Opinion ID: 6330595
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Marijuana Trafficking

Text: Syndicate members also ran an illegal marijuana distribution business. Gershman began the business with Malkeyev and Eric Bobritsky in 2010 or 2011. Gershman and Malkeyev operated the business at the high level: purchasing marijuana from wholesalers, hiring and firing drug runners, and keeping track of the books. To maximize profits, Gershman and Malkeyev would buy marijuana from different suppliers depending on who was offering the best price and quality. Tsvetkov was one of the top suppliers for the business. To sell the product, Malkeyev would bag the marijuana for retail sale and Bobritsky would then deliver it to buyers. Gershman and Malkeyev also employed drug runners to distribute the marijuana, paying these runners around $40,000 per year and supplying them with cars equipped with secret compartments to store marijuana and cash. All these efforts led to a lucrative business: Gershman, Malkeyev, and Bobritsky each made around $5,000 per month. Because the marijuana business was so profitable, Gershman, Malkeyev, and Bobritsky protected it with violence. After discovering that two members of a rival criminal organization stole cash and marijuana from their stash house, 7 Gershman set up a meeting with one of the suspected thieves, Misha Arazyev. Gershman, Tsvetkov, and Malkeyev then met Arazyev on a busy street in Brooklyn. When the conversation between Gershman and Arazyev went south, Gershman hit Arazyev and Malkeyev pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Arazyev. Arazyev tried to run away, but Gershman, Tsvetkov, and Malkeyev chased him down, with Tsvetkov directing Malkeyev to shoot (which Malkeyev did not do). When they caught Arazyev, Gershman and Tsvetkov beat Arazyev, and Tsvetkov then repeatedly pistol-whipped him with Malkeyev’s gun. Besides profits and violence, the marijuana business was a venture involving close friends—Gershman considered Bobritsky and Malkeyev “family.” Id. at 1561. And so when someone caused (in Gershman’s mind) issues between the three men, Gershman did not take kindly to it. A long-time cocaine dealer, Leonid Kotovnikov, gossiped about tension among Gershman, Malkeyev, and Bobritsky over pay. Gershman swiftly extorted Kotovnikov for $10,000 for “mess[ing] up his family” by telling Kotovnikov that he knew where he lived and where his wife slept and that Kotovnikov “didn’t want any altercations with him.” Id. at 1560-61. Gershman also extorted Kotovnikov for money when Kotovnikov briefly hired Bobritsky to work for his cocaine business. 8