Along with fledgling entrepreneurs this era brought out the worst of society, namely the criminal element. There were several organized criminal groups (referred to as “mafia,” after the infamous organized criminal gangs in Italy and the U.S.), but a lot of petty criminals as well. The latter was partly due to the high unemployment resulting from the changes in the economy.
Since Estonia was no longer part of the Soviet Union, a lot of the large industries lost a huge part of their markets overnight. The more flexible ones restructured and found new niches in the market, but a lot of the really large heavy industries, especially those that supplied the Soviet Union’s military, were unable to find new markets in the West because of the inferior quality of their products. Thus, they folded, resulting in tens of thousands of people being laid off. A lot of those people had a hard time finding new work, especially the Russian-speaking population who spoke little or no Estonian, which was a requirement for many of the new jobs.
... there would be dubious-looking characters knocking at their door at all hours of the night. One night there was a lot of yelling in the corridor, but I learned that it was best to ignore these kinds of things as much as possible and not to open one’s door.
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