The phenomenon of criminal groups that flourished in our country in the 90s of the last century will forever remain one of the most recognizable features of that historical era. Organized crime became a vivid social phenomenon that arose on the wreckage of the Soviet Union and influenced all spheres of life of people of that time. The linguistic culture of marginalized society has surged in a wide flow in the media. Not a single film about the organized crime groups of the 90s does not do without episodes of murder and violence, and the images of the "brothers" acquired easily recognizable epic features. The so-called “concepts” of the criminal world suddenly became an urgently needed social, spiritual and cultural model of behavior for a whole generation of former citizens of the USSR. The echoes of those times will remain for a long time in the culture and language of our people in the form of a very stable idiomat, which from time to time slips even in official speeches that sound at the highest state level.
The philosophy of life in modern times
Over the past two decades of the history of the USSR, an alternative system of values has been actively spreading in society, based on the views and concepts of the criminal world. Gradually, she began to play an increasingly significant role in the life of the younger generation. Its popularity was associated with the changing socio-cultural demands of Soviet society and the crisis of official ideology. In the era of perestroika, the old system of Soviet values finally collapsed and an alternative ideology fell upon the heads of people into a void, which at that time turned out to be the most powerful and socially demanded "philosophy" of life, in which survival becomes the most important issue. “You die today, and I die tomorrow” - in the criminal world, verbal formulas have long been prepared according to which, as in the patterns, life began to line up throughout the post-Soviet space.
The role of the thieves subculture
The thieves subculture in the last decade of the existence of the USSR became a catalyst for the formation of organized crime groups of the 90s. Any business in the country has long been a criminal offense, that is, what crooks and bandits did exclusively. From this point of view, speculation and hacking were no different from pickpocketing and drug trafficking. In recent years, Soviet authorities allowed certain forms of business at the legislative level and members of criminal communities were given the opportunity to legally carry out their activities. But the real way out of the criminal field turned out to be a more complicated process.
Criminal organized crime groups of the 90s as a way of organizing and conducting business in a transitional era
An effective and highly profitable business in those days was possible only if criminal and semi-criminal enrichment methods were involved. One of the forms of successful business was organized crime groups of the 90s. Representatives of the criminal world have opened up new opportunities for enrichment using forceful methods. The emergence of legal forms of business expanded the base for collecting tribute in favor of the criminal community, which has traditionally been practiced in relation to any business in the USSR. Objects of property appeared that were not there before. Factories and plants, restaurants and parking lots, shops and markets - all this required confirmation of tenure on the basis of not only the laws of the state, but also on the basis of the laws of the criminal world, where only the right of the strong plays a role. The risks that any business was associated with during that transitional era required additional insurance in the form of power support, which could be needed at any time. It took well-organized power structures, consisting of people with good physical fitness. By this time, the thieves' subculture had already prepared the necessary personnel from among the younger generation of the last years of the Soviet Union. Spontaneous (informal) youth associations received professional leaders from among members of various criminal groups who began to turn crowds of street hooligans into well-organized power units.
The main functions that began to perform organized crime groups of the 90s in the conditions of the formation of a market economy
Organized criminal associations of a new type have become an important and multifunctional element in the life of post-Soviet society. These were highly efficient commercial enterprises aimed at maximizing profits in favor of the top managers of their managers. You can list the main areas of activity that were characteristic of organized crime groups of that time.
- Insurance activity. The organized crime groups could be a real, and sometimes the only guarantee of repayment of debts, compensation for one or another damage, compliance with the terms of contracts and commercial transactions.
- Security. The protection of life, health, property integrity, security during transactions in those days was a very popular service.
- Informal arbitration in resolving controversial issues in any sphere of life, from the regulation of commercial relations to conflicts arising out of certain speech actions.
- Providing competitive advantages in commercial activities, subject to obtaining a percentage of the profits of the enterprise. This may also include providing advantages in resolving judicial and property disputes in official state structures.
- Monitoring compliance with unwritten thieves' laws and concepts that have long been considered the main regulator of the relations of all participants in any business, both legal and illegal.
The activities of criminal gangs brought huge revenues to their organizers, and also made it possible to acquire real estate, enterprises and other material values. The largest states in Russia were formed with the direct participation of various organized crime groups. Some of the activities of organized crime groups of the 90s gradually became the prerogative of the state directly or indirectly through special commercial structures, for example, collection companies.
