Semion Mogilevich is a Russian mobster on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list. I just heard about him yesterday, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you are in the dark yourself about the litany of complex crimes committed by this Russian gangster, who seems to have emerged out of the chaos of the break-up of the Soviet Union (1991). Mogilevich is a very powerful and clever criminal, who has the ability to evade apprehension.
Information available on the internet about Mogilevich is ancient, but you’ll have to read it over, if you wish to understand what the ‘Brainy Don’ has done, in the way of scams. I would begin with the Wikipedia entry, which has many good links to articles under references. Please be sure to look at the dates of these articles, since many of them are more than a decade old. An example is an article that appeared in the Village Voice, The Most Dangerous Mobster in the World, published on May 26, 1998.
What are his crimes, you might ask? Money laundering, extortion, complex energy fraud, art fraud, illegal armament sales, stock market scams (YBM), prostitution, and even murder. I’m just barely scratching the surface this morning on how some of these crimes worked, but I’m trying. When you examine the Wikipedia page, please be sure to click the Solntsevskaya Bratva link. Semion uses this criminal organization to make his crimes a reality.
The best place to start, if you want to understand what this Russian mobster is all about, is to watch a four part video on YouTube, The Billion Dollar Don, produced by the BBC in 2007. Don’t miss Part Two which covers the Prague connection and the big bust which went down at the U Holubu bar in May of 1995. This was a kind of crime boss summit of Russian gangsters, which oddly enough, Semion Mogilevich didn’t attend. My only observation for you, is if Semion is still smoking as many cigarettes as he was in this five-year-old interview, the FBI won’t have to take him in, he’ll already be dead.
The Billion Dollar Don – Semion Mogilevich – Part 2 – YouTube