Since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the power of organised crime has increased to such an extent that, via violent crime, it now exercises a stranglehold on the Russian economy. And now its influence isspreadingaroundthe world at an alarming rate. Kevin Connolly investigates the dangers posed bythis new threat and discovers that Russian organised crime may be the biggest criminal danger facing the west in the next few decades. He tracks the Russian gangsters as far afield as the USA and Israel, and reveals that billions of dollars are being laundered through western banks, the by-products of Russian involvement in drug trafficking, prostitution and a series of massive bank frauds.