Spain breaks up Tambov Mafiya ring

Spanish authorities say they have broken up the Tambov "family" of the Russian Mafiya, according to reports from the St. Petersburg (Russia) Times, UPI and RIA Novosti.

Twenty people were arrested across the country June 14 on money laundering, tax fraud and criminal association charges. Four hundred law enforcement officers participated in raids conducted in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. In addition to the 20 suspects, the raids netted 23 luxury cars, a yacht, weapons and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash. Police also froze an estimated $18 million in bank accounts believed linked to the Tambov organization.

Over the weekend, five suspects were freed after promising not to leave the country. Two were released on bail. The other 13 suspects remain in custody. Gennady Petrov (left), a reputed leader of the gang, is among those still held by Spanish authorities. Petrov and his wife were arrested at their home in the Sol de Mallorca region of the island of Mallorca. Police also nabbed alleged Petrov deputy Yuri Salikov.

Alexander Malyshev, another reputed leader of the criminal organization, was also arrested, along with his wife and a friend. They were arrested at a luxury estate in Frigiliana, province of Malaga.

The Tambov organization - based in St. Petersburg, Russia, but named for a southwestern Russian city - is believed to have hundreds of members. Russian, U.S., German and Swiss authorities assisted in the Spanish law enforcement action.

Last August, Tambov boss Vladimir Basukov was arrested at his home outside of St. Petersburg. He remains in custody in Moscow.

Russian crime boss arrested in Moscow

Moscow police arrested Semyon Mogilevich, 61, reputed organized crime boss, in late January, according to published reports. Mogilevich is believed to have had a hand in uranium smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering, bank fraud and other criminal rackets. He was charged with corporate tax evasion amounting to $2 million, according to a story by Andrew E. Kramer of the New York Times. Authorities say he also is wanted in the United States and in Britain for decades of offenses.

UN official guilty of money laundering conspiracy

A jury in New York has found a Russian diplomat guilty of conspiring to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribe money, according to a press release from the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York.

Vladimir Kuznetsov, 49, (shown above at the time of his arrest) faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 25. He has been held under house arrest, his movements checked by a bracelet monitor, since the Russian government secured his release from a detention cell.

Kuznetsov served as chairman of the United Nations' Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions until his arrest in September 2005. He was the highest ranking Russian diplomat at the UN. At the time of his arrest, Russian news agency Pravda insisted that American authorities were using a corruption probe as a means of slandering the UN after its opposition to the invasion of Iraq and of extracting the United States from the international body.

He was conviced of conspiring with Russian UN procurement officer Alexader Yakovlev from 2000 through mid-2005 to hide payments provided by foreign companies seeking to do business with the UN. Yakovlev is believed to have taken over $1 million in bribes during that period. Kuznetsov learned of the scheme and accepted a share of the proceeds rather than report Yakovlev to authorities. Kuznetsov established an off-shore company called Nikal Ltd. in order to hide the money at the Antigua Overseas Bank Limited.

According to the Washington Post, Kuznetsov is the fourth UN-based official implicated in an ongoing investigation into corruption.

Yakovlev pleaded guilty in 2005.

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Uranium smuggling in former Soviet Union

Authorities of the Republic of Georgia last year arrested a Russian man attempting to smuggle 100 grams of highly enriched - weapons grade - uranium into the country, according to a story by Lawrence Scott Sheets and William J. Broad of the New York Times.

The incident was discussed by Georgian Interior Minister Ivane Merabishvili in a recent interview. Russian officials would not comment on the story.

Another man was apprehended in 2003 at the Georgia-Armenia border with 170 grams of uranium. In neither case was the amount of radioactive material sufficient to build a nuclear weapon, but international authorities are concerned about the apparent trade in nuclear material from the former Soviet Union.

Georgian authorities also intercepted a shipment of 2.2 pounds of raw uranium last August.

Albanian & Russian mobs run 'baby factories'

Organized crime groups from Albania and Russia are believed to be managing at least one "baby factory" in Athens, Greece, according to a story by Natalie Clark in the UK Daily Mail.
Families in Europe and America wanting a child simply place an order and hand over considerable cash. Women associated with the factory, mostly Bulgarians and Romanian "gypsies," are impregnated and paid to turn over the resulting babies.
According to the report, women are coerced into the arrangement through a number of methods. In some cases, women are granted false travel papers in order to enter Greece and are then presented with huge bills for the service. They are told that the debt will be erased if they get pregnant and give up their babies. Other women are drawn into the racket through the promise of cash or drugs.