Over the past five years, cases have been brought against almost 200 crime bosses in Russia.

Editorial “Layout” June 10, 2024 |

Of these, 85 are “thieves in law”, 114 are “positioners” and “supervisors”

One of the most famous crime bosses in Russia, Oleg Medvedev (Shishkan), was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court found him guilty of holding the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. This article appeared in the Criminal Code five years ago. During this time, Russian security forces have put on the wanted list or detained at least 199 “thieves in law,” “policemen,” and “supervisors,” Vorstka found out.

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Who is Shishkan?

The court found the 59-year-old Russian crime boss Shishkan (aka Oleg Shishkanov, Oleg Ramensky, according to his passport - Oleg Medvedev) guilty of six articles of the criminal code. According to the investigation, Shishkan organized a criminal group in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region, which was engaged in banditry, extortion, attacks and murders.

In various sources, Shishkan is called one of the leaders of the Russian criminal community and the most influential thief in law, along with the crime boss Shakro Molodoy . Shishkan was “crowned” back in the early 90s after serving a prison sentence for murder.

One of the most notorious crimes, the organization of which Shishkan is accused of organizing, is the murder of the general director of Plemzavod Ramenskoye CJSC, municipal deputy Tatyana Sidorova and three members of her family in 2012. The bodies of Sidorova and her relatives were found many years later in the quarry. The investigation believes that the woman was killed because she refused to give the land plots of her plant to a person from Shishkan’s entourage.

Shishkan was detained and arrested only in 2019, after a new article appeared in the Russian Criminal Code, specifically created to prosecute “thieves in law” and “overlookers” - Article 210.1 (“Occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy”).

Criminal authorities have become involved in 195 criminal cases over five years

Since 2019, since the adoption of the law under the article on occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, security forces have opened 195 criminal cases against criminal authorities.

At least 85 “thieves in law” and 114 “positioners” and “supervisors” became defendants. As “Verstka” discovered, such data was voiced in 2023 by the head of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Sergei Sinenko at a scientific conference dedicated to the problem of bringing criminal authorities to criminal responsibility (i) conference reports were published in the collection of works of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia “Topical issues in the theory and practice of bringing to criminal responsibility persons occupying the highest position in crime hierarchy", 2023

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 62 crime bosses were convicted between 2019 and 2023. Of these, 33 people in the criminal world held the position of “thief in law”, 29 people were “supervisors” or “policemen”. According to statistics from the Judicial Department, 61 sentences came into force over five years. In 2023, 20 crime bosses were sentenced to terms of more than 8 and up to 10 years in prison. 10 people were sentenced to 5–8 years, three to terms over 10 years.

In 2022, one crime boss was sentenced to a term of more than 10 years, 13 people were sentenced to terms of more than 8 but less than 10 years, 6 people received between 5 and 8 years of imprisonment. In 2021, one person was also sentenced to a term of more than 10 years, 4 to terms of more than 8 but less than 10 years, another 3 received from 5 to 8 years. In 2019 - 2020, there were no criminal authorities whose cases passed the first and appellate courts and entered into force.

Not all crime bosses who face criminal charges end up in court. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2023 at least 40 “authorities” were wanted i .

Crime lords: how they differ from ordinary criminals

In order to prove the guilt of a crime boss, security forces must prove in detail to the court that the accused actually holds a “position” in the criminal world and performs certain functions.

In such cases, experts from the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who specialize in studying the hierarchy of the criminal world, are involved in the trial. Such experts describe the criminal world of modern Russia as follows.

Who is a “thief in law”?

“Thieves in law” occupy leadership positions in the criminal hierarchy. A criminal can become a “thief in law” if he has received the support of existing “thieves in law”, “authorities” and “supervisors”. The future thief in law must undergo a “coronation” ceremony, at which he will be given a “thief’s name.”

During the “coronation”, the thief in law receives, according to experts, the authority to manage the criminal community. He can do this together with other “thieves in law” (“brotherly circle”), making decisions regarding the entire country, and can also independently govern a certain territory - a region, a city, a pre-trial detention center, a correctional colony.

The decision of the thieves in law is considered a kind of decree for the criminal world that cannot be violated. Such decrees are called “thieves’ orders” and are distributed in the “world of thieves” using messengers. In places of deprivation of liberty, “runs” are written by hand on a piece of paper, formatting the message according to the rules of the stylistics of the criminal world.

The thief in law has absolute power in the criminal world. He performs several management functions at once - “legislative”, “administrative”, “judicial”, “financial”, “propaganda”. Security forces investigating a criminal case against a thief in law, as researchers from the Academy of Management of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs indicate, must document at least one of these functions in order to prove that the accused really has power in the criminal world.

Who is a “statist”?

The first deputy of the thief in law is the thief in law. When a thief in law cannot fulfill his duties, he is replaced by a thief in law. Experts believe that the “governor” is on a kind of probationary period for the position of “thief in law” and, if he proves himself well, may be crowned. The “Polozhenets” controls the criminal world of the region, a large city and a place of imprisonment. The “thief in law” who appointed him or several “thieves in law” at a meeting (“gathering”) can “dismiss” a “governor.”

Who is the “looker”?

The “supervisor” is a criminal authority who leads the “world of thieves” in a large city, pre-trial detention center or colony in cases where there is no “thief in law” or “prisoner” in this place. The “supervisor” is appointed by the “thief in law” or “governor”. He is responsible for replenishing the criminal fund (“common fund”), collecting contributions from criminals, and can choose his assistants from among lower-status criminals.

The “overseer”, “thief in law” or “statist” (depending on who controls the territory) determines what place in the criminal community this or that criminal will occupy and can, for example, define a prisoner in the category of an informal caste of outcasts (“omitted”, “offended”).

“Thieves in law”, “policemen” and “supervisors”, according to the security forces, are the real leaders of the criminal world who not only set the rules for the criminal community, but also organize crimes in the territory under their control.

The average crime lord on trial in 2023 is a man between 30 and 49 years old with no official source of income and only a high school education or no education at all i .

Thieves in law prefer jury trial

The criminal case of Shishkan and his 17 accomplices was considered by a military court with the participation of a jury. They found the crime boss guilty of occupying the highest level of the criminal hierarchy. But this doesn't always happen. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, juries often make acquittals, and it is for this reason that “thieves in law”, “policemen” and “supervisors” prefer to have their case tried by a jury.

As of March 1, 2023, the jury acquitted 10 crime bosses, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 7 acquittals were subsequently overturned on appeal. In the spring of 2023, 29 criminal cases against “thieves in law” and “policemen” were transferred to the courts. In 11 cases, crime bosses asked for their cases to be tried by a jury i .

The Ministry of Internal Affairs sees this as a problem. In order to “insure themselves,” according to scientists from the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the last year and a half, criminal cases have begun to be initiated against crime bosses under several criminal articles. Now security forces are trying to find evidence that underworld leaders are directly involved in violent crimes, drug trafficking and weapons possession.

Let us remind you that earlier “Vestka” wrote that employees of the Investigative Committee opened almost 159.4 thousand criminal cases in 2023, this is a record figure since at least 2011.

Cover: Eduard Khlebushkin

Infographic: El

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