Brian --- This is still the case in Russia. Your svyazy (links) are everything. It's a big part of the reason Russia has no functioning legal system. Svyazy tend to trump laws every time.
By the way, I highly recommend to people out there who have never done so to visit Moscow. Fantastic, tremendously multi-ethnic and -cultural city with great, open, highly-educated people and a fantastic nightlife. And incredible tsarist- and Stalin-era architecture.