Several years ago in the center of Moscow, a group of children was playing near their apartment building when one of them, a young boy, saw a juice carton on the hood of a car. He jumped up and batted the carton to the ground. The car exploded and the boy died instantly, his arm torn off and his face turned to a bloody mush. The bomb was intended for the owner of the car—not even a big-time criminal, only the owner of a small business. In 1999 the sixyear- old daughter of a prominent Russian stockbroker, Andrei Orekhov, was killed by a massive gunfire volley into the limousine taking her to kindergarten. Her father was seriously wounded.

In recent years a wide range of successful businessmen, among them Vlad Listyev, a popular television personality, as well as members...