In Italy, two cells the vory v zakone, the so-called Russian mob, were revealed to be running
such a skilled burglary crew that some victims didn't even know they'd been robbed; and in Spain
a Chinese mafia group specializing in producing and moving drugs and money was similarly revealed
It's gangland globalization in full effect. The Mob Reporter here with two new tales of the
blurring lines of nationalism and organized crime that sees Eastern European gangsters
mixing it up in the homeland of the Mafia and Chinese mobsters working 6,000 miles from home
Let me tell you about it. An organized band of professional burglars was hard at work in Italy's
north. For years, a group so skilled that some of their victims had no idea anything was missing
until much later, when investigators arrived to return stolen property that they had recovered
This is video of them at work. Their signature was what is now called the "Georgian Method," after
the country they hailed from. They used special tools to pick locks on doors, cabinets and safes
and then escaped with barely a trace. Almost every day, members gathered in groups of three or four
all coordinated by a boss, and then dispersed to their various targets, whether burglaries, raids
or robberies. Sometimes the jobs were local. Others were far away. Some were down south in the Mafia
stronghold of Calabria and others in different countries entirely. From 2015 until 2018, police
worked to identify the hierarchy and operations of what turned out to be two cooperating bands
of Eastern European gangsters. The largest group was comprised of criminals from Georgia
As a country on the Black Sea, where Eastern Europe and Western Asia meet, it used to be part
of the Soviet Union but now is an independent country, squeezed between Russia and Turkey
These particular bandits were under the authority of a member of an elite criminal
organization, known as the vory v zakone, which in English means "thieves in law"
They're basically the equivalent of being a made man of the Italian Mafia
These gangsters' base was in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia in Italy's north, about halfway
between Florence and Milan. They felt so settled there they were heard on wiretaps calling it quote
"our homeland" unquote. The gang wasn't confined to burglary and engaged in a host of serious crimes
including crimes of violence, police say. At least twice, when police arrived at a job
before they could escape, the bandits attacked the officers and stole their service pistols
The gang's patron, a vor, held a meeting in the city of Reggio Emilia, where members came to pay homage
One member drove nearly three hours, from near Venice, just to bring him a gift. The second group
was mostly Ukrainians. Many of them worked at or ran import-export companies. Their specialty
was receiving, moving and laundering the massive quantities of stolen goods. Each week the booty
was shipped from Reggio Emilia to Ukraine, where their boss lived. Police issued 52 arrest warrants
and at least one of those arrested is considered to be a true vor. Police document the tell-tale
tattoos of an eight-pointed star, one on the front of each shoulder blade, and one on each knee. In the
symbolism of the vory v zakone, the stars denote rank as a criminal authority, a thief, a vor. When
placed on the knees, it's a symbol they'd kneel to no one. The Eastern Orthodox Church in this tattoo
is also a common image for vory, representing their devotion to a thief's life. The number of domes
usually corresponds with the number of serious criminal convictions they've faced. In this case
it looks like three. He also wore the traditional thieves cross tattoo. It's his underworld resume in
ink. A related operation against them was unfolding in France. The same day February 9, 2021.
