Russian mafia in popular culture

The Russian mafia has frequently been a subject of works in popular culture.

Film

• In Little Odessa (1994), the Russian mafia of New York is the subject.
• The Russian cult film Brother (1997) tells a story of a young mobster with a strong sense of loyalty in the 1990s St. Petersburg.
• The film Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) features a Russian mafia in New York City run by Alexei Jovanovic (played by David Ogden Stiers).
• In The Jackal (1997), a Russian mob boss hires the titular assassin to avenge the death of his brother.
• The film Rounders (1998) prominently features members of the Russian mafia.
• Brother 2 (2000), the sequel to Brother (1997), takes place in Moscow and the United States.
• In the film Training Day (2001), Denzel Washington's character Alonzo Harris is trying to pay a ransom of money for his life after he assaulted a member of the Russian Mafia in Las Vegas and took his money. His bosses known as the "Three Wise Men" state how they know that he owes money to the Russian Mafia and suggest that he leaves town. In an attempt to escape via Los Angeles International Airport after being thwarted by Jake Hoyt, Alonzo is killed by some Russian Mafia operatives in the airport parking lot and the broadcast of his death over the news is hauntingly similar to the one he used to taunt Jake.
• The film Half Past Dead (2002) has a Russian car thief as the main character.
• The Russian film Tycoon (2002) shows the rise of a Russian oligarch from the Gorbachev era in the late '80s, to absolute power in the Yeltsin era in the '90s.
• The Russian cult B-film Antikiller (2002) shows the mafia hierarchy of the 1990s rather faithfully. It spawned two sequels, none of which repeated the success of the first film.
• The Russian film Bimmer (2003) is road movie about four friends who get into trouble with the law and flee Moscow in a black BMW. As the men drive across the Russian expanse, they encounter corruption, violence, poverty, and various situations characterizing the bleakness and challenges of small-town life in post-Soviet Russia. A sequel was released in 2006.
• The Russian film Dead Man's Bluff (2005) is a dark comedy portraying young mobsters in the 1990s Nizhny Novgorod.
• The film Eastern Promises (2007), subject of which is the Russian mafia in London.
• We Own the Night (2007) is centered around a manager of a Brighton Beach night club, which is infact owned by the Russian mafia. Said manager keeps clashing with his father and brother, who are both decorated NYPD officers.
• In Batman: Gotham Knight (2008), the Russian Mob is depicted as being rivals of Sal Maroni's crime family and are led by The Russian (voiced by Corey Burton).
• The Russian film "Break loose" (2014) ^[1] (original title was «Восьмёрка», named after Lada Samara one of the characters is driving) depicts a personal conflict between young OMON operatives and a local crime boss, few days before New Year's Eve 1999-2000. Almost everybody wants to settle the matter peacefully and let it pass, but a romantic interest of young OMON operative draws them all beyond the point of no return. Unbeknownst to the protagonists, president Yeltsin is preparing his resignation speech and Russia is about to enter a new era.
• The 2014 film adaptation of The Equalizer (which was directed by the same director of Training Day and also starring Denzel Washington) features the Russian mafia as the primary antagonists where they were led by Vladimir Pushkin (played by Vladimir Kulich).
• Our Kind of Traitor (2016) is a British spy thriller film adapted from John le Carré's novel of the same name.

Games

• The Russian mafia appears in multiple Grand Theft Auto games:
  • The Russian mafia appears in Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999).
  • Also in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) one of the missions involves Big Smoke taking CJ down to a Hotel in Los Santos where they meet up with a group of Russian mobsters.
  • In the Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) video game, the main protagonist is allied with and later rivals against a Russian mafia gang.
• Antikiller is a licensed PC game based on the eponymous gangster movie.^[2] It came out in 2005 (Russian market) and 2007 (international market), respectively.^[3]
• The indie game Hotline Miami (2012) features the Russian mafia as the main antagonists.
• In the espionage RPG Alpha Protocol, the protagonist must navigate a conflict between two rival Moscow organized crime groups, one of which is allied with the corrupt defense contractor the protagonist opposes.

Literature

• A 1995 novel "No time for Heroes" by Brian Freemantle features a conspiracy by Russian mafia.
• Since 1998, Russian publishing house "Eksmo" has been printing crime novels under the series "I am a thief by law" («Я-вор в законе»).
• "Our Kind of Traitor", a 2010 novel by John le Carré.
• In 2013, Alexei Sherstobitov wrote an autobiography called "The Liquidator" («Ликвидатор»), detailing his life as a hitman for the Russian mafia.

Manga and anime

• The Japanese manga and anime series Black Lagoon prominently features the Hotel Moscow which is a branch of the Russian mafia that operates in the Thailand city of Roanapur.

Television

• The Solntsevskaya Bratva has a recurring role in the CW TV series Arrow. Oliver Queen has contacts in the organization who he uses to locate criminals.
• The popular Russian TV mini-series Brigada, aired in 2002, depicted a group of underdogs rising the crime ladder to become oligarchs in the 1990s Moscow.
• The TV series Gotham features Russian mafia family formerly allied to Sicilian gangster Carmine Falcone. They later turns against him with the alliance of Fish Mooney and her gang. The Russian mafia was first led by Nikolai (played by Jeremy Davidson) until he was killed by Oswald Cobblepot during a raid orchestrated by rival Italian Mob boss Sal Maroni. In the episode "Harvey Dent," the rest of the Russian mafia was led by Gregor Kasyanov where they spring explosives expert Ian Hargrove from a prison transport to construct bombs for them. The mobsters target a cache of Falcone's money, but are stopped by the police. During a standoff with the Gotham City Police Department, Gregor and some of the Russian mafia operatives are nearly killed by a bomb that Butch Gilzean set off on Fish Mooney's behalf in order to destroy the money and hurt Falcone.
• The final episodes of the Law & Order Season 9 (1998–99) center around the Russian mafia in Manhattan and their attempts to sabotage prosecution.
• In the Netflix prison seriesOrange Is the New Black, Galina "Red" Reznikova (played by Kate Mulgrew) is in the prison for her involvement with the Russian mafia in Queens.
• In the HBO Series "Oz", the Russian mafia was represented by Jewish-Russian Mafia member Nikolai Stanislofsky and by Cossack hitman Yuri Kosygin. Kosygin is described in the show as "the most ruthless hitman in Little Odessa".
• The FX series Sons of Anarchy portrays illegal gun trading with the Russian Mob.
• In The Sopranos, there were many references and interactions with the Russian mafia.

References