Australian Bookie Forced to Pay Russian Mafia

AUSTRALIA As reported by the Northern Territory News: "A Northern Territory bookmaker has paid tens of thousands of dollars to the Russian mafia to stop them ruining his business.

"Alice Springs-based Terry Lillis, owner of online bookmaking agency Multibet, was forced to pay after the extortionists disabled his gambling website and demanded payment.

"The website crashed after the Russians flooded it with a high volume of traffic.

"Mr Lillis said the extortionists then demanded $US20,000 ($28,600) to reactivate the bookmaking site. He paid up.

"…When the site was attacked again two months later Mr Lillis contacted the original extortionists, who denied they were responsible.

"He then began paying an American company $US3500 per month to install a protective screen to thwart the extortionists…"