So maybe Marc Guggenheim just wanted to tell a mafia story. Okay, but why the Russian mob? In particular, why use a new family connection to bring them into the story? Why does Piotr Rasputin need to be further bogged down with new ties to organized crime? He's the normal one. Piotr is the audience viewpoint character--he's an art student who grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. The worst thing he ever had to worry about was the tractor acting up. And then one day his brother goes missing in space, he gains superpowers, his sister is abducted by the devil, etc. Insane things happened all around him after his adventure begins, but prior to that he was just a normal guy who had never had his blinders pulled off before meeting Xavier.
In contrast, the series lead right now is Kitty Pryde, whose family laundered money for the bouryokudan. Another character with extensive past ties to Japanese organized crime is Logan, who married the head of a rival syndicate. He still has a daughter from that marriage that, because of time travel, he hasn't seen in decades and could stand to spend some time with. But okay, I think there's significant signaling that we're getting Ogun as a major villain somewhere down the line, so maybe you don't want to do a Japan arc at this juncture. What about Ororo, then? She has organized crime ties from her time in Cairo. Or the other X-Men who aren't part of the main cast? Sam was a mob enforcer. Xi'an's evil uncle ran a drug smuggling empire in Madripoor and Los Angeles. There is a huge existing field to dig into, if you want X-Men crime stories.