of Criminal Schemes”
Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said the racketeers have been charged with a “dizzying array of criminal schemes“. Joon Kim said this was one of the first times American law enforcement had brought federal racketeering charges ever brought against a “vor” or “thief-in-law”, the Russian term for a mobster with similar connotations to the term “made man”.
Russian criminals come out of a culture which, if anything, is more clannish and antiauthoritarian than the Italian mafia which dominated the U.S. criminal underground for so many decades.
The actions in the case of the Shulaya Enterprise are particularly brazen, including alleged attempts to chroloform victims in Atlantic City. That is part of a plan to defraud Atlantic City casinos, it would seem.
Drugging Victims in Atlantic City
At least one female associate of the crime ring is wanted in question with a plot “to drug or otherwise render unconscious” a potential robbery victim in Atlantic City earlier in 2017. Mr. Dzhanashvili is accused of ordering that robbery himself.
Brighton Beach Illegal Poker Ring
The Russian mobsters ran illegal poker operations at Brighton Beach, which may have been one of the most lucrative parts of their criminal empire. Brighton Beach, located in the southern portion of Brooklyn along the Coney Island peninsula, has a high concentration of Russian immigrants. When authorities busted a $250 million health insurance fraud scheme there in 2012, the New Yorker reported citizens there were susceptible, because they had a “Russian mind-set“.
A confidential government source who went undercover to gain evidence on the crime ring also said Dzhanshivili was “negotiating the purchase of stolen goods and firearms at the direction of law enforcement“.
That was part of a plot launched in March 2017 to sell “10,000 pounds of stolen chocolate confections” to that confidential government source, which appear to have been stolen from cargo ships in New York Harbor.
10,000 Pounds of Stolen Chocolate
The chocolate confection contraband has received a lot of the attention in the New York City media, due to the bizarre nature of the crime. Joon Kim pointed out that the charges are serious, including a murder-for-hire scheme.
About the Shulaya Enterprise: A Russian Crime Ring
At his press conference, the Acting U.S. Attorney said, “The dizzying array of criminal schemes committed by this organized crime syndicate allegedly include a murder-for-hire conspiracy, a plot to rob victims by seducing and drugging them with chloroform, the theft of cargo shipments containing over 10,000 pounds of chocolate, and a fraud on casino slot machines using electronic hacking devices.”
The arrests come at a time of heightened awareness of Russian activities in the United States. Like their Italian mafia forebearers, Russian mobsters often flee their home country to evade law enforcement there. At the same time, critics of the Putin regime suggest that the Russian intelligence agencies often work through the Russian mob, and that Vladimir Putin’s start as assistant to the Mayor of St. Petersburg began as a liaison with the Russian mobsters of St. Petersburg.
Several New York City media outlets, including the New York Post, sought statements from lawyers for Dzhanashvili and Shulaya, but none gave comments.
