Potato_Bag_Gang Knowpia

The Potato Bag Gang, a manifestation of the Odesa mafia,^[1] was a gang of con artists from Odesa that operated in New York City's Soviet émigré community in the Brighton Beach area of New York City in the mid-1970s.^[2]

Criminal activity edit

Posing as merchant sailors, they would offer to sell victims bags full of antique gold rubles for thousands of dollars each. In reality, only the sample coin was authentic, and the bags were full of potatoes.^[3]

References edit

^ Orleck, Annelise; Elizabeth Cooke (1999). The Soviet Jewish Americans. Greenwood Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-313-30074-5. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
^ Blumenthal, Ralph (04 June 1989). "Soviet Émigré Mob Outgrows Brooklyn, and Fear Spreads", The New York Times.
^ Manning, George A. (1999). Financial Investigation and Forensic Accounting. CRC Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-8493-0435-4. Retrieved 2008-09-13.

Summary

Criminal activity edit

See also edit

References edit

Further reading edit