Organization of organized crime groups and the distribution of its income
The composition of organized crime groups can be divided into four main levels. The fighters, which included young people from 16 to 25 years old, were the lowest level in the organized crime group and were direct participants in the military actions. Criminal showdowns of organized crime groups of the 90s took place in their presence, but they only had to fulfill the commands of senior managers on time. They collected tribute, carried out various assignments, accompanied the leadership during important events and meetings. Usually bloody crimes and other dirty work were carried out with their hands. The soldiers received from several hundred to several thousand dollars a month, depending on the tasks performed, and obeyed the strictest discipline under pain of harsh punishments. The middle management consisted of people who had the right to receive a small percentage of the total profit of organized crime groups from several tens to several hundred thousand dollars a month. These members of the criminal community participated directly in the showdown, appointed “shooters”, organized important events, liquidations, etc. The highest level of organized crime groups is from 3 to 7 people. They controlled the circulation of means of organized crime groups, which could be from several tens to several hundred million dollars a month. A separate group of organized crime groups was made up of officials and some law enforcement officers who provided informational, administrative, and sometimes judicial cover for gang activity. These members of the organized crime group received substantial deductions from the criminal organization’s cash flow.
Ways to earn income
Almost all criminal groups began their activity by extorting money from entrepreneurs who started their activities in the late 80s. Under the threat of violence and the creation of other problems, entrepreneurs were forced to give up to 50% of their income to bandits. Among the criminal gangs, there was competition for the opportunity to collect tribute from certain entrepreneurs. The second source of income for beginners of organized crime groups was fraud organized on the principle of a thieves game of thimbles. Gradually, the groups moved to the traditional criminal high-profit business - the arms trade, drugs and the organization of dens. The money received by criminal means, the leaders of organized crime groups began to invest in legal business and high-yield real estate. To ensure competitive advantages, controlled businesses also used force methods. Behind all contract killings are commercial interests and the desire to appropriate the sources of income of competing criminal groups. The main criminal methods of enriching the leaders of organized crime groups have always been torture, murder, fraud, fraud, money laundering, the organization of various forms of illegal business, smuggling and bribery of officials. Organized crime in the 90s of the last century acquired such dimensions and forms that began to threaten the integrity and security of the state.
The most influential organized crime groups in Russia
The rating of Russian organized crime groups of the 90s should be based on the degree of influence that the group exerted throughout the country, the duration of this influence and the profitability of the criminal business. The largest and most influential organized crime groups were based in Moscow and exercised control over industrial enterprises throughout Russia. In terms of the scale of influence on the Russian economy, such a rating should be led by the Moscow organized crime groups of the 90s Izmailovsk and Solntsevsko-Orekhovskaya.
Izmailovskaya gang
This is the oldest group that arose as an association of youth gangs in the Izmaylovsky district in the mid-80s. The beginning of the criminal business was quite standard - extortion, robbery, income from “thimbles”, etc. The grouping has always been distinguished by a strong leadership. All power in this criminal business community always belonged to a very narrow group of authorities, the most famous of which was Anton Malevsky (Izmailovsky). Subsequently, a number of other organized crime groups, such as Galyanovskaya, Perovskaya, and others, began to work under the wing of this group. The Izmaylovskaya organized crime group has gradually turned into a powerful financial and economic empire, the scope of which includes entire sectors of the country's economy, such as aluminum production, the pulp and paper industry, woodworking enterprises, timber exported abroad, the oil and gas sector, and a number of domestic and foreign banks. But the gambling business has become a special direction for this organized crime group, the traditions of which go back to the “thimbles” of the Izmailovo and Vernissage clothing markets, as well as the Shchelkovsky bus station. The main difference of the Izmaylovskaya organized crime group is the wide support from the authorities, which made this organized crime group one of the most successful commercial enterprises in modern Russia.
