Pattaya Police arrest Russian-led Hit Squad paid to kill Estonian Realtor

[hawker9000]

The BIB and the Thai mafia are like kindergarten kids compared to the Russian mafia. If they have enough people on the ground and get organised enough, it will be the BIB and the Thai mafia that will be paying tea money to THEM for the right to operate.

Now how would you know about that exactly? I confess I don't, but one hears comments like this from time to time, and you just gotta' wonder - how do you know? What enables you to make such a comparison? I do know I wouldn't want to tangle in any way to any degree at any time with the Thai mafia boys and sort of suspect that they can pretty well handle themselves in a home game.

[lostmebike]

The BIB and the Thai mafia are like kindergarten kids compared to the Russian mafia. If they have enough people on the ground and get organised enough, it will be the BIB and the Thai mafia that will be paying tea money to THEM for the right to operate.

Now how would you know about that exactly? I confess I don't, but one hears comments like this from time to time, and you just gotta' wonder - how do you know? What enables you to make such a comparison? I do know I wouldn't want to tangle in any way to any degree at any time with the Thai mafia boys and sort of suspect that they can pretty well handle themselves in a home game.

Problem is ... do the Thai Mafia carry stunt guns?

[DGIE]

and Russians with stun guns and hammers.

They don't have real guns but they can kill the agent with their injection.

[tezzainoz]

So it was a Russian-led hit squad. Perhaps one Russki in charge and the rest a group of local 'foreigners'.

Hardly the'A' Team. Perhaps they forgot to employ a getaway driver and so got stuck in traffic.

Not like you see in the movies.

Now why did w not hire Jason Stathman to drive the car

[Gsxrnz]

The BIB and the Thai mafia are like kindergarten kids compared to the Russian mafia. If they have enough people on the ground and get organised enough, it will be the BIB and the Thai mafia that will be paying tea money to THEM for the right to operate.

Now how would you know about that exactly? I confess I don't, but one hears comments like this from time to time, and you just gotta' wonder - how do you know? What enables you to make such a comparison? I do know I wouldn't want to tangle in any way to any degree at any time with the Thai mafia boys and sort of suspect that they can pretty well handle themselves in a home game.

Try this documentary and do your own research, there's tons of data available. Comparing the power and mentality of the Russian mafia to the Thai mafia is as I said, a kindergarten comparison. If they can operate widely and viciously in their own country, controlling 40% of the entire economy, easily operate in the US and cause the authorities major grief, imagine what they can do in Playschool Thailand once they achieve a significant foothold.

The Thai mafia may threaten you or undertake the odd contractual killing - and they think in Thai currency, Thai economy terms....small potatoes. The Russian boys will wipe out you and every living relative a la the original Sicilian mafia. These boys will take no prisoners and they will find it easy as hell to scare the BIB and the Thai mafia into sticking to their pitiful little bribe collecting from foreign tourists and non-helmet wearing motorcyclists, while the really big dollars are left to the Russians.

Maybe you think I'm talking about the effects that we will see on the streets? Not so - I'm talking criminal activities at corporate and government level being highly influenced and controlled by the Russian Mafioso. They have a problem with a multi million dollar scheme going pear shaped? - suddenly there will be 30 assassinations of BIB and local mafia involved as a message to the rest of the Thai administration involved to play by their rules - that will be somewhat of an incentive for others to play by the rules. If a BIB is caught taking too much from the trough now he is sent to a temporary inactive post - under Russian control it will be a permanently inactive post!

Look at the US back in the days of prohibition and more latterly in the control of the unions by mafia interests - it will all be happening here but on a more sophisticated level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg3xrrxNyIw

[NCFC]

A russian hit squat ??? AMATEURS !!!

Probably a couple of russian alcoholics beating up a guy for a couple of bottles Wodka.

BTW the Russian Maffia has the Pattaya Police on their paylist. In October 2012 a very good friend of mine had to flee out of Pattaya or better say Thailand. On some evening, at closing time, he got some russians in his good running Italian Restaurant in Pattaya, telling him to sell his restaurant for a couple of Baht or.... He pressed charges at Pattaya Police, telling him: "if you not come to Thailand, never happen" ! A day later the russians came back telling him that he missed his flight back to Europe. He got beaten up seriously and had to stay in the Bangkok Hospital for weeks. Together with his Thai lawyer, he pressed charges at Pattaya Police. They told him: "if ....."! He ended up signing the documents for the transfer and receiving 1 THB for his restaurant... This story is wellknown in Europe while many European newspapers have published this story. I never seen it published in Thailand otherwise they wouldn't be smiling in the LOS. I have heard from potential European investors that they were NOT going to invest in Thailand due to this story. But who cares....

