Jack Byrne

Tag: Mafia

  • The Hostile Takeover!

    In 1995, the company I headed, Eastern Holdings International, had two partnerships in the Former Soviet Union. One was headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia, with agreements covering all Former Soviet Union territories except the Baltic’s. The other was in Latvia with agreements covering the three Baltic nations (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) and was headquartered in Riga, the…

  • The Art of Buying Real Estate in the FSU.

    This is the story of how Jack bought a prime-location property in Kaunas, Lithuania for $40,000 but paid $350,000 in cash. (Story to come)

  • Bombs Away in Lithuania …

    This will tell the story of how three of our four Vision Express stores in Lithuania were simultaneously bathed in grenades one Monday morning at 1am and how the Mafia group who did the deed eventually apologized and paid for damage repair. When the USSR folded back into its constituent states in 1991, I was already…

  • Knock-Knock-Knocking at my front door ….

    I was an American building a retail business in Russia for an English company. It was only the third year of our very successful business when suddenly, my Russian partner was assassinated. Since we did not know why he was done in, some felt I could be next. I lived in a two bedroom Russian…

  • Home Alone.

    It had been a very busy Friday. In the morning, we (2000 of us) had honored my assassinated partner (“LIFE AND DEATH IN THE PALACE OF CULTURE”). In the afternoon, we had buried him (“THE TSAR IS DEAD”). Through the night, we had toasted him and vowed to avenge his death (“HEAD OF THE TABLE”).…