In the NYC the Russians control:
- Coney Island
- Brighton Beach
- Parts of Sheepshead Bay.
Whereas the American mob has influence over all five boroughs in NYC. The mob also has guys in Sheepshead, and Coney Island to a lesser extent but they don't step on the Russians toes.

In these select pockets of Brooklyn that the Russians control, they are involved in:
- Bookmaking (cards and numbers - I don't know about sports betting)
- Loansharking
- Shakedowns of small businesses
- Drug dealing.
- Some high-ranking OC Russians have been involved in financial frauds and other swindles in the US but they don't really associate with the guys that control the other rackets i.e. bookmaking.

The mob, all over NYC and Jersey, control:
- All forms of gambling, including cards, sports betting and numbers.
- Forms of fraud such as personal scams, financial scams, insurance scams.
- Hijacking (the Russians may be involved in this too to a lesser extent).
- Drug dealing (all forms of drugs)
- Stock fraud (pump and dumps, wall street, etc.)
- Small business shakedowns (not as much as the Russian mob for many reasons).
- UNIONS! This is the main thing separating Russians and Italians. Once the Russians get entrenched in stuff like unions/politics, then talk to me about them being more powerful.

With the Russians, the guys at the top are in their 30s/40s whereas the guys at the top of the Mafia are often 60+. It is evident that there are a surging number of young, disenfranchised Russians in the U.S. that are resorting to organized crime. The Mafia meanwhile is a lot more established - there is still a sizable recruiting pool (in the suburbs, not so much the urban areas) but the bigwigs are guys that are established and older, and have been with the family for decades. There are a lot of powerful wiseguys that were straightened out before the Russian mob was even a thing, like Vinny Asaro, Andy Russo, Barney Bellomo.

Also, the Russians have a tendency to be a lot more violent than the Italians. That is because these guys often come from war-torn countries or rough backgrounds in the homeland whereas the Italian-Americans of today have kids, families, play golf, etc. For example in 2016 a group of Russian gangsters burnt down an entire apartment building in Sheepshead Bay because there was a rival card game held in the storefront. You wouldn't get that with the Italians nowadays. But I think the Russians are eventually going to realize that America isn't really the place for that sort of behavior since the feds are all over that.

If you have any questions about anything I said, please ask since I want to maintain a good reputation on this forum and not be viewed as a bullshitter/liar. This is my first post on this forum.

Nicky from Tampa.