Macedonian Mafia
The Mafia of Macedonian ethnicity.
Background
The Volci(Wolves) the biggest of the Macedonian mafias are the kin of the Macedonian Special Police which holds the same name, most members are either ex- military/police or well educated white collar criminals. They hold similar codes of conduct to their Russian counterparts and work under the Russian Vor v Zakone in the US as enforcers often referred to as The Vors, Vols. The Vols(Volci) instead of the stars tattoo of the Russians have the 16-rayed Macedonian Sun to differentiate between the two groups.
The Volci are believed to run near 70% of the [...] trade in New York, but also dip their fingers into white collar crimes, illegal trades, extortion, other narcotics and tax evasion.
Over the last few years, the FBI and security services around the world have tried to crack down on these groups of Mafia, though the impact is minimal due to their code of secrecy and their rank structures being very different to those of the Italian mafia.
Tattoos
No members of the "Volci" have been identified with a tattoo of a wolf, they do however usually have a animal of some sort which is meant to match their skill set or likelihood.
The Four Suit and other Russian tattoos are also used.
16-Rayed Macedonian Sun: Begins as a hollow sun and rays, a filled sun indicate the highest ranking whilst 8 half filled rays indicates that he is of the lowest ranking.
External links
- MSNBC.com - Mafia trading arms for [...] with Colombia rebels by Sue Lackey
- BBC News: So who are the Russian mafia ?
- BBC News: The rise and rise of the Russian mafia
- Oxford Scholarship: The Russian Mafia
- Mafya become more active in Eastern Europe Jane's Intelligence Review May 2005
- [http://www.organized-crime.de/revindex.htm reviews of various books on Organized crime