Crime

The gangsters on England's doorstep

The speed with which Russia and its satellite countries had been opened up to the market after the Soviet collapse – dismantling the command economy before any safety nets were set up, privatising resources before any civic and democratic institutions had developed – created a huge gap between the wealthiest and the rest of the population. As the communist state disappeared, organised crime flourished, while the wider economy floundered. “Outside Riga, factories closing. It’s like dying land, that’s why people look to other countries,” Mezals said. So he contacted his old friend Valujevs, bought a Ryanair ticket and left Latvia.