Vyacheslav Ivankov: His savage methods of persuasion often include torture and brutality. Vyacheslav Ivankov is one of the most feared and respected criminals to emerge from the Soviet Union. Lords of the Mafia with Robert Stack I: Soviet Union, 2006
During the days of communist Russia the government did not officially acknowledge the existence of organised crime. ibid.
Rumours of a Russian mafia began to circulate throughout the Soviet Union and the world. ibid.
Upon his release from prison, Ivankov began his life of crime capitalising on the Soviet Union’s thriving black market economy. ibid.
His mission: to take control and organise Russian criminal activities in America. ibid.
The reported godfather’s incarceration was a lead story in Moscow. ibid.
Russian organised crime is a growing phenomenon. ibid.
They were forced into existence by warring dynasties. And driven underground to grow in power. For centuries their global reach has increased through fear, symbolism, blood rights and secrecy. Lords of the Mafia with Robert Stack II: Chinese Triads
Today we know them as the Triads … an integral part of Chinese history and heritage. ibid.
Martin Booth: The Dragon Syndicates. ibid.
Triad groups such as the United Bamboo Gang emerged in Taiwan in the early 1950s. They were mainly the sons of prominent national leaders like Chiang Kai-shek. The mid-50s also saw the emergence of the 14K Triad, which to this day remains one of the most powerful in the world. ibid.
Vincente Carrillo Fuentes: He was the king of narco-political law enforcement corruption in Mexico. Lords of the Mafia with Robert Stack III: Mexican Mafia
His rise to power and ultimate demise offers a rare glimpse into the narco-political underworld of Mexican organised crime. ibid.
The man who was to become Mexico’s most powerful drug lord. ibid.
‘The police and the government in Mexico get a cut of everything.’ ibid. comment
‘Somebody deliberately killed him by injection.’ ibid.
They evolved from a noble race of warriors but have earned a darkened terrible reputation during the past 400 years. Manipulators of government and massive amounts of money, they can be powerful allies but fearsome opponents. Lords of the Mafia with Robert Stack IV: Yakuza
The groups comprised nearly 500,000 Samurai. ibid.
Various Japanese government even use the Yakuza as an unofficial police force. ibid.
‘Well, they are the Cosa Nostra, the mafia of Japan. I mean, they’ve been around for 300 years. But when the Japanese were let off the hook in the early 1950s, the Yakuza had an opportunity to become legitimate, and some of them did.’ ibid. comment
By the 1960s the Yakuza had an estimated 184,000 members. ibid.
Australian Gold Coast: In with the tourists came the crime gangs. ibid.
First, a serious of violent events turned the Japanese people against those who had been regarded as their protectors. No longer is it considered desirable to have a Yakuza living on your block. ibid.
‘Now they’re an unknown entity because they are underground.’ ibid.
‘New Orleans was the first American city that the Sicilian mafia began to inahbit.’ Lords of the Mafia V: New Orleans, comment
Within the American mafia families the individual with the most power, influence and wealth is known as The Boss. ibid.
The longtime supreme ruler of the Mafia of New Orleans, Carlos Marcello. ibid.
For years he and his mafia family seemed to be able to operate with virtual impunity. ibid.
‘He ran a vast conglomerate, maybe of 50 businesses under his umbrella.’
Hoover had long maintained that the Mafia was a myth. In 1957, however, 60 Mafia leaders were rounded up at a house in upstate, New York. ibid.
The legality of the deportation has always been in question. ibid.
His fury towards Kennedy reportedly became an obsession. ibid.