Brighton Beach Badlands

The rapid collapse of the Soviet system offered the powerful and dangerous Josef Urikovich and his brother Uri the opportunity to spread the existing Russian criminal network to America. Their headquarters was in Brighton Beach, the area of southeast Brooklyn bordering Coney Island in New York City which unofficially was known as the home base of the Russian Mafia. It was a closed world inhospitable to outsiders.

Uri developed a close relationship with Russell Boyd when they both served with...