Solntsevo-Orekhovskaya coalition
Separate structures of the Solntsevo-Orekhovskaya organized criminal group formed in different places and under various circumstances in the late 80s. In the early 90s, a number of independent organized crime groups in the South-Western region of Moscow created a powerful coalition, the leadership in which at different times belonged to representatives of various organized crime groups that are part of it. This criminal coalition included such well-known organized crime groups as Chertanovskaya, Cheryomushkinskaya, Yasenevskaya, Orekhovskaya and others. The history of the Solntsevo-Orekhovskaya organized crime group is connected with the most famous episodes of the criminal war of the 90s. A huge number of feature films and documentaries were shot about those events and hundreds of books were written. The most famous leader of this organized crime group is Sergei Timofeev (Sylvester), the leader of the Orekhovskaya gang, which is considered one of the bloodiest criminal Russia has ever known. The organized crime groups of the 90s waged a fierce competition among themselves, which killed the most prominent leaders of the Solntsevo-Orekhov coalition, including Timofeev, blown up in his Mercedes in 1994. With a showdown between the leaders of the Solntsevo-Orekhovskaya coalitions, as well as other factions linked the most bloody episodes of the criminal war between organized crime groups of the 90s. Photos and reports of the brutal killings of the leaders of the Solntsevskaya and Orekhovskaya groups did not leave the press pages and television screens for several years. The history of the Solntsevo-Orekhovskaya organized crime group is associated with many now flourishing commercial structures operating in various sectors of the economy here and abroad. The activities of the members of this united bantha gradually entered the framework of the law and spread to all spheres of life in modern Russia, including politics.
A short century of gangster career
Most of the well-known organized crime groups of Moscow in the 90s gradually lost their influence, and their participants faced a harsh fate. “Kurgan”, “Balashikha”, “Medvedkovskaya”, “Odintsovo” and other well-known organized crime groups lost their influence, having lost a capable and authoritative leadership team by the end of the 90s. The leaders of the groups destroyed each other, fighting for power and influence, and the survivors received long prison sentences. The fight against organized crime gradually became the most important state task, and in the beginning of the 2000s this task began to be solved more and more successfully.
Regional organized crime groups
Organized crime of the early 90s was a widespread phenomenon that affected all regions of the country, and many regional organized crime groups were not inferior to the capital in terms of business profitability. In terms of cruelty and atrocity, some regional groups significantly exceeded the capital's and entered the bloodiest pages in the crime of the 90s. Kazan organized crime groups began to form in the 70s of the last century. Famous gangs, such as "Tyap-blunder" and "Film", were infinitely cruel in the years of the USSR. Very casual people very often became victims of their intimidation actions, and the terror that they unleashed on the streets of the capital of Tatarstan was akin to primitive savagery. The Slonovskaya organized crime group, which was led by Vyacheslav Ermolov , nicknamed the "Elephant", managed to spread its influence far beyond the borders of the Ryazan region. Starting a criminal business, as a gang of racketeers and extortionists, the “Elephants” created one of the most successful regional commercial enterprises, the turnover of which reached hundreds of millions of dollars. Many members of this gang still occupy an important position in the politics and economy of the country, and Ermolov himself became a successful citizen of the European Union. The Uralmash group was actively engaged in political activities, and its leader Alexander Khabarov was a deputy of the city council of Yekaterinburg and the head of the socio-political union (OPS), which included all active members of the organized crime group. Almost every city had very influential organized crime groups, whose leaders were also very large businessmen. For example, Igor Chikunov, who led the powerful Saratov organized crime group of the 90s, was the largest shareholder in the oil business. Nikolai Gavrilenkov, leader of the Velikolutsk organized crime group, was a well-known businessman in St. Petersburg who was involved in the restaurant and beer business. The leaders of the Volgovskaya group actively influenced the activities of AvtoVAZ concern. Many businessmen who acquired their fortunes by criminal means died in the course of criminal wars. For example, the city in which contract killings occurred as a result of the dismantling of organized crime groups of the 90s is Saratov. Chikunov and 11 people of his gang were shot during a card game in his office.
Organized crime groups of those years in our time
Compared with the organized crime groups of the 90s, in our time the classic organized crime groups have been preserved only in small provincial cities. A famous example is the gang of A. Tsapka. In districts of the country remote from big cities, disassemblies are still taking place according to the old rules, with weapons and a large number of participants. In a remote province, “arrows” still occur, and relations are clarified not in the “legal field” of the courts, but in a clean field and in the language of “concepts”. High-profile contract killings became the basis of the plots of a huge number of films about the criminal activities of organized crime groups of the 90s. Documentary films were shot about almost every famous gang, and the images of killers, leaders and gang members from the 90s acquired clear literary and cinematic canons.Modern criminal gangs are more compact, conspiratorial and do not have the ability to develop such a wide activity as was the case in the 1990s. Photos and film materials about the crime of the 90s show confidence in the impunity of gang members who loved everything so much that could emphasize their status and distinguish them from the crowd. A raspberry jacket, a thick golden chain and a huge golden cross on his stomach have long been elements of a historical costume.