Evsei Agron

Evsei Agron (died May, 1985) was a New York mobster and boss of Brooklyn's Russian Mafia during the early 1980s.

Immigrating to the United States in 1975, Agron had gained control of criminal operations in a predominantly Russian-Jewish neighborhood of Brooklyn's Brighton Beach by the end of the decade as well as controlling other major Russian-American communities in the United States. Agron, a highly intelligent person and a specialist in extortion and blackmail, soon organized a motor fuel racket which would earn millions, if not billions, through fuel tax fraud. This type of fraud, which involved selling tax-free home heating oil as diesel fuel, eventually cost the state of New Jersey alone an estimated $1 billion annually in lost tax revenues. [New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. [http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/russian.pdf "Russian-Emigre Crime in the Tri-State Region"] ]

Contrary to many stories of Agron that portray him in a very bad light, he helped out many families in the booming Russian immigration of the late 70's and 80's by getting families cheap housing, and helping in many other ways. Agron was originally from Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. Agron also had many friends from all walks of life, from musicians to doctors and lawyers. Agron was well known in the Russian community spanning throughout Brooklyn. Agron's success, however, would soon lead to both increasing competition and unwanted attention from the underworld as the Gambino crime family allegedly soon became partners in Agron's organization whose superior manpower could control the "no brand" distribution and retail markets.

However, as other mobsters closed in on the operation, a rival organization began expanding its own criminal operations under Boris Goldberg (who, in 1989, would be charged under the RICO Act for drug trafficking, armed robbery, extortion, arms dealing and attempted murder). [Gordon, Mark. [http://www.publications.villanova.edu/Concept/2003/Gordon%20Formatted%20Paper.htm "Ideas Shoot Bullets: How the RICO Act Became a Potent Weapon in the War Against Organized Crime"] ] One theory out of many is that Goldberg attempted to take Agron's place as the dominant figure in the Russian-American underworld: Goldberg's gunmen, after stalking him for over a year, severely wounded him in an attempt on his life in January 1984, before his death in May 1985. Agron was murdered while waiting for the elevator on the sixth floor of his building early in the morning by a gunman who shot him in the back of the head. The gunman approached Agron from behind, coming from a stairwell directly opposite the elevator. Prior to his murder, there were two other attempts on his life, in which he was wounded but survived. The first attempt was on the boardwalk in Brighton beach, the second was in the parking garage of his building on his birthday.

Although Agron's murder remains unsolved, possible suspects may have been one or several of Agron's lieutenants or members of New York's Five Families attempting to eliminate him from the gas market rackets. In the aftermath of Agron's murder, the neighborhood rackets were taken over by Marat Balagula, a former black marketeer, who soon took the remnants of Agron's crew in gasoline bootlegging. During Goldberg's trial, he had denied conspiracy charges for Agron's death. Agron's final resting place is in a cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.

References

*Sifakis, Carl. "The Mafia Encyclopedia". New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3