Prigozhin was born in the former Soviet Union and served ten years in prison when he was younger. After he was freed from jail, he ran a hot dog stand before becoming the owner of several fancy restaurants in Saint Petersburg. His restaurants brought Prigozhin into close contact with Putin.

I feel like we missed a few steps on the way there, but it’s still an interesting origin story.

[–] danieljackson@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

Born to a poor ethnic Georgian family in the town of Gori [...], Stalin joined the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party [...] and raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction via robberies, kidnappings and protection rackets.

Local thugs/mafia-leaders raising to power in Russia/USSR is not a new thing.