If you have a good running business in Pattaya or Phuket, it will eighter be taken over by the Thai but in most cases by the Russian Maffia.

Care to name the restaurant, and address?

[TheGhostWithin]

Only 3 in that picture, where are the other 3?

They must have already paid their "ticket" for the crime and so were not available for photographs!

But seriously, this does not appear to be a typical "Russian Mafia" type hit squad. These guys were either low level trying to dip their feet in the water, or desperadoes.

- No surveillance on the house to establish movements of the victim prior to the event? Most groups would be watching this house for weeks prior to the event.

- No travel plan post event? Most would not travel in a single vehicle after committing such an act, and potentially would travel by motorbike rather than car in such an event.

- The world famous Pattaya Police actually made an effort to stop these guys? The Red mafia are well known for being able to bribe police, and "halt" any Police who attempt to interfere anyway. You either take money and turn a blind eye, you ignore the activity, or you are silenced, this is the way of the Red Fellas.

- Pratumnak is one of the "hot spots" of crime in Pattaya, and no doubt an area of increased Police activity as a result. A better move would be to have someone befriend him, invite him back to the condo to meet "the girls", and have act committed inside an apartment with no onlookers.

There are details missing in this article - there are 6 members in the "gang", I doubt all 6 were in the Honda accord, so either someone got caught on lookout (which I doubt judging by their other modus operandi) or someone within the gang squealed on everyone else. There is no "plea bargaining" in Thailand so this might not have been the smartest thing to do. Telling the BiB (a notoriously loose lipped organisation) why you did what you did was stupid too, as none of the members would be safe post their sentence, either in Thailand or back home. The red army has long arms.

[Bagwan]

In criminal circles the amount of money scammed is usually of secondary importance. It is the broken word that offends. The saying that there is no honour amongst thieves is somewhat off the mark. It is the lack of respect and double dealing that attracts a serious response. Informers are very harshly treated. It is somewhat similar to the situation that where a wife is playing away. The physical act is secondary, it is the betrayal of trust and the thought that everybody but the husband knows, and is enjoying the spectacle, that provids the motive for violence. Loss of face has travelled it seems.

As for there not being a Russina mafia here has everybody forgotten the shoot out where Russians in possession of firearms were apprehended after the event and then released without charge? Does anybody seriously consider that all the 'ladies' from former Soviet republics arrive here and operate under their own steam? I doubt that at the moment there is a Mr. Big controlling the criminal Russian element and it is the case that there are now how many little independent gangs. If they are all pulled together to form 'a family' that will send the situation completely out of hand and beyond the capabilities of BIB.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Bagwan

[tonneke breda]

who carries cocaine to a hit? i've never done that with my hits. i usually just carry pepsi and a bag of chips.

But yeah, he's from Peru, land of the Coffee

[Baerboxer]

I assume the Russian "hit squad" was resident in Thailand and weren't flown in especially for this one job. Now that's scary stuff - if the Russian mafia have this sort of manpower already on the ground, what the hell is it going to be like in a few years?

I don't think the Thai authorities have really thought through the implications of such a large population of resident Russians/East Europeans whilst turning a blind eye to the obvious money laundering and wealth that the Russian criminal element bring to Thailand.

The BIB and the Thai mafia are like kindergarten kids compared to the Russian mafia. If they have enough people on the ground and get organised enough, it will be the BIB and the Thai mafia that will be paying tea money to THEM for the right to operate.

Ive been looking in yellow pages under Russian hit squad' but cant find a number....

LOOK UNDER F IN fantasy section of the yellow pages, or under ''party hire '' lol

Not sure how long you've been living in Thailand or where you draw your knowledge regarding the organised criminal elements of Russian society on a world wide basis. By the way, I use (possibly incorrectly) the word "Russian" generally referring to the former states of the USSR.

Russian criminal elements in an organised form have arisen in strength only since the demise of the former Soviet USSR. Their influence throughout the international criminal world is increasing. Thailand over the last decade has been a new source of wealth and power for them, largely because of the ability to launder money in a variety of ways. When they really get a foothold here in what is essentially the economic and political Wild West of the world, the Thai authorities and the BIB will be in a very compromised position.