About two dozen Georgians were arrested in several French cities. Among those thieves targets was
vintage wines in Bordeaux, the center of France's famed wine region. At least they had good taste
The French gave their operation a code name that tells us exactly what kind of criminals they were
targeting. It was called Operation Bratva, the Russian word for "brotherhood," which is another
name for mob members from the former Soviet Union. French police also snagged a crowned vor
The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs said Georgian police helped both investigations
and that its citizens were arrested in Italy, France, Poland, Greece, Belgium and Slovenia
The vor are often referred to as Russian mobsters, because their culture was forged in
the hard prison gulags of Russia in the stoic underworld of the Soviet authoritarian regime
The vory themselves, however, come from many former Soviet republics
and are heavily populated by Georgians, Armenians and others
The vory have been seen as a Western crime threat at least since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 —
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
— when large numbers of Soviet criminals became newly mobile and saw a world ripe for the picking
Observing the strict traditions of the vory, like with most organized crime groups, has evolved over
the years. The imperatives of those who wrote the thieves code while languishing in a Russian prison
camp are not quite the same as those reaping the rewards from hacking computers in New York or
buying up real estate on the Costa del Sol, but still, as the Italian probe reveals, at least one
thing remains: the value of true criminal talent and the use of tattoos signifying status as a vor
In Spain, it was a different transplanted gang receiving unwanted attention this week
Spanish authorities described it as the Chinese mafia, saying it's involved in international drug
trafficking and money laundering. 38 people were arrested and 30 searches conducted in several
areas of the country, including the capital Madrid. In the searches, police say they found a half ton
of marijuana prepared for shipment, three indoor cannabis grow ups, two kilos of methamphetamines
160,000 euros — which is about 200,000 U.S. dollars. Also seized were 12 vehicles
along with luxury jewelry and watches, and two modified guns. This operation started in 2018
when large quantities of marijuana were found being shipped from Spain to France
Investigators linked the shipments to a network of parcel shipping companies run by citizens of China
and closer scrutiny revealed a hierarchical organization of members separated into cells
The grow ops were constructed inside industrial warehouses in isolated homes around Spain and
their product was shipped to France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, a
second wing of the group was shipping the cash that they earned, mainly to Italy and Portugal
Investigators said the group hid among different local communities of expat Chinese
And this is a feature of gangland globalization. Globalization has been a common and crucial theme
in the underworld for decades, as mobsters recognize the advantages of ignoring borders
long before many corporations did Crime groups followed the immigration pattern of honest expats
from their homelands, and their compatriots formed both a victim pool as well as providing support
and shelter for the gangsters. The arriving gangsters sometimes worked in cooperation with
established domestic crime groups and sometimes as rivals. The classic example, of course, is the
Italian Mafia's immigration to America. In the United States and in Canada they built
vast criminal enterprises that came to dominate organized crime — in real life and in the movies
Asian organized crime groups were flexing their muscle and flashing
their money in North America years before settling in Western Europe
In the 1970s, however, the triads kept a strong hand in the heroin trade in
Europe as well as controlling organized crime in the China Towns of major cities
Alarm bells really went off in Western Europe in the year 2000 when 58 Chinese illegal migrants
were found suffocated in a truck in Britain. It had arrived from the Netherlands to the port of Dover
The victims of the Dover tragedy were en route to England in the care — if such a grotesque term can
be applied here — of snakeheads from China. Like the Eastern European vors busted this week in Italy
Chinese gangsters have also made moves on the Mafia's home turf. In the early 2000s the Camorra
in southern Italy was already working closely with Chinese triads in the international trade
of counterfeit goods. Perhaps the most notable incursion by Chinese organized crime in Italy
is the case against Zhang Naizhong, known in Italy as "the Chinese Godfather" or by the nickname in
Italian of “Il Uomo Nero”, which in English means "the Black Man." Zhang has been accused of running
an impressive empire from his base in Rome that extended into the fashion districts of
Italy and beyond. In 2018, police made dozens of arrests targeting what officers also called the
Chinese Mafia, but more accurately would be a triad group. More were arrested last year
One wiretap allegedly caught Zhang expounding on his underworld mantra: "If you go with me
you will live, if you go against me you will die." He claimed to have power across Europe. Now he remains
free, however, and disputes these allegations. In 2011, the European parliament warned of the threat
from an increasing number of Asian organized crime groups. They were involved in extortion, human
smuggling, money laundering, the drug trade, sports match fixing, and counterfeiting. These included the
Chinese triads and the Japanese yakuza as well as lesser-known elements. Vietnamese, Pakistani
Turkish and Afghan criminal organizations were considered among the most capable by Europol,
the European police agency. The two operations this week are a timely reminder that we need
to be careful assuming who or what group is behind any crime wherever it occurs, because
it's harder and harder to know what the boss might look like and where they may be from
Thanks for watching