Police raid Brooklyn’s illegal poker dens

Eight gangsters have this week appeared in court following a series of raids where police cracked an illegal Russian poker ring in New York City.

Eight men thought to be related to the Russian Mafia have this week appeared in the Brooklyn Federal Court accused of running an underground illegal poker network where people were supposedly playing at $150,000 per hand.

Nine men were originally arrested after seeing their gaming ring busted by federal agents following a series of successful raids, however one alleged mobster is still on the run.

The gang are thought to have close ties to a Russian group known as Thieves in Law and stand accused of making millions of dollars through a combination of racketeering, extortion, illegal gambling, and drug trafficking in numerous Brooklyn locations in the Russian communities around Coney Island and Brighton Beach.

Thieves in Law

The term thieves in law, dates back to the 30s and was originally linked to prison gangs, including ex-KGB soldiers that followed a strict code of surviving only by criminal means.

Today, however, this has largely changed with rules going unfollowed as the name now mainly refers to major crime groups, notorious across Eastern Europe and known collectively as the Russian Mafia.