Yes there are other criminal elements in Thailand, but not in my opinion anywhere near as organised as the Russians. And I'm not talking about the odd ATM scam or the few reported crimes of violence. I'm talking about billions of USD involved in the construction and entertainment industries. Once these capital injections begin returning seriously positive revenues, the control of the authorities through violence and corruption is inevitable. You and I may not see much of it at street level but it will still be a force to be reckoned with in political, monetary, and social terms in Thailand.

You are correct - Russian organized crime gangs have spread westwards in Europe since the fall of USSR and Berlin wall. They have a strong presence in London. I also saw a strong presence in the UAE, where they compete with the Chinese and to a less extent some African gangs.

Stevo52's experience of Russia is a liitle different to others. Russian, and other former USSR countries' gangs are some of the nastiest and violent around. Many have easy access to miltary weapons and have miltary or long criminal backgrounds.

Russian organized crime is active worldwide - have a look and see how many Russian and East European whores there are now in Asia, just for one example.

[bangon04]

another great publicity stint for

thailand and its colourfull people and tourists

Russian Mafia is a fairy tale my friend 100% maybe in 1955 it was on the go but hey ---- its 2013 helllooooooooooo!!!!

Really? The Russian mafia is a figment of everyone's imagination???

Well Stevo52 has made at least 10 posts trying to convince us that it is, so he must have lots of inside information...

[TheGhostWithin]

The BIB and the Thai mafia are like kindergarten kids compared to the Russian mafia. If they have enough people on the ground and get organised enough, it will be the BIB and the Thai mafia that will be paying tea money to THEM for the right to operate.

Now how would you know about that exactly? I confess I don't, but one hears comments like this from time to time, and you just gotta' wonder - how do you know? What enables you to make such a comparison? I do know I wouldn't want to tangle in any way to any degree at any time with the Thai mafia boys and sort of suspect that they can pretty well handle themselves in a home game.

In most cases you would be right Hawker, but Pattaya (and Phuket) are not "home games". These are western cities with fewer rules inside a Kingdom which for the most part does not want them there. The run of the mill Thai would like these two cities wiped off the map because they know what goes on there, though polticians do nothing as they understand the economic impact of "wiping out" the industry in these cities. Phuket has other attractions to offer, but neither would make the coin they do without prostitution, drugs and massively inflated real estate prices. It is these three vices which are the "keys to the city".

Prostitution is already a shared market within Pattaya (I have never been to Phuket so I cannot comment), with some eastern block and Russian women obviously doing more than "having a holiday in the sun".

Iranians have been caught multiple times importing large amounts of ya ba bringing the importation and pre-sale distribution of the product into question. At the ground level many of the "club managers" are either British or Russian.. so you figure out who pays who to sell drugs where.

Real Estate is still largely a "Thai game" being which foreigners cannot own land, however condo-orientated markets such as Pattaya, Phuket and Bangkok mean we can own, meaning Russians can own and already do so in a big way. You can expect to pay some sort of "tax" to build a condo block on prime property as is the case overseas, in the near future.

It is the drugs, prostitution and real estate markets which the red fellas have already mastered overseas which bring them here. Yes the Thais have controlled their market for the past 30 years or so, but the Russians have controlled a global market for the past 20 and have very smart minds planning 3-4 steps ahead of what will be done tomorrow.

[elenavp]

Russian mafia ))))))) booo.. who are they?! i've never seen them before even in Russia.. )) fear has big eyes, indeed.

[Naam]

Thumbs up to Pattaya Police . . . good to see they can actually do some real Police work every now and again.

"real police work" when called and told "a hit squad kidnapped my husband" ?

[MacWalen]

Pattaya never stops to amaze me. Interesting situation here. Angry customer wants to kill someone who cheated him. I was not aware though that you could hire hit men in Pattaya. That is too much. Did not know such scum lived in Pattaya. I wonder how severe will be the sentence.

[wooly]

"assuming the story is as it reads and the agent tried to screw the buyer, then he deserves what he had coming, cant stand thieves, con men and corruption"

So can we also 'assume' that you will be leaving Thailand?

[Tatsujin]

Thumbs up to Pattaya Police . . . good to see they can actually do some real Police work every now and again.

"real police work" when called and told "a hit squad kidnapped my husband" ?

