Marat Balagula
| Marat Balagula | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 September 1943 Chkalov, USSR (now Orenburg, Russia) |
| Nationality | Russian American/Ukrainian American |
| Other names | The Russian Tony Soprano |
| Occupation | Mobster, mob boss |
| Criminal charge | Gasoline bootlegging |
| Criminal status | Released in 2004 |
| Spouse(s) | Natalia Shevchenko (mistress) |
| Parent(s) | Yakov Balagula (father), Zinaida Balagula (mother) |
| Allegiance |
Russian Mafia American Mafia Lucchese crime family |
| Conviction(s) | 10 years in federal prison |
Marat Yakovlevich Balagula (Russian: Марат Яковлевич Балагула; born September 8, 1943) is a Russian American former mob boss and associate of the Lucchese crime family.
Marat Balagula was born in 1943 in Orenburg, a Russian city, at the height of World War II. His mother, Zinaida, fled with the children from their home in Odessa after the German Wehrmacht swept across the Russian steppes. Marat's father, Jakov, was a lieutenant in the Red Army;
In 1977, Balagula decided to move his family to the United States under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. At first he worked as a textile cutter in Washington Heights, Manhattan for $3.50 per hour. His wife Alexandra later reminisced, "It was hard for us, with no language, no money."
In the aftermath of Agron's murder, Balagula took over as the most powerful Russian gangster in Brooklyn. According to a former Suffolk County, New York, prosecutor, however, there was another side to Balagula. "Everybody in Brighton Beach talked about Balagula in hushed tones. These were people who knew him from the Old Country. They were really, genuinely scared of this guy."
After the Colombo crime family began shaking down his gasoline business, Balagula asked for a sitdown with Lucchese crime family consigliere Christopher Furnari at Brooklyn's 19th Hole social club. According to Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, who was a Lucchese soldier present at the meeting, Furnari declared,
In the aftermath, New York's Five Families imposed a two cent per gallon "Family tax" on Balagula's bootlegging operation, which became their greatest moneymaker after drug trafficking. According to one former associate,
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