First hand experiences of the Mafia in Poland

Has anyone here in Poland had any first hand experiences of dealing with the Mafia? Alternatively, do you know anyone who has had any experiences in dealing with them? I'm considering setting up my own business in either Krakow or Warsaw (a bar/pub/cafe/restaurant type venture) and was wondering if I am likely to find myself having to deal with the Mafia at some point??

ive had plenty of experiences with the polish mafia, from snorting columbian marching powder in back rooms of clubs whilst doors were guarded by men with guns to having cars teefed and making phone calls to the well connected to have them returned, promptly, and with full tanks of gas

like most organised crime, brawn rules over brain

It's highly unlikely unless you're planning to be involved in drugs, money laundering or prostitution.

i know of somebody who was looking at a pub premises in krakow and the seller was the local mafia, who when he met him was accompanied by a minder and bullet proof car (apparently would have put an episode of the sopranos to shame!!). i dont know anything more than that though.

Certainly don't intend on being but thanks for the heads up! Do protection rackets exist over here at all?

Hello Jay,

I understand why you asked your question but it is phrased in a way that will get a lot of macho talk from some people.


They can hardly be called ''protection rackets'' but most commercial companies hire private security companies, such as Justus, on the market square, they don't cost much.

None of my friends who own bars or restaurants have come across this here in Krakow.

A lot of chat gets made about it. Mostly by bar owners who don't want the competition. Best guy to talk to is Tom, he owns Nic Nowego, he's honest enough....most of the time;)


I used this company for my flat in Wielicka. 50pln per month and they always came out to do "tours" of the grounds.

Do you actually need security? We've never paid it on our building.

Cheers Sean, good to know - seen many of these guys touring the city so will check it out.


Funnily enough was thinking of popping in there and having a word with him over the weekend. Cheers.

I'm getting the impression that the mafia presence in Poland isn't that prominent. From what I can make out, they seem to have their own business interests and for the most part do their own thing. I was expecting to hear stories of arson attacks, extorsion etc, or maybe I've just watched too many mob movies. However, I guess I could still be wrong - don't want to be naive about things if I do decide to set up shop.

Just be careful and take precautions....now where have I heard that before?? ;)

There are some mafias operating in Eastern Poland but are more of an outgrowth of Russian mafias and their influence along old Soviet lines of commerce which will stretch around Poland, usually out of hotels and estates not far from the areas where multiple borders meet. The rackets include trafficking in vehicles stolen in Germany then altered for shipment on further to Russia. They are mostly controlled by former KGB operatives and their descendents. They are not actually "Polish" mafia, but will employ Poles, especially along the Polish/German border where Polish handlers are employed by the Russians to get mafia goods through to Russia. On illicit exports from Russia, the Russians will handle their own affairs.

There are also some business protection rackets run by the Russian mob in the Suwalki area. My grandmother tried to open up a series of cosmetic distributorships there and was run out of business by those people who were demanding far too much money as extortion to remain in business. The extortion rackets were done in the form of mandatory "loans" and merchandise which was understood never to get paid for, as "requested gift samples" and such, which was then pipelined to Russian street retailers in Russia. We got the strong impression that a lot of retail distributorships were hustled in a similar fashion, which is one reason large scale retailers have had difficulty in the region. Other thefts have involved extortion of wholesale goods from shipping warehouses and truck depots.

The Russians are apparently shunned and feared because they are regularly believed to be armed, but will interact through various local proxies who claim they are being "forced" to do the bidding of the Russians. I think in some of these instances, many of those people are committing the crimes on their own and are not being "forced" by any Russians, with the story of the Russians being used to scare people away from pursuing justice. Yes the Russian government connected mafias are active there, but I think their power is exaggerated to "boogeyman" levels, and locals seem entirely afraid to defy them except by complaining to police with complaints which go largely disregarded because of the sophistication of the situation. One thing to understand is the Poles in Poland seem to lack the kind of vigilante mindset which is common in America.

The further east one goes, the greater the theft and extortion gets, with the rackets involving larger scale theft of retail merchandise, truck hijackings and checkpoint robberies. The dominance of the Russian oriented mafias remains largely unchallenged and they are known to employ corrupt government officials, especially low level police. Higher level police in turn will extort money FROM the mafias.

The Hells Angels are very active in Poland, but are seen as almost a nationalist organization.

A Radwan
"The further east one goes, the greater the theft and extortion gets, with the rackets involving larger scale theft of retail merchandise, truck hijackings and checkpoint robberies."

I've lived in the eastern borderlands for 14 years, and what you describe sounds like you're mixed up with some other place. How much personal experience do you have of living in eastern Poland?

There isn't much mafia left in Poland anymore... That was more of a post Communism, early to mid 90's type of phenomenon, at least in Poland.. There use to be some groups around Warsaw (Pruszkow and Wolomin) but many of those groups are now defunct...

Most of the criminal activity is based around car theft, especially German cars, and drug trafficking (mainly amphetamines/methamphetamine for domestic consumption and export to other local EU countries)...

The likelihood that you'll have to pay a protection tax is slim to none especially if you're in a good area or in the town square... Don't sell drugs, illegal cigs/booze out of your places and you'll be good... Also, criminal types tend to stick to places, people and things they know - the likelihood that a gang is going to set up shop at the new pub in town is rather low..

