Russian Mafia Bosses: LUDWIG 'TARZAN' FAINBERG

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Ludwig 'Tarzan' Fainberg (on the picture, Tarzan is the man on the right, with the long full hair.) was the Russian Mafia leader of South Florida. He started like every other Russian gangster with extortion and fraud and made it to the big time when he began shipping cocaine for the Colombian Drug Cartels. Tarzan wasn't a real tough gangster, he wasn't even really working with the backing of a major Family but he cornered the market just a bit faster than the rest and used his cocaine money well, supplying the Colombians with Russian helicopters and one time even trying to get them a nice Russian army submarine.....

Tarzan was born in Russia, Odessa, in 1958. At age 3 his family moved to Tsjernovich where he grew up. Here he sang in a national boys choir and trained as a boxer for the Russian army untill in 1972 at age 13 the family moved again, this time to their homeland (they were Russian Jews) Israel. In Israel Tarzan got his nickname when he jumped from a building to get some attention. Eventually he joined the Israeli Marines and tried to become a Navy Seal but didn't get through basic training. He then wanted to become an army officer but failed the examn.

In 1980 Tarzan moved to East Berlin where he joined up with some of his Russian friends and joined a crew which was involved in creditcard fraud and extortion. The crew was heade by the notorious Efim Laskin (a guy who sold weapons to the Red Brigade). From him Tarzan got thew assignment to shake down a Berliner banker. Tarzan and 2 others went to the bank and pushed the guy in the trunk of their car and threatened him with death if he wouldn't pay, the guy told them he couldn't get the money now but would have it at closing time, Tarzan and the others 2 men waited in the car. After a while Tarzan stepped out to take a walk and smoke a cigarette when all of a sudden 4 Mercedes Benzes pulled up beside the car (which now only held the 2 other guys). A bunch of other Russian gangsters stepped out of the car and gave the 2 men a hell of a beating, the banker was off limits just like so much else in Eastern Europe. Fearing for his life and wanting some more free workspace Tarzan decided to go to America.

Tarzan settled in Brighton Beach. It wasn't the paradise he had hoped for. According to him it was like the wild west and he carried a gun at all times. Pretty soon Tarzan had it made, not by doing any crimes but by marrying a Russian Mafia princess who's grandfather, ex husband and brother in law all were Russian gangsters and all went by the same nickname: psycho. Eventhough all these men were doing crime Tarzan didn't, he wasn't allowed to by his wife. She wanted him home and live off the money from her ex husband who was doing 7 years in a German prison for extortion. His wife bought him expensive suits, took him out to diner and watched soap operas with him.

He felt like a pussy and decided that her Family wasn't gonna do anything if he would also do some crime and so Tarzan joined another Russian gangster named Grecia Roizes, their families had close ties and they were born in the same place. Roizes had done a 3 year prison term in a Siberian prison because he had hit a man so hard the guys belly fell open through a recent operation scar. Now Roizes was the head of the most feared crew in Brighton Beach. He had furniture stores in New York, Italy and Russia that were fronts for a heroine ring used by the Russian Mafia, the Gambino Crime Family and the Genovese Crime Family. Tarzan started to work in one of these stores. One day an old lady was treated rude by one of the young thugs who worked their and Tarzan stepped in and offered the old woman free furniture. The next day a muscular Italian man walked into the store, he introduced himself as Frankie and he said that the old lady from the day before was his mother and that if Tarzan ever needed anything he should call him. Frankie said he owed him and Tarzan just had to call and Frankie would take care of it. And Tarzan did, Tarzan was impressed by the power the guy showed. Later in 1987 Tarzan read the newspaper and finally learned the full name of the guy who was now dead, Frank Santora a made member of the Colombo Crime Family.

In 1990 Tarzan moved to Florida. Florida attracted many Russians who either had money to spend or money to make. Ex KGB agents and other ex government officials settled and bought entire buildings with money taken when the Sovjet Union collapsed. In South Florida Tarzan opened his club 'Porky's', 'Porky's' became a meetingplace for Russian gangsters. Tarzan also was in the drugs business by this time, he had hennep fields in the everglades with an landingstrip for airplanes included. Soon the hennep wasn't big enough and Tarzan moved on to cocaine setting up links with Colombian drug cartels. Business was booming and the money came flowing in, Tarzan was top dog in Florida.

Tarzan's favorite thing was extortion but right there in 2nd place was humiliating women. Tarzan would beat them, sexually assault them and on one occasion he chased a stripper down the street, beat her up and made her eat stones.

It didn't matter, Tarzan made so much money he could get away with anything. His Russian connections also served him well. In 1993 Tarzan and his Colombian friends bought 6 M18 Russian Helicopters for $1 million dollars a piece. The Colombians would tear out the seats so they had more room for the drugs. Later they were beginning negotiations to buy a Russian army submarine. They bought the whole thing including crew, the submarine cost them $5,5 million dollars but before the deal went through.....he was arrested in Florida.

When business went good for Tarzan the F.B.I. noticed and they started looking into his past and his friends. They didn't really have anything on him and he wasn't a guy who was easy to follow traveling to Colombia and Russia a lot of the time. But then the feds got a break. Tarzans friend Roizes (who by this time went by the nickname 'The Cannibal' because he bit off someones nose when the guy insulted him) decided to flip and help the F.B.I. so he could get some time out of prison. Tarzan trusted Roizes to the fullest and told him much about his business, Tarzan liked to talk about his business it made him feel big and tough. It made him feel real tough untill the feds arrested him and on October 17 1999 Tarzan was convicted on RICO charges and deported back to Israel. But Tarzan had nothing bad to say about America: "I love America, it's so easy to steal something here, I think I'm going to Cuba now, a few of my Russian friends have hotels there I'm gonna get rich.....".