Newspapers have recently been awash with headlines about the dramatic arrest of the Russian mob kingpin Semyon Mogilevich, a criminal mastermind sought by Western law enforcement agents for his innovative and complex money laundering schemes, as well as other accusations of unsavory activities in arms dealing, narcotics, fraud, and prostitution. As a SWAT Team-like group of masked, armed men swarmed around to arrest Mr. Mogilevich and Vladimir Nekrasov, the owner of cosmetics retailer Arbat Prestige, it seemed like a scene pulled straight out of Hollywood. Russia again looks like the winner, taking down the internationally wanted “big fish” of organized crime. But given that Mr. Mogilevich has lived comfortably (and arguably thrived) under Russian protection since 2003, the story is far more complex under the surface.