Trivia

McMafia is a book by Misha Glenny about global crime written ten years ago. Many crimes/scams of the book have been included in the television series but it is the Russian chapters that formed the basis for the programme. Certain characters are based on real people and real events. The name McMafia refers to the way criminal syndicates would 'lend' the use of their name to smaller criminal gangs for a fee (such as a small Russian gang using the 'chechyn mafia' name to make intimidation and extortion easier because of the Chechyn mob's feared reputation) This is where the 'franchising' idea like that of McDonald's relates to 'McMafia'. See more