As soon as the poster appeared in the perestroika display window on Gorky Street in downtown Moscow, passersby paused to stare and snicker. The hulking, black silhouette shown atop an awards stand was unmistakably that of Leonid Brezhnev, bushy eyebrows and all. But in place of his numerous military ribbons, the deceased Soviet leader wore a row of stripes labeled CORRUPTION, EMBEZZLEMENT, GRAFT and MONEYGRUBBING. The lower tiers of the stand, two caricatured gangsters -- one American, the other Italian -- stared up at Brezhnev with apparent surprise. The caption beneath the cartoon said it all: SO, MAFIOSO, YOU FINALLY "DIG"...
Crime Inc. Comes to Moscow
A sensational trial spotlights the new Mafioski
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