Difference between revisions of "Seattle Russian Mafia"

Latest revision as of 09:58, 20 November 2008

History and Basic Information

In the mid-late 1970's, U.S. immigration laws changed slightly. In the wake of these changes, officials in the former Soviet Union began to allow the emigration of Russian Jews to the U.S. Seeing an opportunity in this, the KGB and penal system of Russia sent over many hardened criminals as immigrants. This was the beginning of the formation of what is currently one of the most feared criminal organizations around: the Organizatsiya, or Russian Mafia.

Quickly, these groups entrenched themselves in Russian ethnic communities across the U.S. As the Soviet Union began to collapse, many (now-jobless) military men and KGB agents found their way to the US and joined with the Organizatsiya. Whereas in their start, the Organizatsiya had only criminal influence, they gained military and intelligence assets. By the mid-1990's they had gone from being a moderately successful criminal group (reminiscent of the Italian Mafia a century before) to a black market source of everything from drugs to nuclear devices.

Unlike many other criminal organizations, the Organizatsiya is not very territorial. They don't stake out an area and claim it as theirs. They also do not follow one specific leader, many times different groups will be working in the same area. This lack of territoriality makes them far more deadly than their many counterparts as they don't kill themselves off regularly.

Also, the Organizatsiya has endeared itself to many other criminal organizations. Their ties with the Triads and Tongs of China go back far before they ever set foot in the U.S. Once they reached U.S. soil, they set up connections with Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. The chief export of the Organizatsiya in exchange for the drugs of the Cartels and Triads is weapons. The "guns for drugs" trade is lucrative indeed for both sides and cements the ties between these organizations.

The list of criminal activities that the Organizatsiya is involved in is nearly as deep as the list of criminal acts commitable. If there is money and power to be had in a particular area, the Organizatsiya will get it, whatever it takes. As mentioned before, their chief activity is gun smuggling and they have a foothold in the drug trade as well. Other activities include (but are not limited to) fraud, extortion, blackmail, theft, murder, and kidnapping.

Of interest to many is the zeal with which members of the Organizatsiya approach their work. Unlike many other criminal organizations, they don't seem to care what they do or even if they get caught and go to jail. Many of the original members of the Organizatsiya were criminals in the worst of Russian jails and they find life in U.S. prisons easy, almost a vacation, compared to life in Russian prisons. The most dangerous enemy is the one who has no cares of what will happen to him.

Another note of interest is that, due to mandatory secondary schooling, the Russian immigrant members of the Organizatsya are often more intelligent than their counterparts in other cultures.

The Organizatsiya has found itself having to adapt to the changes the world has faced over the past 60 years just like everything else has. The NAN uprising, the Awakening, VITAS, and hundreds of other events sent the world into chaos. A chaos which has proved profitable to the highly adaptable and well-entrenched Organizatsiya. Though the territory they once worked is much smaller, the needs are much greater and their influence too strong in all the right places.

Though they have influence UCAS-wide in the 2050's, they have concentrated in major metropolitan areas like Seattle, New York, and Chicago. The only group with which the Organizatsiya has not formed at least a token alliance with is the Yakuza, but this is rarely an issue as the Yakuza have more of a tendency towards white-collar crimes.

In the shadows, the Organizatsiya is a force to be reckoned with. With their ability to get military surplus, they've got an almost single-handed lock on a market that only gets hungrier. Their connections to other groups make them a prime source of information as well.

The structure of the Organizatsiya hasn't changed much since its earliest days in 1970's U.S. They still operate in cells and follow no single leader in the UCAS or anywhere else in the world. These cells are flexible and it is not at all uncommon for members to leave one and join another. They also tend to stay in ethnic areas where the populace (through terror or loyalty) will not betray their existence.

Personalities

A few of the leaders in the Seattle area are mentioned below, as well as their areas of influence.

David (Davidoff) Pelko

Born into the Organizatsiya sometime after the turn of the century, he spent most of his days being groomed to take over his father's interests in Seattle. He has taken to holding the reigns of a criminal organization like few before him. His major interests are weapons trafficking, drug purchasing and sales, and fraud.

Vitali Koschienko

A recent immigrant from the CIS, Vitali has brought with him some very interesting friends, the rest of his hit team. Formerly shadowrunners of a sort (though almost exclusively with the KGB), these men handled countless assassinations and terrorist acts that could not be dealt with by the government itself. After a few years together, the team decided to head to Seattle where real money could be made and life would be easier. They haven't been disappointed. Vitali and his team handle contract murders, thefts, and many other terrorist acts.

Mikael Kozlov

Mikael acts as a landlord or sorts for the Russian community in Seattle. He and his group take care of many of the local disputes and do what they can to make life better for those people, operating almost like the Tongs. He works with many other cells to obtain needed items for their people, from food and medicine to chips and guns. He also works as a fixer and a Johnson in the shadows.

How to play the Organizatsiya

Organizatsiya members are intelligent, ruthless, and unlike most other criminal figures that the UCAS has seen. They don't kill each other over territory, they've made allies of rival organizations, and they've entrenched themselves deep in the shadows. They follow no single leader and are extremely adaptable to change. They also could care less if they go to a UCAS jail and everything they do will reflect this.

Organizatsiya cells can provide characters with information and items that they might need as well (or better) than any other group they may encounter. Pricing on such things is no longer as low as it was 60 years ago (they realize that they can get a lot more money than they were back then for what they do) but it is still fair in most cases.

They can also provide runners with work. A cell may need some extra muscle for a meet, may want to work through the runners' connections, or may need a scapegoat for an operation they are planning. Use them in this area as you would use any other criminal group or corporation.