Somebody extremely wealthy and well connected, who should know, assured me in a sober and believable fashion that (allegedly) the Krakow mafia are the boys in blue.

As to the previous poster's comments about Krakow pubs and restaurants, said acquaintance is in commercial development

Never had any problems with the mafia. Yet.

I didnt also for the last 15 years or so,again I never dealt or did anything illegal either

I Am still having to deal with Post traumatic stress due to dealing with the Krakow 'mafia'. Your friend is right. The mafia are the boys in blue and Justus are involved along with some unscrupulous owners of entertainment businesses. I can't find a job, my life is in ruins.This was 7 years ago. I still can't get the right treatment.

Do you mean cops?

Jawohl.

Yes Justus private security firm and some bars off Karmeliska who did an insurance job after extorting money off me after i complained about racist abuse towards me were involved in brutalizing me. I was beaten within an inch of my life. I woke and the cops were trying to strangle me having me strapped up all night. I paid the extortion fee to the cops and they said if i paid the money -it was around 2,3 thousand slotys it was as if nothing had happened. No body believed me or listened to me after that. I complained numerous times and went Haliny Niec human right lawyer s and even the student law societies but that summer i was working in the Med so i could n't get the report in.

Maybe Nessa and Nicola, who attend Polish language school in Polonicum, on Monday and Wednesday nights, are Polish mafia. They arent Polish, in fact Nicola is a black lady, but they are in Poland, and they are crooks, and they are rich, but dont work. Nicola has lied about various government positions - including being a teacher at the English school at the British Embassy (which doesn't exist) , and attending a private event at the Jamaican Embassy (but the consul general doesn't recognize her) and being a CIA agent, but it is highly unlikely that the CIA would send an agent to a party to tyranize 3 yr and call voyeurism and molestation "standard procedure", and say its not a crime because she took off her clothes herself (after they thrwatened to kill her.) Even if the CIA would do something like that, the agent would not go back to school afterwards and laugh at the victim and say "We raped you!" As if it were a joke, and then nervously comment, "You were heavy! Thats why I couldnt kill someone. I used to think i might kill someone, but it would be too hard to, you know..." Im sure if the CIA killed someone, they would have no problem disposing of the body. It is more likely that they are affiliated with the sex trafgicking division of the mafia. Maybe not the Polish one. But that was the last time I'll ever try to befreind a mail order bride! There were many evil things that happened at their party and I cant even remember everything because of the absynth and who knows. I used to feel sorry for mail order brides until i saw how superficial and sociopathic they could be. All they care about is money and sadistic pleasure, so whats the harm in them marrying some sexist pig so they can torture each other mutually?

very strange post that - if you are talking about 3 year olds being abused then the best person to go to is the police.

Rest of the post looks like a pretty good party - if you take drink and drugs then then that is your problem if you can't remember things or do things you regret.

Jeśli myślisz że to jest "pretty good party" why don't you zadzwonić do CIA and get permission od nich aby do it at one of your own parties, to an unsuspecting adult who goes there to have fun on New Yrs Eve. (703) 482-0623 is their number. Na pewno, they would love to hear about whatever it is that makes you think its a "pretty good party".

Ponglish isn't official language on this forum - use must use English

Hey - I did not know the CIA had a hotline ? But are these guys Polish or Italian or Jamaican ?

And even more to the point, why on earth would anyone want to involve the CIA, some sort of American thing, about the Mafia in Poland?

The mafia isn't as powerful as it use to be in Poland during the 1990's. Now the closest thing to a mafia would be a couple of dealers that pool resources to get a better deal from a supplier or perhaps a family that's all involved in amphetamine production and distribution. Poland supplies a ton of amphetamines and is increasingly growing more marijuana - for both the domestic market and abroad. Poland use to get most of it's quality marijuana from Holland and Germany but now that's changing as more people learned how to grow properly.

However, in terms of like a what we think of as a mafia - like the Italians in the US and Italy, that doesn't really exist in Poland anymore.

Merged:

An interview: Polish Mafis Pruszkow and life 86-2004 in Warsaw

This interview is great if you understand Polish.They talk to a guy who luckily escaped any profecution I believe or RICO type of act and was involved in the scene inwarsaw or knew the major players and just howdefensive he gets and how he tried to cover his tracks in the i terview just goesto show how fuke dup Poland was and depe the scene got at onepoint.They even talk about handel z żywym towarem or human trafficking/sex dolla, etc. and how politicians were dead or missing with no i for arion up to this day exactly how and whenand the top of Polish SB or defense mi istry having an ok on murders (he argues agaisnt this but Massa claims it happened). It was like wildwest like Moscow or something it seems at one point. They even mentioned how youngsters would stand in front of kantors in late 80s before it blew up:

youtu.be/yC7NgMxU-7I

I mean to kill politicians, top level special forces involved in oking murders? car bo bs?lol and Poland being west like you people on here claim or being more similar to france than kiev?

lolat putitng ukraine, baltics, moldova, romania and russia down with such a history of your own.
Its also funny how Polaks point fingers at others i. europe and talk crap about the ukrainian immigrants when they are looked the same or worse abroad.