Roughed up in Russia

At one point, weren't we all wondering what poor old John le Carre would write about now that the Cold War went kaput? Quickly, though, a new form of diabolical Russian rose to the forefront: the Russian mafia was birthed at once, in toto, complete with cute and tiny black Armani suits and slick shades. Turns out these heavies are easily subdued with a business card from "a middle-aged Moscow bank director who loves Kurt Vonnegut" and what you really got to worry about are the shake-downs to your mom-and-pop store courtesy of Pres. Putin's goons.