Brigade-2

After watching the fashion series, teenagers wanted to be like its heroes in everything - and became racketeers

After “The Brigade” was shown on television, society was divided into two camps: for and against the cinematic idea. And while critics were arguing whether something like this could be shown, the children came up with a game for themselves - “Brigade”. They try to be like the heroes in everything - they behave the same way, speak the same way, dress the same way. Like, for example, a gang of teenagers detained in Moscow who are now awaiting trial.

“What kind of bandits are these? They are children"

There are seven of them in total - Ilya, Sergey, Kolya, Roma, Lesha, Sasha and Maxim. All except the last one are 15-16 years old. Max is the oldest, he is 19. The “foremen,” as they called themselves, looked at him as a prophet leading to a bright life. Moreover, it cannot be said that the boys are from low-income families, deprived of parental affection: they all study at the prestigious Moscow college of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Law, where they met. So we should have studied ourselves calmly until we had seen enough of the “Brigade”. Now they admit that the film turned their whole lives upside down.
Investigators have already found out who was the first to voice the idea of ​​“covering up” local video rentals: Max. And it is also known for sure that at first things did not work out for the racketeers: the businessmen did not take the youngsters seriously, and at one point the security simply pushed them out. Then the boys decided to be like their movie characters in everything: they bought long black coats at the market, and the book “Brigade. Fights without rules” became akin to the Bible for them. The page on which Bely, Phil, Bee and Cosmos took a solemn oath that they would never leave each other in trouble was worn out to holes. The “foremen” memorized quotes and flaunted them with or without any reason.
“It was funny to me,” Sergei, the director of one of the video stores on Dubninskaya, 32, where the “brigade” visited a week and a half before the arrest, told Interlocutor. “Of course, it’s unpleasant when they threaten you, but it was funny listening to this nonsense.” After the arrest, an investigator and a juvenile affairs inspector came and convinced me to write a statement against the guys, but I refused. What kind of bandits are these? They have very thin fingers. Children! They are just trying to understand how the world works. And in the film they were shown: come, spread your fingers like a fan - and your life will be heavenly. In “Brigade,” the violence is mostly behind the scenes, and the concepts of friendship, loyalty, and honesty are actively exploited. That's why young people buy it.
“When I tried to reason with them, they threatened me with arson.”
The video rental store on Dubninskaya, 16 became the fourth in a row. Moreover, much more “foremen” came to the first “arrow” than were detained. According to the director of the salon, Sergei Konstantinovich, at least 20. And they all looked very much like movie characters. The demands were put forward by Max, who persistently offered security services to businessmen, declaring himself their new “roof.” For everything about everything, Sergei Konstantinovich was asked for 15 percent of the total profit, and finally they demanded to “ram” the financial documentation of the company.
“Their leader behaved brazenly and defiantly,” says Sergei Konstantinovich. — He bent his fingers, swearing through every word. I even later rewatched “The Brigade” on purpose - it turned out that he simply copied the behavior of the characters in the film. Imagine, a boy is standing there and threatening me, an adult. I urged the children to come to their senses and stop pestering busy people. Then they hinted to me that anything can happen in life. For example, someone might throw a Molotov cocktail at the window...
After these words, Sergei Konstantinovich turned to the police, taking with him video recordings made by a hidden camera located in the salon. After viewing the films, the operatives provided the owner of the point with marked bills. 2000 rubles - exactly the same amount that should have been transferred as payment for unknown services. It’s noticeable on the last tape: none of the guys were nervous. Everything looked like a continuation of the acclaimed film. Max was fingering, convincing the distributors of the correctness of the chosen decision, someone was cleaning his nails, those standing on the nix kept leaving their post. For what? In the background you can clearly see: the boys were approaching the counter with the “Brigade”. It looked like they were going to take all six tapes with them and learn the roles at their leisure. The plans were thwarted by operatives from the Vostochnoe Degunino Department of Internal Affairs and the OBOP of the Northern Administrative District, who tied up the “foremen.” None of whom even thought of resisting.

“I don’t want my mom to know that I smoke.”

Even after this, the teenagers did not really realize what they had gotten themselves into. So, during the interrogation, where the video was recorded, one of them asked not to film him.
“I don’t want my mother to see that I smoke,” he said.
Max tried to play to the end. He behaved like a seasoned criminal, answering the investigators' questions confidently and clearly. Realizes that he is in danger of being locked up. But you can’t tell by his behavior that the guy repents.
“I just wanted to provide them with security services,” he said.
- From whom?
— Are there not enough fools in Russia?
—Where did the amount of 15 percent come from?
- Yes, from the bullshit. Not too much and not too little - that's enough for us.
— How did you come up with the idea to do security?
- Why not? After all, they talk about it everywhere: on TV, in the newspapers...
According to operatives, Maxim had a lot of plans: to get a real gun, to expand his sphere of influence. Actually, the “brigade” came to the attention of law enforcement agencies not after the visit of the offended businessman, but immediately after they began to look for ways to obtain firearms.
“The teenagers didn’t really understand what they were doing,” says Viktor Maksimov, police lieutenant colonel of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Northern Administrative District. — Maxim said the following phrase: “When there are many of us, together we are strong.” They were not afraid of anyone and looked very much like a pack.
I was able to talk with the new “foremen”. They are under recognizance not to leave the place and continue to live a normal life: taking exams in college, meeting with friends. And everyone assures that their troubles are behind them. Although this, of course, is not so: the investigation is completed, the case materials have been transferred to the court, and each of them may face up to 4 years in prison.
Now “foremen” try not to wear long black coats. As the director of the video store on Dubninskaya, 16 said, his employees recently saw one of the guys. He walked arm in arm with his mother. According to their own words (which there is reason to doubt), they are not communicating with Max now. Hopefully this story has taught them something.

Mikhail Yakovlev.