It was in St Petersburg in the early nineties and I was just starting out...... there was a thriving expat community and Western companies started opening restaurants, running hotels, doing real estate and property development, operating other services for Westerners such as telecoms as well as trading opportunities. One of the more popular places we all used to meet at was a bar at the “Europa Grand hotel", probably the most luxurious 5 star hotel at the time, right in the center of St Petersburg off Nevskiy Prospect, the most central Road in the city. In this place you could find the local crime lords sitting next to you and posturing. I used to see one group come in every day for about two weeks and then they disappeared and another group would come in and so it went. Names such "Kostya the Grave", "Kirpich" (the Brick), "the Steam Iron", "the Broiler" and so on were amongst some of the gangsters who we used to see there on a regular basis. We had just concluded one of the first legitimate timber deals for thousands of tonnes of export grade timber to the UK. I was sitting in my office and the doors opened with four guys walking in. One was dressed in a black tracksuit and the others were dressed in cheap Soviet training tracksuits in blue and gray. These guys were huge. The leader, the one in the black tracksuit, seemed to be from the Southern states and spoke with a heavy accent. He asked if I was who I was, I said "yes and what do they want", the two huge guys started immediately beating me. The leader, started threatening me, "bring me two "limony" (limony - Russia slang for million) million roubles by Thursday". It was Tuesday. “If you don’t I will skin you alive” then they left. Me and my partner who was also beaten, were left badly shaken by the ordeal. I was just grateful they didn’t kidnap me. The consequences could have been beyond terrible. We had to act fast, we knew that our business and our safety was seriously on the line here. I found out that the bandit was called Maga, and we more or less had an idea who sent him. It was another local timber dealer who wanted us off the scene.

This was unfortunately true and several incidents which are still stuck in my mind from those days, I would get calls from the UK now and again to help someone in trouble and one such time I got a call on a Monday evening, “L is in trouble, he is being threatened over a copper deal, he needs help, we will get back to you on this” On the Wednesday, I got news that L was dead, his head was flattened like a pancake. L worked for an international company that did metal inspections, and one of the tricks the mob used was what was known as a Russian doll – for example, on the outside you have legitimate copper but on the inside it was worthless metal such as lead or some other cheap material. It became apparent that there was a cover-up and his murder was blamed on having an argument with his boyfriend (which was news to us who knew him). Moreover the instrument of death was a huge wooden table which was used to ram against his head and would have taken several men to do that. Another incident involved a Mr Sha, an Indian multi-millionaire (self proclaimed) . He always walked around with 5 or 6 bodyguards. Apparently he stopped paying his security company. He disappeared within an hour and never found. But I specifically remember one guy, he was from the US, this guy was young, rich and looked like a film star. He was loud and used to boast about his Lamborghini jeep and how much money he had. He was also very arrogant to the mob boys. All they found intact of him was part of his jaw bone and thigh bone. This was the new reality setting in. No one was safe. And when a new restaurant opened and the place to be seen, I was dining there with some friends and I was told by the head waiter that a mob group was there marking the birthday of one of their authority "avtoritet" figures (I guess equivalent of a "capo) just so we were aware. We were having a pretty good time when I noticed several guys walk in with metal bars. They started beating anyone who approached them, a waitress was badly beaten and so was the cashier but they came looking for the head waiter who was talking to us earlier and all of them started to beat him about the head with these metal bars. We could see it clearly. It was over in seconds. He slumped down against the wall with a huge pool of blood around him, his skull was cracked open and he started moaning what I can only describe as animal like. We were all pretty much motionless. The lead gangster looked at us and came up to our table and said "you can all suck me off". I pretty much kept quiet on that one. Then they just left.

