Another big russain mob boss from the 90s is marat balugula. He organized his gang much like an italian mafia family. He also created the gasoline tax scam that usually gets credited to the italians particularly micheal franzese, when actually they were just cut in on balugulas already existing scam. Instead of competing with the italians, balugula realized it was much smarter to partner with them, and that made him and his organization an underworld powerhouse during that time period.
Most books, articles, etc. covering Franzese have said that he partnered with the Russians, who originally came up with the scam, and didn't invent it himself. He also partnered with Larry Iorizzo, who had also discovered the scam.
