Feds Nab Reputed Russian Mob Boss Involved In Murder-For-Hire Plot

Federal authorities busted a reputed Russian mob boss last week for allegedly threatening to kill a businessman if he did not beat a $100,000 bounty on his head.

Boris Nayfeld, 68, who reportedly headed a heroin trafficking ring out of Brighton Beach and has been associated with gangland murders, was arrested Thursday outside a Brooklyn restaurant, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. His co-conspirator in the case, 68-year-old Boris Kotlyarsky, a Sheepshead Bay resident, was also taken into custody, authorities say.

The two men allegedly told the victim, who operates an international shipping business in Newark, that another businessman had offered Nayfeld $100,000 for the hit. Kotlyarsky broke the news to the victim at a Brooklyn restaurant in late October and arranged to set up a meeting with Nayfeld — who would tell the rival businessman to get lost if the victim could beat his price and pay $125,000, according to an FBI deposition.

The victim later alerted law enforcement about the threat. And authorities monitored meetings between the men for several months, through recording devices and by eavesdropping on cell phone calls, before making the arrests, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

The FBI also coordinated with the NYPD to investigate the case. In a press release sent out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, police commissioner Bill Bratton called the extortion plot a “thuggish story” that “seems like a yarn made only in Hollywood.”

Nayfeld was arrested after receiving the first payment from the victim ($50,000). An FBI agent said in a deposition that Nayfeld “uttered an expletive and tore up the check” when authorities arrived. Kotlyarsky was arrested on the same day while leaving another Brooklyn restaurant.

Both men were arraigned in Manhattan Federal Court on Friday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They were charged with extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion.

Nayfeld has a reputation as an infamous Russian mob boss. In 2008, his former son-in-law was given a life sentence after being found guilty of two murders that occurred in Brighton Beach during the early 90s, according to the Daily News. Prosecutors alleged the murders were carried out to impress Nayfeld.

The New York Times reports that Nayfeld is believed to have overseen a vast heroin empire in the Russian-speaking immigrant enclave.

Nayfeld now lives in Staten Island, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.