"Tell him, make sure he understands". said the mob guy. I was at a meeting with an English business man and his business partner who had just arrived into St Petersburg. We were having some coffee at the Astoria hotel when some members of the Tambov mob arrived (reputedly the largest of the organised criminal groups in St Petersburg, run by their leader Kumarin). They were the "roof" for the English guy and his business, "roof" meaning they were providing protection services. The Leader or captain of the group (three of them), asked me to translate. The English business partner who had just arrived and it was his first time in Russia was eyeing these guys with some interest. He couldn't quite place them. They didn't resemble standard business people. In Russia by now it was quite the norm for businesses to be associated with mafia groups who would provide "protection services". I tried to discreetly explain that things aren't what they seem here but he kept on asking what are they saying and I was getting fed up with translating so I just came out with it, "Mate, they said they don't just kill people but do business as well, do you want to follow that up?". I could see this wasn't what he was expecting and he wasn't sure whether this wasn't a wind up. He started to laugh nervously, "what kind of business are they in?" I didn't want to be in the middle of this anymore. And without wanting to upset either side I started to make my excuses to leave but before that the mob captain insisted on inviting everyone to the sauna that evening. I was trying to make excuses for us not to go but the English guy said "sounds great, they seem nice enough, let's go". So, unfortunately, it was agreed. The Sauna (Russian banya) - is a traditional means of socialising and health procedures based on hot steam and whisking with birch leaves. However, going to a gathering of Russian mobsters in a sauna is something else (as shown in the first photo of Akula - aka known as the Shark, somebody I had to meet at a later time). As we entered into the banya, I already saw that the English guys were beginning to have second thoughts, seeing before them a bunch of tattooed guys (in Russia, at that time, tattoos were mainly a hierarchy for those who had served time in jail or were part of the criminal elite) and none too friendly, as the banya, on such happy occasions, can usually also host girls to join in the fun but instead of the girls we were the main attraction and this was not going down too well. The mob captain who invited us was finding it very amusing, the English guys who arrived were already pale and not doing too well. I realised we had to go soon otherwise there might be trouble as the contingent "bratva" (brothers) were getting more drunk and belligerent, (second photo, Kumarin, center, leader of the Tambov organised crime group) but one of the English guys had disappeared. I told his friend to get dressed while I find the other guy. After a while I found him vomiting in the toilets, not from alcohol but from total fear. I got them out and the guy went back to England never to return. Obviously the business interests were cancelled. The other English guy soon left as well after being threatened by his own "security". It wouldn't be the first time I would save Westerners from the mob and certainly not the last, unfortunately, not of all them could be saved in time.

Great News we met with Mario Bosco the other day to discuss sponsoring Season 2 of the Mario Bosco show on GROWING UP ITALIAN. Everyone is all in agreement that the SHOW MUST GO ON. Special guests to appear on the Mario Bosco show to include Vito Antuofermo (Italian pronunciation: [ˈviːto antwoˈfermo]; born February 9, 1953) is an Italian American actor and retired professional boxer. He is a former undisputed World Middleweight Champion. Below white tee-shirt. Iran Barkley (/aɪˈræn/; born May 6, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1999. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBC middleweight title from 1988 to 1989, the IBF super middleweight title from 1992 to 1993, and the WBA light heavyweight title in 1992. As an amateur boxer, Barkley won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 1982 World Championships. (Black Tee-Shirt (r) - His wife Pam and Actress /Promoter / Agent @Gigi LaQue from Gravesend series. This should be one hell of a Mario Bosco Show.....Stay Tuned If you haven't Joined our Mario Bosco Comedy Skool platform please do so @ Mario Bosco Comedy

This is my friend in the first photo below, M, (sitting) getting sent down to a Russian hard labor penal colony for murder for 15 years (in Russian slang known as “a business trip”). He was out in 12. I met M in the mid 90’s, he was an elite boxer and winner of many boxing titles in Russia, he asked me if I ever boxed and I said no (I was keeping a low profile at this time from some very heavy gangsters as I had been set-up on a bad business deal by my boss – who fled the country leaving me to face the problem). I agreed to come and train at his club and from then on boxing became like a second religion to me. The club and the network of connections saved me from further harm (I will talk about that another time) but I never knew much about M. He was a former naval military officer in the spetsnats (special forces – in his case the Russian equivalent of navy SEALS, underwater combat specialisation). He was a brilliant boxer and I got on really well with him, especially since I was progressing in the gymn and managing to knock a few guys out in sparring. This got you respect in the underworld. Let me explain briefly, a lot of the recruiting grounds for gangsters in those days were mainly boxers (and wrestlers), mma was only just beginning and not yet widespread in Russia. So athletes in the fight sports were highly respected and feared. After training in the early evening, M and I used to go out and have a few vodkas and then go our own way. That evening after training M invited me to meet some of his friends from out of town. “They have heard about you and really keen to meet up”. Little did I know then who I was dealing with or who his friends were. I said “sure, sounds fine”. We went as usual to the bars but for some reason this time, we had a bit too much vodka and were both too drunk to head out anywhere. The next day, I saw M and he said “you know my friends we were supposed to meet last night”. I said “yes sure, are they still here?” “They are all dead. They were gunned down with machine guns whilst waiting for us in the cafe.”