Laughter.gif

Yup, "real" Police work also includes preventing crimes before they happen, not just solving them after the fact. That's what they did. Doesn't matter that it was simply a phone call to them to alert them to something happening. They got there in time to prevent something more tragic from happening. I call that "real" Police work.

[DLock]

Whilst I have no doubt that the Russian Mafia exists, these amateurs were certainly not part of them.

Mr Alexander buying a 4million baht condo isn't exactly a big-time Player, so his thugs were likely working for beer money.

...but the image of these clowns driving in the Honda with ski masks on is pretty funny.

[bitcoinbob]

stun guns and hammers are for torture, they were going to work on this guy to get more cash not a simple snatch and kill. the real estate agent was doing a lot of other shady deals . here is my question russian led hit team, why did them go so willing with the cops, hit team from south and central america would have shot up those thai cops like cardboard cut outs.

[robhufton]

So it was a Russian-led hit squad. Perhaps one Russki in charge and the rest a group of local 'foreigners'.

Hardly the'A' Team. Perhaps they forgot to employ a getaway driver and so got stuck in traffic.

Not like you see in the movies.

Now why did w not hire Jason Stathman to drive the car

or taken a Song Taew

[winstonc]

Thumbs up to Pattaya Police . . . good to see they can actually do some real Police work every now and again.

call me a cynic but theywere told by the wife,,you would expect them to catch those guys wouldnt you,even easier in traffic,,,,

[cup-O-coffee]

Credit to Pattaya Police. Seems like they are to be commended once in awhile instead of all the negative posts on ThaiVisa.

What concerns me is that Mr. Alexander "decided" to employ a hit squad. Who are these people? Do they have some confidential death directory containing numbers of evil people?

How in Hell does a Peruvian in Thailand get his fingers on a phone number for a Russian Death Squad, and who in Hell is this Khun Pongsatorn aged 40, a former member of the Thai Air Force? Is he the instigator of all this? If so, then it seems he needs to bear the brunt of this fiasco, rather than focusing on the mess that he created.

So my whole point leads to one Thai person whom I am certain is at the core of this. I am also certain that this former member of the (Royal) Thai Air Force is connected with the BIB, since he is given honorary mention in this. But we'll never know because he is Thai and a former member of the (Royal) Thai Air Force, which when translated means he will get off scott-free when he makes a few calls.

So I am back to being beggared and in respectful disagreement that these bums get any commendation for the very thing they cause by their corrupt behavior and apathetic approach to eliminating the criminal element when it is placed within their power to do so.

[robhufton]

who carries cocaine to a hit? i've never done that with my hits. i usually just carry pepsi and a bag of chips.

But yeah, he's from Peru, land of the Coffee

and Paddington Bear

[shaurene]

Hmmmn. Mr. Alexander knew where to get hired killer people?How?

So it is planned to buy a condo then kill the agent .

Maybe, balance of payment is paid to the hired killers instead of paying the condo in whole.

When Kisaloo was abducted, the title deeds might have handed to the killers already.

Who knows, let's say the balance is 2 million payable when the title is transfered but the hired killers

are paid maybe 1 million. So, Mr. Alexander still has million profit.

Where does it say about payments etc that you seem to know all about. If you know the right police in Pattaya they will or can arrange for the hit, fact.

[borisloosebrain]

I hope that their work permits were in order.

[sandmanth]

The Thais were warned about the russian influx,they chose to ignore the advice,like most of the smart Asian law enforcement agengies (They know best)Time to start thinning out the foreign mobsters or the Thailand we knew and loved will be no more.

[mrfill]

Russian mafia ))))))) booo.. who are they?! i've never seen them before even in Russia.. )) fear has big eyes, indeed.

I've been to Italy a few times and do you know, I've never seen groups of men in black shirts, white ties with tommy guns, so they too must not exist.

Are you expecting them to be dressed in hammer and sickle t-shirts with M A F I A S K I printed on the back?

[aechzen]

how many they killed before ?

[britinthai]

Thumbs up to Pattaya Police . . . good to see they can actually do some real Police work every now and again.

I agree thumbs up for the police.

Now let's look at the situation; if it was foreigner trying to call the police (No chance whatsoever) the hit squad would be well gone and the guy would be simply reported as missing.

Edited June 25, 2013 by britinthai

[britinthai]

Russian mafia ))))))) booo.. who are they?! i've never seen them before even in Russia.. )) fear has big eyes, indeed.

what a crock of crap