Russian criminal gangs are rarely formed along ethnic lines. Within the post-Soviet criminal world there exist a multitude of strong ethnic criminal gangs who often cooperate with each other regardless of ethnic origin.[40] The strongest, most well-represented groups are the following:
Russian criminal groups[edit]
These mostly consist of both Slavic as well as
Jewish criminals. The most well-known of these gangs is the Solntsevskaya Bratva.[41]
Chechen criminal groups[edit]
The Chechen mafia has long held an important place in the Russian criminal underworld.[42]
...
Also during the 1970s and 1980s, the United States expanded its immigration policies,
allowing Soviet Jews and criminals to enter the country, with most settling in a southern Brooklyn area known as Brighton Beach (sometimes nicknamed as "Little Odessa"). Here is where Russian organized crime began in the US.[4][8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia