There is evidence that some are involved in drug trafficking and illegal arms trading. Fears in the West get stirred up by reports of what is happening in Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet empire. Here the criminal world indeed appears to be taking over. The conditions were right for this to happen. Russian bureaucrats have always been corruptible, and Russian criminals have always been ready to bribe and threaten.
Brutality is commonplace in Russian culture.
And the division between criminals and the rest of society has never been clear. Russia is the place where for 75 years anyone could suddenly end up in prison. Enter the Russian mafia. They use it loosely to apply to almost anyone engaged in suspicious or criminal activity. But there is no question that real criminal activity is going on.