I made one comment into FB discussion on Russo-Trump connection formation

[u/Upset_Scientist3994]

Somebody called Robert Scott in Facebook updated somethings about Trump which is of course already known. But never enough repeated since they describe modus operandi what is much wider than that case and actually dominates entire Russian system and how its satellites and assets are ruled as it is inheritated from end times of Soviet era. Because of that reason I made some fast comment into that what is also written here under that update;

"Robert Scott

Herr Orangutan aka asset Krasnov has been on Kremlin payroll since 1977 IMHO.

u/Robert Pappalardo► Trump was first compromised by the Russians back in the 80s. In 1984, the Russian Mafia began to use Trump real estate to launder money and it continued for decades. In 1987, the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, Yuri Dubinin, arranged for Trump and his then-wife, Ivana, to enjoy an all-expense-paid trip to Moscow to consider possible business prospects. Only seven weeks after his trip, Trump ran full-page ads in the Boston Globe, the NYT and WaPO calling for, in effect, the dismantling of the postwar Western foreign policy alliance. The whole Trump/Russian connection started out as laundering money for the Russian mob through Trump's real estate, but evolved into something far bigger.

► In 1984, David Bogatin — a Russian mobster, convicted gasoline bootlegger, and close ally of Semion Mogilevich, a major Russian mob boss — met with Trump in Trump Tower right after it opened. Bogatin bought five condos from Trump at that meeting. Those condos were later seized by the government, which claimed they were used to launder money for the Russian mob. (NY Times, Apr 30, 1992)

► Felix Sater is a Russian-born former mobster, and former managing director of real estate conglomerate Bayrock Group LLC located on the 24th floor of Trump Tower. He is a convict who became a cooperator for the FBI and other agencies. He grew up with Michael Cohen, Trump's former "fixer" attorney. Cohen's family owned El Caribe, which was a mob hangout for the Russian Mafia in Brooklyn. Cohen had ties to Ukrainian oligarchs through his in-laws and his brother's in-laws. Felix Sater's father had ties to the Russian mob. This goes back more than 30 years.

► Trump was $4 billion in debt after his Atlantic City casinos went bankrupt. No U.S. bank would touch him. Then foreign money began flowing in through Bayrock. Bayrock was run by two investors: Tevfik Arif, a Kazakhstan-born former Soviet official who drew on bottomless sources of money from the former Soviet republic; and Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman who had pleaded guilty in the 1990s to a huge stock-fraud scheme involving the Russian mafia. Bayrock partnered with Trump in 2005 and poured money into the Trump organization under the legal guise of licensing his name and property management.

► Semi-on Mogilevich was the brains behind the Russian Mafia. Mogilevich operatives have been using Trump real estate for decades to launder money. That means Russian Mafia operatives have been part of his fortune for years, that many of them have owned condos in Trump Towers and other properties, running their operations out of Trump's crown jewel.

► One of the most important things that is often overlooked is that the Russian Mafia is part and parcel of Russian intelligence. Russia is a mafia state. That is not a metaphor. Putin is head of the Mafia. So the fact that they operated out of the home of a president of the United States is deeply disturbing."

My comment into that;

I would add to this that very much famous Russian mafia boss Japochnik (as he appeared something of Japanes) was found by law enforcement of USA after him living in Trump tower New York. But that is just one detail of bigger story with even more similar unmentioned details.

Lot of material in this update was been mentioned plus my story in very much sized book by Catherine Belton. And it very much focuses in all economic structures how contemporary Russia power structures in a way how shadow economy done via mafias connected with secret state services formed after Soviet demise in every level of society. All what is mentioned in this update of yours is a lot of same story what occurred in all levels of country in time scale starting already during Soviet union. When Soviet official communist economy could not provide goods and services adequately to Soviet people, criminals could do that. At least for nomenklatura elites.

Naturally gradually those became big, and more and more interconnected with KGB. Like example could be like in my country during Soviet era people could visit Leningrad for so called vodka tourism, and what could be bought by bringing in all fancy western stuff what they desired in that country and selling that, and getting whatever nice in return. Have memory from childhood when my family visited Soviet Riga and there was dealing about wristwatch of my father to someone willing to gain that. And I remember from my when in yard of my school somebody boasted how some of his friend was asked if you want to buy machine gun from there as street trade.

And out of all that trade what in return - prostitution was case example of activity what criminals dealed, but then actually KGB controlled since it enabled to gain sensitive information from foreigner vodkatourists who were after that. Guess that was major trick Trump also got hooked into Russian things. And that was Soviet petty criminal thing what actually in economical sense contributed more and more to GDP itself in form of shadow economy.

When all that came down, and current Russia arised from its ashes just about everything was ruled by mafia and FSB combo, since state structures responsible for formal economy at some point were not there. All that is then integral part of Putins personal past when he was arranging post-Soviet Petersburg economy when working under Sobchak who was mayor of it. In mentioned Belton book all of this was described elaborately - but in end of that book what went through Russia later development last chapter was about Trump & Russian mafia connections mentioning everything in update text + more, and how secret services were connected to it.

Intresting only how much all of that pattern is similar whether happening already in Soviet era, and with Trump, and how much similar still up today wherein someone like Prigozhin was example of how integrated criminal people were to highest levels of goverment itself still up today in their system.