In any revolution there is a potential for those that displace the former government to be as corrupt or more so than their predecessors. Such a phenomena has occurred in Russia where Communism and its modus operandi of corruption seems to have been replaced in the 1990s by the Mafia whose modus operandi is even more corrupt and detrimental to free markets and democracy. In his book Comrade Criminal, Stephen Handelman, a Moscow Bureau Chief for The Toronto Star from 1987 to 1992, assesses the situation through his interviews conducted with mobsters, police, political officials, nouveau riche and average citizens. The book reveals that the Mafia has basically risen to power through methods that were nearly identical to those of Communist leaders. They employ democratic rhetoric, put up a democratic façade, use the KGB and control through coercion political officials, the press, the courts, private enterprise and the people. The loss of Communist power resulted in a void of leadership for the New Russia which was formulated around Perestroika’s values of free markets, replacing old Party bosses with more capable leaders, and adjusting politics to realities. However, the Mafia would achieve all these goals in ways that Gorbachev never envisioned. The void in leadership allowed a much more organized and effective leadership to emerge, one based on crime, coercion and corruption-the Mafiya. The Mafiya was alive and well in Russia before the collapse of Communism. However, after the collapse the corrupt bureaucrats and KGB members were joined by con men, smugglers, and others who generated large sums of personal wealthy through illegal activity ranging from white collar crime to traditional gang violence and warfare, “In the post-Communist era [the Mafiya] took on a fourth, more sinister, meaning, which reflected the helplessness most Russians felt in response to the new forces that ruled their lives. This new Mafiya reflected...